8 Replies Latest reply: Nov 2, 2014 9:11 AM by Sekhar Ravinutala RSS

    Dynamic link problem

    umustbejoking Community Member

      Not sure whether to put this question in Premiere pro, After effects or somewhere else, but I'll try placing it with Premiere for now. (Is there a space where you should put questions regarding the Dynamic link?)

       

      I think I've already posted this question once before but didn't really get to solve the problem so I thought I might explain it at a bit more length and see if I could get some help with this.

       

      Problem: I can't drop dynamicly linked After Effects compositions into Premiere Pro sequence or move them.

      There are basically two different situations where the problem arise.

      1: When I rightclick on a clip in my Premiere pro sequence and chose "replace with After Effects composition" the clip turns red as usual and the effects that I do in After effects show up but I can't move the clip around in my Premiere sequence. Nor can I drop it into another sequence.

      2: When I import footage into After effects, create effects and go into Premiere pro and chose "import After Effects composition" The clip shows up in my project panel and I can open it in my source window but I can not drop it into a sequence.

       

      When does this happen?

      All the time. In several different projects, new as old ones. I use the same footage in Premiere Pro as in After Effects and I create sequences or compostions from my footage so there should not be a difference in sequence/composition settings. The dynamic workflow used to work great using the same footage as I am now so there should not be anything wrong with the footage. I always work with the same footage over and over again so nothing ever really changes on that front.

       

      Sometimes this problem does not arise and I can't really pinpoint when it does or does not work but recently the problem has occured more and more frequently. I can't get this to work at all in my current project.

       

      Info:

      I've got Premiere Pro cs6 and After Effects cs6.

      I'm on a pc.

       

      My current solutions:

      When it's Problem number 1 I make sure to place my clip in a layer far up before replacing it with an After Effects composition so that I know I'll have space below it so that I won't have to move it up (for example if I do a mask in after effects I need space below it in premiere pro so that I can place the footage I want below) If possible I also try to make the sequence longer than it needs to be so that I have some space to work right and left.  (I can trim the linked composition in Premiere pro and use most tools)

       

      If it's problem number 2 I resort to either exporting it out of After Effects and then importing it into Premiere Pro but that's not always an option since I need to be able to apply changes in After Effects while viewing the results in Prmiere Pro.

      Another option is to use any kind of footage to use "replace with After Effects composition", delete that footage from the new After Effects composition and copy and paste into it whatever I worked on in the previos composition which wouln't drop into Premiere sequence,

       

       

      Another problem with using "replace with After Effects compostion" is that your now dynamicly linked compostion gets a wierd name (project name+number) which you can't change. So I really want to be able to use "import After Effects composition" so that I can change the name to whatever I want.

       

       

      I'm sorry if I'm unclear at any point and I don't know what more information could be helpful but please don't hesitate to ask if you think you might be able to help but would like to know some more details.

      I would greatly appreciate any and all insight.

      Lisa

        • 1. Re: Dynamic link problem
          Mark Mapes Employee Hosts

          First, kudos on a nice, thorough report!

          Have you tried closing AE when you're working with a comp in PPro, and vice versa? That should not be necessary, but other users have reported that is yields better behavior.

          Also, when you run into these problems, I'd try rebooting the system. I'm thinking that something is causing dynamiclinkmanager to get into a bad state. Rebooting will let you start with a clean slate. Again, this is just a troubleshooting step; I'm not suggesting it as a workaround.

          Please be more specific about the version of both programs that you're running. The latest version of PPro CS6 is 6.0.5; AE is 11.0.4.

           

          The detail that you use the same content over and over again makes my spidey-sense tingle. I honestly don't have a well-defined hypothesis of what could go awry, but it's worth working with some "fresh" content in a new AE comp and a new PPro project. Since the issues you're wrestling with occur more often than not, it shouldn't take long to see whether you run into the same problems with new content.

          • 2. Re: Dynamic link problem
            umustbejoking Community Member

            Thank you for your reply!

            I just tried closing down AE and lo and behold, I can move my linked comps again! I can't believe I have not made this connection earlier but it might be because I'm a bit hesitant to close down AE while working since that sometimes (probably half of the time) turn my linked comps offline, But right now it's working fine so I am really grateful for your reply!

             

            I also tried linking clips from a bunch of different sources  and it all gets the same result, when both programs are running I can not move the comps in my Premiere timeline but once I close down AE it works.

             

            But here's the kink, I also tried opening up a completely new project both in PP and AE and the problem does not occur at all. That tells me there's something wrong with my projects. Or rather something going wrong with them because they all seem to work fine in the beginning and then after editing for a while the problem starts to occur.

            I do work inside the same project for a long time and I have multiple projects inside a project (ie multiple compositions).

             

            I'm not sure how to be more specific about what versions I'm running. The only information I can find is that I'm running Premiere pro cs6 and After Effects cs6. I bought the Production Premium cs6 creative suit the summer of 2012 I think if that tells you anything? How do I check this?

             

            Now that we know a bit more about when the problem occurs is there a way to fix it?

            It's great that I can now move the comps around when AE is closed but the whole idea with the Dynamic link for me is that I can work on fx and details in AE while seeing it update in PP and that sometimes include moving the comp around when getting the timing down and so I don't want to have to close AE down to be able to move a comp one frame back and then having to open AE up again to keep working on the fx.

            I do music videos of sorts so this is a problem that occurs all of the time for me. I constantly work with the dynamic link and lately I've started to lean a bit toward going with simpler options of fx inside of PP becuse it's been such a hassel working with the dyanim link.

             

            It's a lot easier and better now that, with your help, I've figured out that closing down AE allows me to move around my comps but I would still love to solve this problem for real and also figure out why this seem to happen to pretty much every single one of my projects a while into editing.

             

            With rebooting do you just mean to close down my programs and restarting my computer? Or do you mean to reinstall the programs? If it's the former then I do that all of the time and it does not work.

            It might also be worth mentioning that I think I had the same problem with my old laptop (I'm on a desktop right now) but I'm not completely sure although I could check that.

             

            Thank you again for your very helpful reply and I hope that we can get to the bottom with this!

            Lisa

            • 3. Re: Dynamic link problem
              Mark Mapes Employee Hosts

              The precise version number is displayed in the About box for each app, which you access through the Help menu on Windows.

              By rebooting I meant closing programs and restarting the computer.

              On Monday I'll ask around to see whether this is a known issue and, if so, whether there's a fix or workaround.

              • 4. Re: Dynamic link problem
                umustbejoking Community Member

                Premiere Pro version 6.0.0

                After Effects version 11.0.0.378

                 

                Thank you so much for your help, I appreciate it!

                • 5. Re: Dynamic link problem
                  Mark Mapes Employee Hosts

                  I recommend updating both programs to the latest CS6 version. That should be as simple as clicking Updates in the Help menu. Then let us know if the DynamicLink issue is resolved.

                  More broadly, I strongly recommend applying updates as they're released. That goes not only for Premiere Pro and After Effects or Adobe apps but all software--programs, operating systems, plugins.... Patches generally include fixes for critical bugs that we either didn't have time to fix for the Gold Master (or "GM") release or that surfaced after customers started using the GM release in the real world.

                  • 6. Re: Dynamic link problem
                    umustbejoking Community Member

                    I'll update them right away then, hopefully that will solve the problem. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

                    • 7. Re: Dynamic link problem
                      umustbejoking Community Member

                      Hi again!

                      So now I've updated my programs and rebooted the computer but the problem still remains. It works fine when I've got AE closed down but as soon at both PP and AE are open at the same time I can not move the linked comps at all.

                      Any idea what could be causing this and how to fix it?

                      • 8. Re: Dynamic link problem
                        Sekhar Ravinutala Community Member

                        I found that even though you can't drag it into an existing sequence, if you select the imported AE project and ask to create a new sequence with it, it works. Not exactly what you want, but it's a workaround since you can copy/paste the other stuff back into this new sequence. Looks like a bug to me since clearly PP is able to create a sequence with the AE project without having to close AE. I'll report it when I get a chance.