PP AE dynamic link color grading is slow?

[Hard is Easy]

What is the proper workflow for color grading in Premiere when you have lots of transitions made in AE via dynamic link?

• It's very slow - changing anything in lumi panel and you might have to wait for a while for single frame to load.
• It's hard to find transition point - If you need to grade two clips differently and you have only dynamically linked comp you don't know the point where your grading should change. And what if the clips overlap?

It seems that you need to color grade before going to AE? Or there is a better way?

[Roei Tzoref]

It seems that you need to color grade before going to AE? Or there is a better way?

no. the better way is to not dynamic link anything but simple lower thirds. render your Vfx shots in Ae using a production codec that suits your color depth workflow, and import these clips to Premiere and Grade your shots.

[Hard is Easy]

Thanks for answer,

So, If i'm making a transition I'll need to render two clips into one, but how then i'm going to grade it in AP? Especially if clips overlap in some way?

I'm also using proxies (my original media is 4k) and proxies sync well between AP and AE. Do you render both proxy and high res 4k here? And do that for every transition you make in AE?

[Roei Tzoref]

So, If i'm making a transition I'll need to render two clips into one, but how then i'm going to grade it in AP? Especially if clips overlap in some way?

what kind of transition? you can sometimes create a luma or alpha matte as a transition and use that in premiere for you video. if this cannot be done this way (for example there's certain compositing involved that is using the actual pixels in Ae) and the transition between two clips that need to be color corrected then you can also color correct them in Ae, or first color correct them in Premiere and export to Ae as already color corrected. if you export you vfx in Ae then you export the full 4k, not the proxy. in premiere you can create a proxy from that rendered video if you need too.

we may need more information from you here as to what exactly you are trying to do to give you an educated advice.

[Hard is Easy]

Transitions that I was using are basically clips

scaling, moving, rotating

changing the time (e.g. to speed up to particular point). I find AE ability to key in time remap superior to what you can do in PP.

all that with motion blurs.

I also want to play with alpha transitions (but still learning that).

So yea I'm pretty new to both PP and AE, so big thanks for helping!

[Roei Tzoref]

I find AE ability to key in time remap superior to what you can do in PP.

work like you are most comfortable with of course but I will just give you these notes:

1. you can key TR in Pr too:

https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/3-approaches-for-time-remapping-in-adobe-premiere-pro/

2. you can have motion blur in premiere using the transform effect instead of the default motion transformations:

Automatic Motion Blur in Premiere Pro - PremierePro.net

100% Real Motion Blur in Adobe Premiere Pro - YouTube

[Hard is Easy]

1a. Can you add a blur to keyed TR in PP? I have made this effect in AE (1:40 and 2:40) Yangshuo China Travel    Pure Nature and Climbing - YouTube

1b. Can you make your video to speed up to a particular point and drag that point to match to music beat? (similar to what AE TR allows you to do)?

2. That's amazing - thanks for sharing. This will make my life much easier.

[Roei Tzoref]

1a. Can you add a blur to keyed TR in PP? I have made this effect in AE (1:40 and 2:40) Yangshuo China Travel    Pure Nature and Climbing - YouTube

you can keyframe time remapping in Premiere too and create this type of transition. you will have to explore but this looks pretty easy to pull off.

I would suggest you ask these question in the premiere forum, they will give you all the options you have and then you can make a decision on which tool to use.

[Hard is Easy]

Ok, so back to original question.

Seems that it's best to do as much as possible in PP and avoid dynamic link.

And if you want to Color correct stuff that goes through DL you need to correct it before it goes to AE or you can try render (export) as high resl and bring to AP as a clip and not DL comp?

Any other tips I missed here?

[Roei Tzoref · Accepted solution]

it's best to do as much as possible in PP and avoid dynamic link.

And if you want to Color correct stuff that goes through DL you need to correct it before it goes to AE or you can try render (export) as high resl and bring to AP as a clip and not DL comp?

dynamic link is for small stuff, not heavy stuff. in heavy stuff you should render in Ae and bring it as a rendered clip to Premiere not DL Comp.

the usual workflow is: edit in Premiere, and if there is a clip that demands a compositing that cannot be done in Premiere you export it to Ae (copy paste will do it), work on the shot and render the clip, then replace the original in premiere.

[Rick Gerard]

A pretty standard production workflow using Premiere Pro and color management is to apply a basic LUT to all footage right when it is imported, do all of your editing, break out the VFX shots and work on them in AE or what ever compositing app you are using, render a DI (digital intermediate using a suitable mezzanine codec) and replace the shots in PPro polish the edit in Premiere Pro, polish the sound mix in Audition (if you have not tried that you don't know what you are missing) and then, as a last step, do the color grading.

Even if the original footage came from a smart phone, this workflow is a good idea for several reasons. You want to use the best source source material in every phase of production. This means camera original or a copy of the camera original in a mezzanine codec (one that everyone in the production loop can use) that has not had any of the original data squashed, compressed or in any other way lost. I always use a 10 bit or better DI with 4:4:4 color space if possible for my compositing work. If you use the LUT in AE to help you judge the nearly final look of the shot, but you work with the raw - sometimes log - footage and render to the same format then you'll have more to work with when you do the color grading. Trying to run a dynamically linked composite through color grading in Premiere Pro, or worse yet, trying to match the color grade in AE when the rest of the shot is in Premiere Pro can be a nightmare and work is always really slow.

I hope this helps a bit. Unless you grew up working with work prints and color grading with a colorist as a last step it's really hard to wrap your head around the idea that you are almost always better off doing the final color grade as a last step in the film making process. That doesn't mean you should not try and establish a baseline look for your project early on, it just means that you should not crush the color values in any of your shots before you are ready for the final corrections.