Adobe Dynamic Link Overview Tool Review

by Jenna Lovato

Description

Dynamic Link for Adobe allows an editor to easily share assets between After Effects and Premiere Pro without having to render and export your composition.

Access

Dynamic Link works easily between After Effects and Pro. To start a linked composition from PP, right click the clip(s) in your timeline you want to use to start your composition and select "send to AE". If you have a project open already, DL will automatically open and create a new linked comp containing your clip. If not, a new After Effects project will open. Do your stuff in After Effects, and save your work. When you switch back to Premiere Pro, your linked comp will automatically update with your changes! You can also start a linked composition from scratch in Premiere by going to File > Adobe Dynamic Link > New After Effects Composition. If you want to link an existing comp in After Effects, you can import or open After Effects projects through the Premiere menu. You can also drag a comp directly into Premiere from After Effects.

Sample Usage

Here we have a timeline in Premiere:

Select the clips you want to send to After Effects, right click and select "Replace With After Effects Composition.

After Effects will then load and ask you to create a new project (if one was not already open).

Tada! Your assets have now been copied into After Effects, along with most changes and effects made in Premiere. Make any additional changes in After Effects and save.

After saving, switch back to Premiere to find your changes automatically updated. (Notice how your selection has now been converted to a pink clip inside Premiere, or linked composition)

Tips, tricks, and tutorials

After Effects will make this new composition exactly the length it was in Premiere. If you plan on dissolving to or from the linked composition, moving your selected clips out of place and adding some pad to either end of the selection is a good idea before converting it to a linked composition. You may also want to copy your selection into another track in your Premiere timeline before converting for safety in case something goes wrong.

What the Tool Does Well

This can be an excellent time saver. You can quickly make changes without rendering and exporting out the comp in After Effects.

What it Does Poorly

Can seriously slow down your workflow. Can increase your render time exponentially. Sometimes closingAfter Effects can cause the links to break, making the user re-link the compositions before continuing. More recently, having After Effects open while rendering in Premiere greatly increases render time.

What happens when you...

You cannot create a linked composition out of a linked composition in Premiere.

Additional Resources

Straight from Adobe:

http://helpx.adobe.com/en/premiere-pro/using/dynamic-link.html