Shortening AE Project Run Time... but NOT just speeding it up... at DVinfo.net

Julian Frost · March 25th, 2014, 11:07 PM

Hi,

I have an AE animation that consists of many layers/comps, which I purchased from Digital Juice. The project is 30 seconds in duration, and has places where I can drop in clips of my own videos, so that they're integrated into the final rendering.

The problem is, the original project is too long. I need it to be, say 20 seconds, rather than 30 seconds. I can't simply cut the project after 20 seconds, as I need the entire animation intact.

I could render the project out and increase it's playback speed so that it only takes 20 seconds, but that would also speed up the clips that are integrated into the project, making people appear to move much faster than normal!

What I need to know how to do, is to decrease the duration of the original project, while making sure that the various effects (etc) "shift" correctly in relation to the other assets in the project. In other words, the overall length of the project becomes 20 seconds... the text still flies on at a point that is 15% into the video, and flies out at a point 30% into the video, the lower third fades in at a point 50% into the video, on out at a point 60%... just as they did when the video was 30 seconds long. After everything in the project has been "shrunk", with all assets and effects moved correctly, I can further edit the project by adding in my clips. When I render the project, the initial animation will be faster, but all my embedded clips will play back at their normal speed because they were NOT part of the time remapping of the original project.

Hopefully I've made myself clear! Is there a way to do this?

Finn Yarbrough · March 26th, 2014, 07:06 AM

You could try slowing down your video clips by the inverse of how much you will ultimately speed up the animation. It's a dirty fix, but should work.

In other words, you know that you're going to cut the length of the final comp in half (200%), just slow all of the clips in your pre-comp down to 50% before you drop them in. That way, upon output, it all comes out looking right.

Murray Christian · April 21st, 2014, 11:57 AM

I'm only a month late, but hey...

If I understand the problem (and I'm not sure I do) if you go through and select every animated property in every layer of the animation you want to adjust, then hold down Alt and grab whichever keyframe is last in the animation you can adjust the length of the animation and all the other keyframes will move relative to that length.
(there might even be an easier way to do this).

If you're dealing with moving shapes and elements with this method however, you will be in effect speeding them up as you will be shortening time it takes an animation to play.

If the project is set up to be nice and flexible there might be a control layer on which you can do this and leave the speed of the sub compositions untouched.

March 25th, 2014, 11:07 PM	#1
Julian Frost Major Player Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: California USA Posts: 576	Shortening AE Project Run Time... but NOT just speeding it up... Hi, I have an AE animation that consists of many layers/comps, which I purchased from Digital Juice. The project is 30 seconds in duration, and has places where I can drop in clips of my own videos, so that they're integrated into the final rendering. The problem is, the original project is too long. I need it to be, say 20 seconds, rather than 30 seconds. I can't simply cut the project after 20 seconds, as I need the entire animation intact. I could render the project out and increase it's playback speed so that it only takes 20 seconds, but that would also speed up the clips that are integrated into the project, making people appear to move much faster than normal! What I need to know how to do, is to decrease the duration of the original project, while making sure that the various effects (etc) "shift" correctly in relation to the other assets in the project. In other words, the overall length of the project becomes 20 seconds... the text still flies on at a point that is 15% into the video, and flies out at a point 30% into the video, the lower third fades in at a point 50% into the video, on out at a point 60%... just as they did when the video was 30 seconds long. After everything in the project has been "shrunk", with all assets and effects moved correctly, I can further edit the project by adding in my clips. When I render the project, the initial animation will be faster, but all my embedded clips will play back at their normal speed because they were NOT part of the time remapping of the original project. Hopefully I've made myself clear! Is there a way to do this?

March 26th, 2014, 07:06 AM	#2
Finn Yarbrough Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Ferrisburgh, VT Posts: 179	Re: Shortening AE Project Run Time... but NOT just speeding it up... You could try slowing down your video clips by the inverse of how much you will ultimately speed up the animation. It's a dirty fix, but should work. In other words, you know that you're going to cut the length of the final comp in half (200%), just slow all of the clips in your pre-comp down to 50% before you drop them in. That way, upon output, it all comes out looking right. __________________ http://www.earthhouseproductions.com

April 21st, 2014, 11:57 AM	#3
Murray Christian Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 240	Re: Shortening AE Project Run Time... but NOT just speeding it up... I'm only a month late, but hey... If I understand the problem (and I'm not sure I do) if you go through and select every animated property in every layer of the animation you want to adjust, then hold down Alt and grab whichever keyframe is last in the animation you can adjust the length of the animation and all the other keyframes will move relative to that length. (there might even be an easier way to do this). If you're dealing with moving shapes and elements with this method however, you will be in effect speeding them up as you will be shortening time it takes an animation to play. If the project is set up to be nice and flexible there might be a control layer on which you can do this and leave the speed of the sub compositions untouched.