Dynamic linking issues with Premiere Pro and After Effects

[Robbie34135385e7mh]

Hello, I’ve been experiencing issues with dynamic linking with Premiere Pro and After Effects for about a year now. It’s having a massive impact on my work as a freelance video editor. Pretty much every project I work on requires me to use dynamic linking and I’d say each project genuinely takes about an extra day because of all of this. It’s not ideal when clients are asking where the work is and I’m still sorting out exporting another huge After Effects file to make a small change.

Issue - Any time I import an After Effects composition in Premiere, it works having it in the timeline interacting with the rest of the project. However, pretty quickly the files need relinking. This is not ideal when I’m working with so many After Effects files. It happens just normally eventually, but it also happens any time I close the project and reenter it, it also happens any time I make changes to the After Effects projects.

Adobe Premiere Pro version number: Version 24.3.0 (Build 59)

Operating system - MacOSonoma

System info: Apple MacBook Pro, Apple M3 Max, 48GB, Built-in Liquid Retina XDR display, Macintosh HD

(However, this issue has presented itself on 3 other devices I’ve used, it was also different Adobe accounts I was using)

Video format: N/A. This happens with anything and everything.

Workflow details: This happens on any and every Premiere Pro project I’m working with.

Steps to reproduce - Create a Premiere Pro project and an After Effects project and make sequences for both. Add something to your After Effects project (it can be anything, this happens even if inserting something basic to the project. For ease, just create an object or some other simple asset). Import this After Effects sequence into your Premiere Pro sequence. Leave Premiere Pro open or to speed things up, save the project, close and reopen.

Expected result - Ideally, no relinking should be required upon reopening the project. Premiere used to continue to display the After Effects file no matter what I did to the project.

Actual result - If it doesn’t happen immediately, at some point probably within the next minute or so, the AE sequence will turn red, there’ll be a warning in the monitor tab showing that you need to relink the file. This used to happen very randomly and it would just be an odd file that needed relinking. This now will happen to any and every After Effects file and relinking it can be temperamental, not just a long process. I’m finding more often now that the relinking itself doesn’t work at all. I’ve resorted to exporting the After Effects projects each time as this is the only way to stop it needing relinking all the time.

[Ben Insler]

Hi @Robbie34135385e7mh - sorry, this sounds frustrating.

What are the file paths to the AE files?

You're not working in a case-sensitive formatted drive, are you?

And, I doubt it, but you're not changing the comp names in After Effects after you import those comps into Premiere Pro, correct?

[Todd_Reeder]

Hi @Robbie34135385e7mh,  So far I am not reproducing.  I am wondering if I am missing a step (thank you for including the steps btw!).  Are the AE projects stored on a local drive, local shared storage, or in the cloud?  did you render the comp in your ppro timeline?  Did you save in AE anytime after you added it to your PPro sequence?

[MyerPj]

I'm on Windows 11 (23H2) and it seems to be working OK here. PP 24.3

[Robbie34135385e7mh]

Hi Ben, thanks for the Reply. 

What exactly do you mean about the file paths? I've just got the files in the same folder as everything else if that's what you mean. I don't know if my drive is case-sensitive, is this usually an issue? I can't see it being any more than a software issue because this has happened with or without the drive. It also doesn't matter where I put all the files, it still does this whatever I do. 

No, I'm not changing the comp names.

[Robbie34135385e7mh]

Hi Todd. It depends, I've tried putting the files in several places but generally I work from my drive. I have always worked from my drive primarily and it's only become an issue in the last year. I didn't render the comp, no, but unless this is something we now have to do with a new update, I never used to have to do this. No, I can close the After Effects file for a while and just be working in Premiere and it will start acting up without me interacting with the original file. It's strange that while I've tried to sort this out whilst working on 3 different Adobe accounts and 3 different devices,  I'm the only one having the issue. 

[MyerPj]

I left my machine running with PP and AE both running for about 5 hours and did not experience any issues. 

I must say, we see occasionally here some problems like this, but infrequently enough to think it might be the machine. Personally I think mac's have more issues, and I have no idea how that OS works, but here on a PC, it's fine.

One thing I really enjoy about using AE directly into PP is I can make a change in AE, and when I switch to PP (alt-tab), I see the changes appear in about a second, and that's without saving in AE.

When setting up my machines I run all kinds of test and testing software. I've noticed that OSD software, typically available from GPU vendors so you can tweak the fans and see the framerates, poses some real problems. So, I always live with the GPU fans at the stock settings because I don't want to run their software from boot to close. Other utilities I may run on occasion, but it's best to keep all those to the bare minimum.

[Ben Insler]

@Robbie34135385e7mh 

I didn't render the comp, no, but unless this is something we now have to do with a new update, I never used to have to do this.

It's not something new that is now required, but Premiere Pro will always be rendering Dynamic Link After Effects comps live-on-the-fly in the timeline which impacts performance, unless they are rendered.  The recommended workflow is to use the Render and Replace... function, which replaces the Dynamic Link comp in the timeline with a new rendered piece of media (the Restore Unrendered function can always be used to restore the live After Effects comp in the timeline when revisions in After Effect need to be made and rerendered).  This will not only yield a more fuild experience in Premiere Pro when the playhead crosses your Dynamic Links, but it will also keep these sections online in the case where a Dynamic Link has gone offline, making this issues less frequently encountered as you edit day-to-day.

That said, your comps shouldn't be going offline as you are experiencing.

Any chance you'd be able to email me your project file, and one of the AEPs that's going offline?  I'd be happy to take a look and see if there's anything that jumps out to me in the way the two are interacting.