Working on Premiere Pro CS3 projects in After Effects at DVinfo.net

Tim Bickford · December 1st, 2007, 07:28 PM

Hi-

I use P-Pro CS3 and would like to be able to color correct and add effects in After Effects 7.

When I import my P-Pro project into AE any color correction or effects that I used in P-Pro are gone. Sometimes AE does not let me import the P-Pro project.

What is the best method for seamless transision from P-Pro CS3 to AE-7. Should I be looking at an upgrade to the next rev of AE?

Thanks

Stephen Armour · December 1st, 2007, 08:28 PM

Everything comes in just beautifully into AE CS3 from PP3. That's the way to fly! You'll never look back...and we're doing 1080p projects and large stills with some complex stuff. Setup is still easier in PP3, then just import the whole project into AE CS3 and it comes in with almost everything...except mostly titles. Be sure to check things out carefully though, you never know.

Overall, it's a very nice workflow, especially for color correction, but you should keep your projects smaller, especially anything with HD video and high res stills.

Tim Bickford · December 1st, 2007, 10:09 PM

Stephen,

Thank you.. sounds like it works great!

Can you go back to p-pro after you render the effects in AE-CS3 to do some tweaking?

Thanks...

Tim

Stephen Armour · December 2nd, 2007, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Bickford

Stephen,

Thank you.. sounds like it works great!

Can you go back to p-pro after you render the effects in AE-CS3 to do some tweaking?

Thanks...

Tim

Tim, in our workflow, we usually just drop the CF rendered AVI back into PP3 right in the spot it replaces, as it lightens the memory problem when working with HD video.

But you certainly can link them and open the AE project back up directly from PP3 if you need to do any tweaks. If we were doing lighter stuff, we for sure would do it that way, as the workflow is a bit faster. But with the huge stills, HD video and somewhat heavy effects we sometimes use, it's faster to just do as little of the processing in PP3 as possible. Even in AE, with very large stills, we try to resize to only what we actually need for the comp.

When Adobe finally has a 64bit version of all their apps, we'll probably do it that way...unless we're doing 4K or 3D video by then ;)

Brian Parker · December 14th, 2007, 01:46 AM

Here is how I work between both programs:

I make a lot of video lectures where I have a lecturer in the foreground and animated titles and pics in the bg. The lecturer's voice is always present, but he/she fades out after making important points, so that students can focus on the bg visuals. My Premiere/ AE workflow is something like this:

Capture the lecturer video. Do a basic edit in Premiere and choose the points where the speaker will fade in/out. Put a black video on a separate layer, and marker it with all the points where i need bg titles to come in/out. Copy all the video clips (including the black videos) and paste them into an AE comp. In AE, create all the titles at the marker points.

Back in Premiere, import the AE comp as a dynamic linked clip. Turn off the visiblility of the orignal clips, but keep them there for safety. Playback the lecture to check that titles synch to what's being said. Make adjustments in AE and playback in Premiere to check.

When it's all ok, export the audio tracks as wavs and touch up in Soundbooth or audition. Then go to AE and export the comp. Finally go to premiere and replace the dynamic link clips with the AE exported videos.

Brian Parker · December 14th, 2007, 01:57 AM

The only problem I have with the above workflow is when I playback the AE dynamic linked comp in Premiere and realise that I want to change the timing of clips on the premiere timeline. For example, I realise that I need longer pauses for the viewer to read the titles, before the lecturer starts speaking again.

In this case, I have to make the timing changes on the Premiere timline to the orignal video clips, and then copy and paste them into AE again. Then, in AE, I have to tediously make all the bg titles etc. match the new timing of the video.

To make this easier on myself, I split even short lectures into scenes, and edit the scenes as independant modules, so that when I want to readjust the timing of one part, I dont have to redo the timing of every layer after that point for the whole of the rest of the video.

Mike McCarthy · December 14th, 2007, 02:51 AM

You might be interested in knowing that the Zero key on the numberpad allows you to play back segments of your AE timeline in realtime, with audio I believe. (Set the work area, and lower the resolution and bitdepth to increase the length of the cache) This should allow you to do a lot of your sync work in AE, without switching back and forth. I am assuming you are doing something special with your titles and that they are not at all static. If they are, you should be able to adjust them directly in Premiere.

Brian Parker · December 17th, 2007, 08:24 PM

Yes, I ram preview if to check for complicated parts, but ram previewing is only really good for very short segments. Often I cant get a feel for whether the titles are long enough, until I watch the whole thing, or at least long stretches of it.

The titles have basic movement. Generally just words highlighting, or model essays etc. that scroll or have annotations that come in over time.

December 1st, 2007, 07:28 PM	#1
Tim Bickford Major Player Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 448	Working on Premiere Pro CS3 projects in After Effects Hi- I use P-Pro CS3 and would like to be able to color correct and add effects in After Effects 7. When I import my P-Pro project into AE any color correction or effects that I used in P-Pro are gone. Sometimes AE does not let me import the P-Pro project. What is the best method for seamless transision from P-Pro CS3 to AE-7. Should I be looking at an upgrade to the next rev of AE? Thanks __________________ Tim Bickford

December 1st, 2007, 08:28 PM	#2
Stephen Armour Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Natal, RN, Brasil Posts: 900	Everything comes in just beautifully into AE CS3 from PP3. That's the way to fly! You'll never look back...and we're doing 1080p projects and large stills with some complex stuff. Setup is still easier in PP3, then just import the whole project into AE CS3 and it comes in with almost everything...except mostly titles. Be sure to check things out carefully though, you never know. Overall, it's a very nice workflow, especially for color correction, but you should keep your projects smaller, especially anything with HD video and high res stills. __________________ http://lightinaction.org "All in the view of the LION"

December 1st, 2007, 10:09 PM	#3
Tim Bickford Major Player Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 448	Stephen, Thank you.. sounds like it works great! Can you go back to p-pro after you render the effects in AE-CS3 to do some tweaking? Thanks... Tim __________________ Tim Bickford

December 14th, 2007, 01:46 AM	#5
Brian Parker Major Player Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Tokyo Posts: 230	Premiere/ AE workflow Here is how I work between both programs: I make a lot of video lectures where I have a lecturer in the foreground and animated titles and pics in the bg. The lecturer's voice is always present, but he/she fades out after making important points, so that students can focus on the bg visuals. My Premiere/ AE workflow is something like this: Capture the lecturer video. Do a basic edit in Premiere and choose the points where the speaker will fade in/out. Put a black video on a separate layer, and marker it with all the points where i need bg titles to come in/out. Copy all the video clips (including the black videos) and paste them into an AE comp. In AE, create all the titles at the marker points. Back in Premiere, import the AE comp as a dynamic linked clip. Turn off the visiblility of the orignal clips, but keep them there for safety. Playback the lecture to check that titles synch to what's being said. Make adjustments in AE and playback in Premiere to check. When it's all ok, export the audio tracks as wavs and touch up in Soundbooth or audition. Then go to AE and export the comp. Finally go to premiere and replace the dynamic link clips with the AE exported videos.

December 14th, 2007, 02:51 AM	#7
Mike McCarthy Major Player Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Northern California Posts: 517	You might be interested in knowing that the Zero key on the numberpad allows you to play back segments of your AE timeline in realtime, with audio I believe. (Set the work area, and lower the resolution and bitdepth to increase the length of the cache) This should allow you to do a lot of your sync work in AE, without switching back and forth. I am assuming you are doing something special with your titles and that they are not at all static. If they are, you should be able to adjust them directly in Premiere. __________________ For more information on these topics, check out my tech website at www.hd4pc.com

December 14th, 2007, 01:57 AM	#6
Brian Parker Major Player Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Tokyo Posts: 230	The only problem I have with the above workflow is when I playback the AE dynamic linked comp in Premiere and realise that I want to change the timing of clips on the premiere timeline. For example, I realise that I need longer pauses for the viewer to read the titles, before the lecturer starts speaking again. In this case, I have to make the timing changes on the Premiere timline to the orignal video clips, and then copy and paste them into AE again. Then, in AE, I have to tediously make all the bg titles etc. match the new timing of the video. To make this easier on myself, I split even short lectures into scenes, and edit the scenes as independant modules, so that when I want to readjust the timing of one part, I dont have to redo the timing of every layer after that point for the whole of the rest of the video.

December 17th, 2007, 08:24 PM	#8
Brian Parker Major Player Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Tokyo Posts: 230	Yes, I ram preview if to check for complicated parts, but ram previewing is only really good for very short segments. Often I cant get a feel for whether the titles are long enough, until I watch the whole thing, or at least long stretches of it. The titles have basic movement. Generally just words highlighting, or model essays etc. that scroll or have annotations that come in over time.