Compositions

[malkowskia93429702]

HI!!! Please help! I'm so sleepy and can't for the life of me figure this out.

Okay, so here's my issue.

I got a mock instagram feed template, the composition has three posts. I want to add a bunch more. However, whenever I control+D the layer it changes the one before it as well. So I need to make a unique one, I swear this can't be that hard. What am I not getting .

Thank you so much!

[Mylenium]

You need to duplicate stuff in the project window, including any associated pre-comps. It might be good to read the AE help instead of blindly diving into a downloaded template and following incomplete instructions (or none at all).

Mylenium

[malkowskia93429702]

Thanks for the response. I did duplicate in the project window, however the elements are linked and so when I edit the duplicated item the one that it was duplicated from also changes. They're linked on some level, but I can't figure out why

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

First, you have to figure out what in the Instagram 4_post you want to duplicate. We have no idea because you didn't include a flow chart or a timeline in your screen capture. My guess is that there are some nested comps inside that comp so you'll have to duplicate all of the nested comps and then replace them in your duplicate Instagram 5_post comp.

After Effects never changes original assets. You have to do that when you duplicate. Duplicating anything in a timeline has no effect on the original source. As my friend Mylenium suggested, it's time to do some studying. When you learn how the software works it's a lot easier to figure out your problems. When duplicating comps, if you do not use a dedicated script specifically designed for the task, your first step should be to look at the flowchart for that comp and figure out where all of the assets in the comp are coming from.

[Kyle Hamrick]

There's also a decent chance that the template is making use of expressions to make it easier for novice users to edit. (There very well may be locked/hidden layers throughout as well.) These features are great for ease of use, not so much for trying to alter the project.
Regarding templates, my advice for most people is "be prepared to use it EXACTLY as it is, or... get ready for some pain."

[Kyle Hamrick]

(You can see if expressions are involved by pressing EE in a comp. If you do that, and suddenly there are 100 lines of scary code that you hadn't seen there before... you might be in for some major detective work.)

[dbDavideBoscolo]

This could help:

True Comp Duplicator - aescripts + aeplugins - aescripts.com