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Forum Discussion
Dropbox Smart Sync doesn't work for image sequences in After Effects
Hi, whenever I open an After Effects project from coworkers which uses linked image sequences that I haven't yet synchronized locally, the Dropbox smart sync feature fails to sync the whole image...
Walter
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHey lennartl - sorry to jump in here, but could you post a screenshot of the exact error you're seeing?
A visual of that would definitely help us assist further.
Also, does this happen with Online Only files only or is it affecting local ones as well?
A visual of that would definitely help us assist further.
Also, does this happen with Online Only files only or is it affecting local ones as well?
Hi Walter,
here you go:
This message pops up for every image sequence. The image sequences are shown with broken links afterwards inside the project
Not sure what you mean with Online Only. The image sequences that are linked inside the After Effects projects are not local. That is the case especially when I open projects that have been created by coworkers. What smart sync should do is syncing all necessary files within the After Effects project locally when i open the project so that I can owork with it. It does that correctly for e.g. single .jpg files or .mp4 files but whenever an image sequence (e.g. file_0001.png, file_0002.png ...) is linked inside the project it doesn't automatically sync the whole sequence.
Best,
Lennart
- WalterThanks for the additional information and the screenshots as well lennartl
Could you clarify the size of those files and if they do sync after all? Also, does adjusting your bandwidth through the app's preferences makes any difference?
Any additional information is more than welcome, Lennart.Hi Walter,
yes they do sync if I initiate the syncing process manually by selecting the folder or files in the windows explorer and clicking "smart sync -> local". When I open the After Effects project then again everything is working fine. This workaround is just very tedious and time-consuming if the project has a lot of image sequences (which is often the case) and I would appreciate Dropbox to automatically do with via smart sync as it does it for all other files. The file size of single images range around 5-10 MB. Summing up to around 5 GB for an 30 second image sequence. The file size shouldn't be an issue as the smart sync works if there is an uncompressed video file (with >5 GB) linked in the After Effects project.
Changing bandwidth through preferences doesn't help. It's at "unlimited".
Best,
Lennart
As additional information: We have 5 video editors in the team and everyone is experiencing this issue. So it is also not a problem caused by my machine or setup apparently.
Hey Walter . This isn't resolved yet. Please let us know how we can fix this or explain how we can create a work around.
This isn't acceptable as a business customer and we are considering switching back to OneDrive where this wasn't an issue.
Best,
Lennart
- WalterThanks for the nudge on this one lennartl
It seems that the issue is that the files you're working on need some time to become local on your machine in order for the After Effects to retrieve them.
All I can suggest in this case would be keeping the files you're working on often locally on your device -instead of online only- to ensure that After Effects can retrieve the whole file when trying to edit it.
Once you're done with your edits, you can set it to be online only again, if needed.
I hope this helps.
