A super newbie question about creating a video using AE

[ThievingKlingon]

Hi! I'm so much of a newbie, I haven't even tried using AE at all but I have a video that I need to get done and I can't think of another program (that I have installed) that can help me do it.

I was actually working on the video using Animate but realized that it won't even publish the file cos it says that it has more than 16,000 frames.

What I need done: a video of a looping animation playing to a music track compilation that runs for approx. 50 mins. At certain points on the timeline, different text will appear.

1) I have created a looping animation in Animate (published as a swf file)

2) I need to import in an audio track in mp3 format

3) At different points in the timeline different text will fade in/out

4) Export this to movie format for uploading to YouTube

May I know how to go about doing that in After Effects?

Your help is much appreciated!!

[Dave_LaRonde]

Use Premiere Pro.  It's better at handling long-duration videos, and it's a LOT easier to learn.

[Peru Bob]

...and convert the mp3 to wav before importing into Premiere Pro.

[ThievingKlingon]

Hi Dave LaRonde and Peru Bob- sorry for the late reply!

Ok I will give Premiere Pro a try. Am I able to animate text within Premiere Pro as well?

[Roei Tzoref]

Am I able to animate text within Premiere Pro as well?

if it's simple enough then yes. (position,rotation,opacity)

[Rick Gerard]

Step 1, create your looping animation so that the loop is seamless

Step 2, bring your looping animation into Premiere Pro and loop the playback, add the music track, add the titles that change

Step 3, export your Premiere Pro sequence to a suitable delivery format using the Media Encoder and one of the standard presets that matches your frame size.

After Effects primary purpose is to do some kind of effects work or animation that cannot be done in a non linear editor like Premiere Pro. Most AE compositions are a single shot, on occasion you would create a short sequence. Longer sequences (edited pieces) are sometimes made by nesting or editing shorter comps in a main or render comp but most of the time shots are rendered and the editing is done in a NLE like Premiere Pro. I have not made a single comp in the last five or six months that has been longer than 7 seconds because I'm working on a dramatic film and most shots in the edited film are under 7 seconds long. I've had comps as short as 10 frames (a gunshot). That's how you efficiently use After Effects.

[ThievingKlingon]

Hi Rick, I will try that out. Thank you so much for the details!

[ThievingKlingon]

Hi Rick!

I went through a Premiere Pro CC tutorial for beginners and I managed to add in my audio track, titles (yay!) and the 30s looping animation clip.

The problem I'm having now is how to continuously and seamless loop this 30s clip for the entire 48 mins video duration?

Do I really have to keep clicking on copy and paste to repeat the same clip over and over again on the timeline, or is there a better way to do it?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Dave_LaRonde]

Simple -- copy & paste.  Add a 30-second clip to the timeline. Add one right after it.  Now you have 2.  Copy those 2 and paste them at the end.  Now you have 4.  Copy & paste those -- now you have 16. Copy & paste those -- now you have 32.

If it takes you more than 3 minutes to get to a half-hour or whatever, you're doing it wrong.

[ThievingKlingon · Accepted solution]

Hi Dave!

Thanks! Do you mean like how it's done in this tutorial?

Premiere Pro Tutorial: How to Seamlessly Loop a Video in Premiere Pro - YouTube