After Effects cs4 note

IMPORT AND ORGANIZE SOURCE

Things get more complicated if you are dealing with multiple

image sequences in a single folder. If you’ve never run

into this or can simply keep the practice of one sequence

per folder, great, skip ahead. Otherwise, it’s better to use

the Import dialog.

With the Import dialog, it doesn’t matter which specifi c

image in a sequence you select; they are all imported

provided you select only one. By holding the Shift or Ctrl

(Cmd) key as you select more than one frame, however,

you can

. Specify a subset of frames to be imported instead of an

entire a sequence

. Select frames from more than one sequence in the

same folder; a Multiple Sequences checkbox appears to

make certain this is really what you want to do

. Specify sets of frames from multiple sequences (a combination

of the above two modes)

This is, in many ways, a work-around for the fact that the

After Effects importer doesn’t group a frame sequence

together the way other compositing applications do.

By default, if a sequence has missing frames (anywhere

the count doesn’t increment by 1), a color bar pattern is

inserted with the name of the fi le presumed missing, which

helps you track it down (see “Missing Footage,” later in this

chapter).

The Force Alphabetical Order checkbox in the Import

dialog is for cases where the frame does not increment by

1. Say you rendered “on twos,” creating every other frame

from a 3D app; check this box and you avoid color bars on

every other frame.

Want to be rehired repeatedly as a freelancer or be the

hero on your project? Make it easy for someone to open

your project cold and understand how it’s organized.

An ordinary project can be set up like the one shown

often leave only the main composition in the

root area of the project and place everything else in an

appropriate subfolder.On a more ambitious project, it’s worth organizing a project

template so that items are easy to fi nd in predictable

locations. Chapter 4 offers suggestions.

Context-Clicks (and Keyboard Shortcuts)

Stay away from the bar—the top menu bar, that is. I often

refer to context-clicking on interface items. This is “rightclicking”

unless you’re on a Mac laptop or have an ancient

one-button mouse, in which case you can hold down the

Control key. Here’s what happens:

. Context-click a layer in the Timeline for access to the

full Layer menu, minus a few less useful items, such

as the Adobe Encore submenu, and with killer additions

such as Reveal Layer Source in Project and Reveal

Expression Errors.

. Context-click on a layer in a Composition viewer for

many of the same items, plus the Select option at the

bottom of the menu, which gives you all of the items

below your pointer (Figure 1.6).

. Context-click a panel tab to reveal the panel’s menu

(also found at the upper right), where a bunch of

options that even advanced After Effects users hardly

know exist can be found, such as the View Options for a

Composition viewer.

. Context-click an item in the Project panel to, among

other things, reveal it in the Finder or Explorer.

Having these kinds of options right under cursor keeps you

focused.

Missing Footage

After Effects will link to any source footage fi le that can be

found on your system or network, source which can easily

become unlinked if anything moves or changes. To relink

an item, fi nd it in the Project panel and double-click it (or

Ctrl+H/Cmd+H), or context-click and choose Replace

Footage > File.

This is also a surreptitious way to replace a source fi le

without any fuss or bother. If instead you need only to

reload or update a source, context-click and choose

Reload Footage (Ctrl+Alt+L/Cmd+Option+L). You can

even edit a fi le in its source application and update it automatically

in After Effects with Edit > Edit Original (Ctrl+E/

Cmd+E), as long as you don’t try anything tricky like saving

it as a new fi le.

Sometimes it’s diffi cult to locate a missing fi le or frame in

your project. You may have used the Find Missing Footage

checkbox in previous versions, and you may wonder where

it has gone. You’re not alone.

To search for particular types of footage in your project,

including missing source, use search (Ctrl+F/Cmd+F)

in the Project panel and the following commands

. missing is the replacement for the Find Missing Footage

checkbox

. unused gets you all of the source that isn’t in any comp

. used

. Text strings that appear in the Project panel (say, tif

or Aug 26)

Make sure to check out that last one; it’s a totally new

option in After Effects CS4. The date column in the Project

panel may be hidden by default; context-click to reveal

it, then type in yesterday’s date using a three-letter month

abbreviation; the Project panel now displays only the items

that were introduced or updated yesterday.

Unrecognized fi le formats are grayed out in the After

Effect Import dialog. Typically, adding a missing threecharacter

extension solves this, although some obscure

formats simply do not work cross-platform (for example,

Mac-generated PICT on Windows); see the “Source Formats”

section later in this chapter for the most useful and

universal file types to use.

Because every project is likely to be moved or archived at

some point (you are making backups, right?), it’s best to

keep all source material in one master folder; this helps

After Effects automatically relink all of the related fi les it

fi nds there at once, thus avoiding a lot of tedium for you.