Adobe Dynamic Link -- Working or Not?

[D. A. Metrov]

Hi,

I'm working with 4k files in Premiere Pro. I have some shots done with green screen. The chroma key in PrePro doesn't seem to work nearly as well as KeyLight in AE. I've removed the green screen bg in AE, but am having no success getting it back into PrePro. I've imported the PrePro sequence into AE, then removed the green background. But the change IS NOT reflected in PrePro as promised. If I import the new AE compostion into PrePro, then PrePro says it can't find the original source material. Neither way seems to work.

Is anyone else having any luck using Adobe Dynamic Link?

Is there something I might be doing wrong? All the tutorial movies I've watched say that any changes in AE should be instantly reflected in PrePro.

Also, I can't "import" R3D files directly into AE. AE says the file type is not supported [even thought the RED plugin is installed, and shows up under "Edit/RED settings."]

Any thoughts/help much appreciated. Thanks

[Mark L. Pederson]

Hi,

I'm working with 4k files in Premiere Pro. I have some shots done with green screen. The chroma key in PrePro doesn't seem to work nearly as well as KeyLight in AE. I've removed the green screen bg in AE, but am having no success getting it back into PrePro. I've imported the PrePro sequence into AE, then removed the green background. But the change IS NOT reflected in PrePro as promised. If I import the new AE compostion into PrePro, then PrePro says it can't find the original source material. Neither way seems to work.

Is anyone else having any luck using Adobe Dynamic Link?

Is there something I might be doing wrong? All the tutorial movies I've watched say that any changes in AE should be instantly reflected in PrePro.

Also, I can't "import" R3D files directly into AE. AE says the file type is not supported [even thought the RED plugin is installed, and shows up under "Edit/RED settings."]

Any thoughts/help much appreciated. Thanks

what version of AE are you running? You must have the 9.0.1 update.

and NO, you can't import directly into AE - you import into PrePro - then dynamic link into AE

[D. A. Metrov]

Well, somehow I missed that update. Thanks.

However, I've installed the update; now running AE 9.0.1. Still experiencing problems. The only way I've been able to achieve any success was to do the following:

1 -- In PremPro, go to Adobe Link, and create New AE Comp. That opens AE.
2 -- But the AE comp has nothing in it, so I import the PremPro Sequence.
3 -- Then use Key Light to remove my greenscreen bg.
4 -- Then when I try to "save," AE asks me to "save as," instead. So I save as a NEW comp.
5 -- Then THAT comp shows up in PremPro.
6 -- I drag it to the timeline, and success!

But...now my timeline won't play at all, so I exit AE in order to recover some RAM. Then suddenly, PremPro tells me it can't find the Key Light footage any more.

So I open AE again, then AE tells me it can't find any footage whatsoever... (you know, when you just get those color bars, etc.) with a warning message that several hundred files are suddenly missing. Which raises another question: Why did AE import several hundred clips when there are only two being used in the Key Light sequence?

At any rate, everything appears lost.

What a major pain in the butt, I'm thinking.

I wonder if I'm doing something wrong, or if Adobe Dynamic Link is simply not working with RED. Any other experiences?

I'm beginning to think that I'm going to have to assemble my film in different sequences -- then import those sequences into AE -- line them up in order -- then implement FX like Key Light, then render. i.e. forget Adobe Dynamic Link.

Additional info re: my project:

1 -- Win Vista 64 bit; Dual Quad Processors; 8 GB Ram
2 -- Editing a short film that will be about 15 minutes long

Thanks

[Uli Plank]

Could it be Vista? Seems to work for me on XP.

[D. A. Metrov]

Really?! Working on XP. Shucks. Maybe that's why Adobe recommends XP on their website. Well, I hope they have an update soon. Thanks

[Uli Plank]

I would always recommend XP over Vista ;-)

[D. A. Metrov]

I would have, also... until I got Vista. I actually like it a lot, plus it can handle more memory and other power upgrades.

Any Vista users having success [or not] with Adobe Dynamic Link?

Thanks

[Eric Addison]

1 -- In PremPro, go to Adobe Link, and create New AE Comp. That opens AE.
2 -- But the AE comp has nothing in it, so I import the PremPro Sequence.


I think this is where you're running into the problem. That workflow is perfect if you want to create titles or graphics or something else new. You'd do exactly what you did, then create your animation (or whatever), hit save, and when you went back into PPro, you'd see the new AE project in your bin.

Are you using CS4? If so, here's what you need to do:

For what your doing, you should do your edit in PPro, then select the clip (or clips) you need to key, right mouse click and choose "Replace with After Effects Composition" - it should then open up AE with that clip (or clips depending on how many you select), and you can then start keying. All your work in AE should now be reflected in PPro. What this will do to collapse all your clips on the timeline in PPro into one subclip, so you may want to make this your final step if you may need to make changes after (or just copy the pre-keyed timeline to another sequence).

You can see this demo'ed in this video...go in to around 2:35 to see it.

http://tv.adobe.com/#vi+f1555v1713

[joshtownsend]

The Adobe whitepaper about working with RED filed suggests Vista 64 specifically.

[D. A. Metrov]

Hey, thanks so much for the tips. I will try out Eric's procedure ASAP, and check out the video.

[Tai Wah Lim]

The Adobe whitepaper about working with RED filed suggests Vista 64 specifically.

Yes, Vista64 works well. Plenty of rams are needed. Very tempted to try the new Windows 7 64. Lim

[D. A. Metrov]

For what your doing, you should do your edit in PPro, then select the clip (or clips) you need to key, right mouse click and choose "Replace with After Effects Composition" - it should then open up AE with that clip (or clips depending on how many you select), and you can then start keying. All your work in AE should now be reflected in PPro.


Well, this almost worked for me except for two problems:

1) After choosing "Replace with After Effects Comp," PrePro crashed... just froze ["This program is not responding."] I then realized that AE had opened behind PrePro with my selected clip. AE asked me to "save" which I did. I keyed my clip, then found that PrePro had become responsive again, and indeed my clip was also keyed in PrePro. Excited, I "saved" everything.

2) Then I closed AE, and immediately got the color bars in PrePro telling me it could not find the footage. I re-opened AE, and AE also told me it could no longer find the footage.

So, I'm wondering, hmmmmm, what could be the problem? I watched the tutorial video. Am I missing something?

And yes, I'm running CS4 on a Vista 64bit with 8GB Ram.

Any additional tips welcome. Thanks!

[Eric Addison]

That's interesting...I've done that procedure before, and the footage always relinks. Although with RED footage, one thing I've found is that once you do it, the footage opens up in AE at its native resolution, and then it links back into PPro at that resolution...which means that working at a lower resoultion isn't possible anymore once linked...

Make sure you save all your projects, and it should relink...

[D. A. Metrov]

I have made sure to "save" thoroughly. However, I am working in PrePro at 1/4 resolution. So if, when opening AE, RED goes to full rez, then it can't maintain the link to PrePro. Hmmmm

[Eric Addison]

If it is loosing the link the only thing I can think of is that the project files have moved, or become offline, or the footage files have moved,or are somehow not being seen by PPro and AE.

Try doing a test (if you haven't already) with all the files involved living in the same folder on the same drive...maybe try it with some DV footage.

Just to let you know, it's working here with CS4 and Vista 64.

As for the resoultion change, I'm hoping the someone from RED knows about this and will respond, or they will fix this in the next release...they're a smart bunch - I'm sure they're aware of it.

[D. A. Metrov]

1 -- I am positive no files, folders, or footage have been moved. I realize that would mean, of course, neither AE nor PrePro would be able to find them.

2 -- Just did a test making sure my RED files were in full rez before doing "Replace with After Effects Composition." Same results. After saving, then exiting AE, and PrePro, then opening them again, neither one can find the source files.

Since Dynamic Link is working for others, I'm getting the feeling I may have to re-install both programs.

Anyway thanks so much for the feedback.

[Kei Sugimoto]

Although I haven't edited a real RED project on Premiere yet, I experimented to see if I would bump into the same problem.

Computer: Home built PC, Vista 64, Single 2.83Ghz Core 2 Quad, 8GB

1. I did a clean install of CS4 Production Premium and used the update feature to install all updates.

2. Download and install the RED importer and install. (for both Prem and AE)

From there I just followed the instructions on this thread and it is working fine with the following quirks.

1. As stated earlier in the thread, it seems like AE only likes 4K files. If I set it to 1K, I end up with a cropped video. I see only the 1K center of the original 4K footage.

2. Strangely the brightness/contrast of the footage is off, giving the video a white, washed out look. It looks like a color space interpretation problem? If I adjust the brightness/contrast, the footage looks back to normal by a rough
eyeing.

Hope this information is helpful.

[Kei Sugimoto]

I think Dynamic link only works if you install the whole CS4 suite together. When I was using CS3, dynamic link stopped working when I install / uninstall / reinstalled any of the individual components. I haven't tried this with CS4, but I assume you have to install the whole package as a whole.