Dynamic Link AE comps are "Pending"

[Jon Coyopa]

This is horribly infuriating.

I have a project with a lot of dynamic linked comps in the timelines.  I have 10 hour long sequences that reference the same AE  project.  In 2 of my sequences, despite being online in the bin, I have the yellow "Media Pending" in my program monitor.  I have tried EVERYTHING I can find.  Trashing preferences, resetting Premiere, changing permissions, epty the cache, etc.  Everything!  I can't redo them because the info I need was delivered to me as Dropbox comments and the file is no longer available nor the person who made the comments.  I have even tried this in the new 2020 version.

Why would some of the roughly 100 instances of this AE project stop working?  I have already missed the deadline and if I can't figure this out yesterday, I'm probably not going the get paid.  I don't know why I keep paying for somethign that doesn't work.  I need and asnwer now!

This is happening across 2 computers.  An iMac and Macbook Pro, both running Premiere 2019 and Mojave.

[Peru Bob]

Can you export directly from Premiere Pro?

[Jon Coyopa]

I can export but when it gets to the part with these AE comps, it freezes Premiere.  And the issue is only in 2 of these 10 sequences.  They all reference the same AE proejct.

[Michael Grenadier]

Do you have the project open in AfterEffects while you're working in Premiere.   I've seen this help when these sort of things get sluggish.

[Jon Coyopa]

When I have the AE project open, I get the eror message "Unknown Exception."

[Michael Grenadier]

where do you get the error message?  In AE or Premiere?

[Jon Coyopa]

I get that error message in After Effects

[Michael Grenadier]

I'm just guessing but maybe you've got too much going on in your project.   Try selecting one sequence in the browser, go to file:  export and choose:  selected as premiere project.  Quit premiere and try launching just this project containing the one sequence.   Post back if that doesn't work and maybe I can think of some other things to try.

[Jon Coyopa]

No matter what I try, the option to export a sequence as a project is grayed out.  I have tried everything else I can find or think to do.  I tried deleteing everything except for the sequence and necessary media and saving as a new project.  Pasting the cut into a new sequence, opening auto save versions, etc.  Everything.

The AE project isn't corrupt because it works in other sequences.  It seems that the instances in these three sequences are bad.  I would have just redone it by now but I don't have, nor can I get, the copy that I need (fired employee was using personal Dropbox to host and comment on cuts).

I'm screwed.  I'm going to lose tens of thousands of dollars because of this.  Thanks Adobe.

[Michael Grenadier]

OK.  stay calm and let's see what we can do.  Duplicate one sequence.  Delete all the AE comps from the sequence.  Can you then export, etc?

If so, load the AE project and render out all the necessary comps and replace the ae comps in your sequence with these files.  Make sense?

I'm in for a couple of hours today and will try and keep checking my email and see if we can get you thru this.

[Jon Coyopa]

I understand that suggestion, and I should have done that from the start, but I still don't have the copy that I would need.  The only place that exists, is in these "pending" AE comps in my Premiere timeline.

[Michael Grenadier]

you said that the ae project was NOT corrupt "The AE project isn't corrupt because it works in other sequences"  Am I not understanding something?  

[Michael Grenadier]

And After Effects also has an autosave function.  

[Jon Coyopa]

I'm probably not being clear in my frustration.

I created an animated bullet point in AE that I brought into Premiere.  I did it via dynamic link so I could change the text for each instance where I would use it.  And I used it a lot across 10 sequences all referencing that AE project.  7 of theses 10 sequences are prefectly fine.  The others are showing "Media Pending" in the Program monitor despite being online in the bin.  Since I was entering the copy for the bullet point in Premiere, that's the only place it exists.  My contact at the company for who I am doing this project, shared a Dropbox link with me and had me upload versions of the cut there.  She would add comments to the file on Dropbox.  She has since been fired and removed everything from Dropbox.  Redoing it isn't really an option otherwise I would have done it already.  I probably should have made a mogrt but this made more sense at the time. 

I have already backed up the copy for the working sequences in case this issue arises again.  

[Michael Grenadier]

I'm still not understanding.  So you had a ae comp in your premiere timeline.  You copied it elsewhere and then did an edit on it in Aftereffects and then did a save?  If so, that edit will exist in the AE project.  Or am I missing something?  

[Jon Coyopa]

I created this animated bullet point in AE and never made changes to the project again, except for when I started having this problem.

I imported it in to Premiere and copied a bunch of times so each instance would have a different text.

I have 10 sequences that all reference this single AE project, about 10-15 tiems in each sequence.  Three of these sequences will not display the AE project but I get a yellow screen that says Media Pending.  It works in other sequences and the AE project itself opens and is editable.  

[Michael Grenadier]

maybe this is something I just haven't worked with in premiere.  So you copy the ae comp in the timeline to another location.  How do you change the text?  Is the original text created in after effects?  Can you copy one of the problematic ae comps to a new sequence in a new project?  If you can upload this project and the ae project to dropbox and post the link, I can see if I can open it...  You can attach a link to a post here.

[Jon Coyopa]

Let's say you were making an animated lower third.  In AE, you do your animation and for the text, I would put something like Name on one line and Title on the next.  You can then bring that AE project into Premiere and that text is editable but only if you double click it in the bin.  Before I understood how to make mogrts this is how I would lower thirds and titles for project that had a lot of talking heads.  

In my project, I duplicated that AE project in my bin as many times as I needed and then I would edit the text and bring it to my timeline.

[Michael Grenadier]

alright, any excuse not to do the work I should be doing.  I'll try and recreate this workflow and see if I have any ideas.

[Jon Coyopa]

Thanks for your help.

I can send you the AE and Premiere files if you like but it works how it should when creating new instances.  

When I right click the AE in the timeline and select reveal in project, which is what you need to do to edit the text anyway, the effect controls are blank, presumably becasue it's till pending.

[Michael Grenadier]

how are you bringing the ae project into premiere?

[Jon Coyopa]

import the AE file like you would any asset and then you'll get a dialogue box asking which comp to import

[Michael Grenadier]

can't hurt to send them to me.  It might give me some insight into the workflow

[Jon Coyopa]

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/33i8yp2g4uvxwlv/AACp2ZQpfEcJyPqCRO5gbu5Ha?dl=0

[Michael Grenadier]

I'm trying to get my head around this.    First thing I'd do is duplicate your sequence....

So if you select the clip in the premiere timeline and control click and choose make offline and then select it and go control click again choose link media, you'll get the link media dialog which will give you the clip name which I'm assuming is the specific text which you can then reference to customize the "template" in aftereffects and then save it as an inidividual ae project or render it out and replace it in the timeline.  Make any sense at all?  Certainly is a little clunky but might be a workaround.