Is is possible to insert numerous videos to timeline automatically 2 seconds before the previous video ends

Question

I'm very, very new to After Effects (using it for 3-4 days now). I have a bunch of videos added to my workspace, they're all of different lengths. Is it possible to somehow automatically insert them to timeline, where each sequential video is inserted 2 seconds before the previous video ends? I.e. if video1 length is 20 seconds, video2 should be inserted at 00:00:18:00 seconds. And if its length, for example, 28 seconds, video3 should be inserted at 00:00:44:00. And if they can do some cross-fading effect - even better! But at least inserting them automatically as described would be a huge time saver for me!

I tried to Google it, but either my search was incorrect, or there are no results for it, but I wasn't able to find anything on that subject. I did find a YT video which explains how a bunch of videos may be automatically inserted one after another, but it depends on videos being the same length, so that's not it.

So is there such possibility, and if there is - how do I do it? Or do I have to arrange all these files manually?

Thank you!

Answer 1

After playing for some time with After Effects I think I found a solution. Here's what I did:

Drag all the videos form workspace to timeline, then select all the videos I want to sequence in the timeline. Right click on the selected files, go to Keyframe Assistant -> Sequence Layers. In the opened window tick the Overlap checkbox and in the duration text insert 0:00:02:00. In the same window you can also set a transition effect. I selected Cross Dissolve Front and Back Layers, and for such a simple project I'm quite happy with the result! It did save me a lot of time!

Perhaps someone will find it helpful!