User manual ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0

Chapter 1: User Guide © 2005 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Copyright Adobe® After Effects® 7.0 User Guide for Windows® and Mac OS If this guide is distributed with software that includes an end user agreement, this guide, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license. Except as permitted by any such license, no part of this guide may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Please note that the content in this guide is protected under copyright law even if it is not distributed with software that includes an end user license agreement. The content of this guide is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe Systems Incorporated assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in the informational content contained in this guide. Please remember that existing artwork or images that you may want to include in your project may be protected under copyright law. The unauthorized incorporation of such material into your new work could be a violation of the rights of the copyright owner. Please be sure to obtain any permission required from the copyright owner. Any references to company names in sample templates are for demonstration purposes only and are not intended to refer to any actual organization. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Adobe Audition, Adobe Encore, Adobe Premiere, After Effects, GoLive, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, and Version Cue are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Apple, Mac, Mac OS, and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. Dolby is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories. Microsoft, OpenType, Windows, and Windows XP are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Macromedia and Flash are trademarks of Macromedia Inc. SGI is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. MPEG Layer 3 audio compression technology is licensed by Fraunhofer IIS and Thomson. This Program was written with MacApp®: © 1985-1988 Apple Computer, Inc. Apple Computer, Inc. makes no warranties whatsoever, either express or implied, regarding this Program, including warranties with respect to its merchantability or its fitness for any particular purpose. The MacApp software is proprietary to Apple Computer, Inc. and is licensed to Adobe for distribution only for use in combination with After Effects. Proximity notices: © 1990 William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. © 1990 all rights reserved, Proximity Technology, Inc.; © 1992 Hachette © 1992 all rights reserved, Proximity Technology Inc.; © 1991 Dr. Llui de Yzaguirre i Maura © 1990 all rights reserved, Proximity Technology, Inc.; © 1990 IDE a.s. © 1990 all rights reserved, Proximity Technology, Inc.; © 1995 Van Dale Lexicografie bv © 1996 all rights reserved, Proximity Technology, Inc.; © 1997 Bertelsmann Lexicon Verlang © 1999 all rights reserved, Proximity Technology, Inc.; © 1991 Text & Satz Datentechnik © 1991 all rights reserved, Proximity Technology, Inc.; © 1994 Franklin Electronic Publishers © 1994 all rights reserved, Proximity Technology, Inc.; © 1990/1994 Merriam-Webster Inc./Franklin Electronic Publishers Inc. © 1994 all rights reserved, Proximity Technology, Inc. Notice to U.S. Government end users: The Software and Documentation are "Commercial Items," as that term is defined at 48 C.F.R. §2.101, consisting of "Commercial Computer Software" and "Commercial Computer Software Documentation," as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. Consistent with 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §§227.7202-1 through 227.7202-4, as applicable, the Commercial Computer Software and Commercial Computer Software Documentation are being licensed to U.S. Government end users (a) only as Commercial Items and (b) with only those rights as are granted to all other end users pursuant to the terms and conditions herein. Unpublished-rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States. Adobe agrees to comply with all applicable equal opportunity laws including, if appropriate, the provisions of Executive Order 11246, as amended, Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (38 USC 4212), and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the regulations at 41 CFR Parts 60-1 through 60-60, 60-250, and 60-741. The affirmative action clause and regulations contained in the preceding sentence shall be incorporated by reference. Adobe Systems Incorporated, 345 Park Avenue, San Jose, California 95110, USA. iii Contents Chapter 1: Getting started Installation and registration Adobe Help Center Using Help New features ............................................................... 1 ....................................................................... 2 ......................................................... 5 ................................................................................ 3 ............................................................................. 8 Tips, training, and other resources Chapter 2: Workflow and workspace Workflow and workspace basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Customizing the workspace Predefined workspaces Working with panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Chapter 3: Adobe Bridge and Stock Photos The basics of Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Files and folders in Bridge Metadata in Bridge Adobe Stock Photos Comp images Buying stock photos Stock Photos Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Running automated tasks with Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Chapter 4: Planning and managing projects Planning projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Project basics Saving projects Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Organizing projects Plug-ins and scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Chapter 5: Preparing and importing footage Importing basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Importing still images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Importing camera raw files Camera Raw settings Transforming images in Camera Raw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Importing Photoshop, Illustrator, PDF, and EPS files Preparing and importing video and film Importing Cineon files Importing 3D image files Importing OMF and AAF files Importing After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 iv Chapter 6: Compositions Creating compositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Composition settings Composition panel Timeline panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Working with footage Nesting Replacing and substituting footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Chapter 7: Previewing Previewing compositions Preview modes Modifying views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Settings and tools for previewing Chapter 8: Layers Creating and adding layers Managing layers Guide layers Trimming Markers Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Selecting and arranging layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Audio layers Creating Adobe Encore DVD buttons Chapter 9: 3D layers 3D layers overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Working with 3D layers Working with 3D views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Cameras, lights, and points of interest Chapter 10: Animation Animation and layer properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Setting, selecting, and deleting keyframes Editing, moving, and copying keyframes Animation presets Animating layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Creating and modifying motion paths Assorted animation tools Chapter 11: Advanced animation Interpolation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Speed Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 v Chapter 12: Masks, transparency, and keying Transparency overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 Creating and importing masks Working with masks Modifying masks Animating masks Keying Mattes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 Blending modes and mask modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Chapter 13: Text Creating text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 Formatting characters Formatting paragraphs Animating text Selectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 Working with masks in text layers Examples of text animations Chapter 14: Paint tools Using paint tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Paint strokes Selecting colors Chapter 15: Motion tracking (Pro only) Motion tracking overview (Pro only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329 Tracker Controls panel (Pro only) Tracking motion (Pro only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 Chapter 16: Applying effects Working with effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 Modifying effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 Using Noise & Grain effects Chapter 17: Effects: Reference Galleries of effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 3D Channel effects (Pro only) Audio effects Channel effects Distort effects Generate effects Keying effects Blur & Sharpen effects Color Correction effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 Matte effects (Pro only) Noise & Grain effects vi Paint effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 Perspective effects Simulation effects Stylize effects Text effects Time effects Utility effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 Transition effects Chapter 18: Expressions Creating and modifying expressions Working with expressions The expression language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570 Commonly used attributes and methods After Effects expression elements reference Pick-whip expression examples Manually entered expression examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588 Chapter 19: Rendering and exporting Rendering a movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590 Using Post-Render Action options Using the Render Queue panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602 Exporting to Macromedia Flash (SWF) format Rendering to OMF (Pro only) Compression options Rendering to Windows Media, RealMedia, or MPEG (Windows only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619 Exporting footage using QuickTime components 3D rendering Exporting and rendering single frames, filmstrip files, and still sequences Rendering over a network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631 Exporting project information to other Adobe applications Chapter 20: Performance and memory Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636 Simple ways to improve performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638 Chapter 21: Keyboard shortcuts Default keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658 1 Chapter 1: Getting started Installation and registration To install 1 Close any Adobe® applications that are open. 2 Insert the product disc into your computer's DVD drive. 3 Double-click the disc icon, and then follow the on-screen instructions. After installing the product for the first time on a computer, you will be prompted to activate your copy of the product. (See "To activate" on page 1.) For more detailed instructions for installing or uninstalling the product, see the ReadMe file on the product disc. To activate Activation is a simple, anonymous process that you must complete within 30 days of installing the product. Activation allows you to continue using the product, and it helps prevent casual copying of the product onto more computers than the license agreement allows. After you have installed the product for the first time on a computer, the Activation dialog box opens, prompting you to activate your copy of the product. 1 If the Activation dialog box is not already open, start the product and choose Help > Activate. 2 Follow the on-screen instructions. Important: If you want to install the product on a different computer, you must first transfer the activation to that computer. To transfer an activation, choose Help > Transfer Activation. To learn more about activation, visit the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/activation/main.html. To register Register your Adobe product to receive complimentary support on installation and product defects and notifications about product updates. Registering your product also gives you access to the wealth of tips, tricks, and tutorials in Adobe Studio® and access to Adobe Studio Exchange, an online community where users download and share thousands of free actions, plug-ins, and other content for use with Adobe products. Note: An active Internet connection is required for registration. The Registration dialog box may open after activation, prompting you to register your copy of the product. 1 If the Registration dialog box is not already open, start the product and choose Help > Registration. 2 Follow the on-screen instructions. See also "Adobe Studio" on page 6 ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 2 User Guide Adobe Help Center About Adobe Help Center Adobe® Help Center is a free, downloadable application that includes three primary features. Product Help Provides Help for Adobe desktop products installed on your system. (If no Adobe desktop products are installed, topics for them aren't available.) Help topics are updated periodically and can be downloaded through Adobe Help Center preferences. For the products you've installed, Product Help also provides dynamic listings of the top support issues and the most recent support documents published on Adobe.com. Expert Support Provides information about Adobe Expert Support plans and lets you store details about plans you've purchased. If you have an active support plan, you can also use the Expert Support section to submit web cases--questions sent to Adobe support professionals over the web. To access links in the Expert Support section, you must have an active Internet connection. More Resources Provides easy access to the extensive resources on Adobe.com, including support pages, user forums, tips and tutorials, and training. You can also use this area to store contact information for friends, colleagues, or support professionals, or even websites you turn to for inspiration or troubleshooting information. See also "Using Help" on page 3 "To search Help topics" on page 4 "To navigate Help" on page 4 "To view support documents" on page 3 To check for updates Adobe periodically provides updates to software and to topics in Adobe Help Center. You can easily obtain these updates through Adobe Help Center. An active Internet connection is required. 1 Click the Preferences button in the top-right corner. 2 In the Preferences dialog box, click Check For Updates. If updates are available, follow the on-screen directions to download and save them. You can also check for updates from within many Adobe applications by choosing Help > Updates. To set Adobe Help Center preferences 1 Click the Preferences button in the top-right corner. 2 Set any of the following options, and click OK. Region Specifies your geographical location. Changing this option may affect which services are available to you. Language Specifies the language in which Expert Support content is displayed. Display Renewal Reminders For Expert Support Contracts Displays reminder screens when your Expert Support plan has almost expired. Deselect this option if you'd like to turn off these reminders. Enable Auto Login For Web Case Submission Allows you to submit support questions over the web. This option is available only if you have an active Expert Support plan. ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 3 User Guide User Interface Language Specifies the language in which Adobe Help Center interface text is displayed. Check For Updates Searches for new updates to software and Help topics as they become available from Adobe. This option also lets you specify notification options and choose which applications to update. Network Administrators Displays options for network administration. To view support documents From within Adobe Help Center, you can get up-to-the-minute listings of the top support issues and the most recent documents added to the support knowledgebase. Each time you start Adobe Help Center, it uses RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology to gather this information from the Adobe website and update the listings dynamically. 1 In Adobe Help Center, click Product Help and select a product from the For menu. 2 Click the Contents tab in the navigation pane, and do either of the following: · Click Recent Documents to display a summary of the most recent documents for the selected product. · Click Top Issues to display a summary of the top issues documents for the selected product. 3 To view a document in full on the Adobe website, click its link. (An active Internet connection is required.) To display More Resources The More Resources section in Adobe Help Center provides easy access to some of the content and services available from the Adobe website, including support, training, tutorials, and forums. To display this section, click More Resources. To add contact information in More Resources 1 Click More Resources, and then click Personal Contacts. 2 Do any of the following: · To add a contact, click New, type the contact information you want to save, and click OK. · To edit a contact, click a contact in the list, click Edit, make changes to the information, and click OK. · To delete a contact, click a contact in the list, and then click Delete. To confirm the deletion, click Yes. Using Help Using Help The complete documentation for using your Adobe product is available in Help, a browser-based system you can access through Adobe Help Center. Help topics are updated periodically, so you can always be sure to have the most recent information available. For details, see "To check for updates" on page 2. Important: Adobe Help systems include all of the information in the printed user guides, plus additional information not included in print. A PDF version of the complete Help content, optimized for printing, is also provided on the CD or DVD in the product box. ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 4 User Guide See also "To navigate Help" on page 4 "To search Help topics" on page 4 To navigate Help Do any of the following: · To view Help for a product, choose the product name from the For menu. · To expand or collapse a section, click the blue triangle to the left of the section name. · To display a topic, click its title. See also "To use bookmarks" on page 5 To search Help topics Search using words or phrases to quickly find topics. You can search Help for one product or for all Adobe products you've installed. If you find a topic that you may want to view again, bookmark it for quick retrieval. 1 In Adobe Help Center, click Product Help, and choose a product from the For menu. 2 Type one or more words in the Search For box, and choose an option from the In menu: This Product Searches Help for the selected product. All Products Searches Help for all Adobe products you have installed. 3 Click Search. Topics matching the search words appear in the navigation pane, grouped by product and listed in order of relevance. 4 To view a topic, click its title. 5 To return to the navigation pane, do one of the following: · Click the Home button. · Click the Back button. · Click Next Topic or Previous Topic. See also "To print a topic from Help" on page 5 "To use bookmarks" on page 5 Search tips The search feature in Adobe Help Center works by searching the entire Help text for topics that contain any of the words typed in the Search For box. These tips can help you improve your search results in Help: · If you search using a phrase, such as "shape tool," put quotation marks around the phrase. The search returns only those topics containing all words in the phrase. · Make sure that the search terms are spelled correctly. ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 5 User Guide · If a search term doesn't yield results, try using a synonym, such as "web" instead of "Internet." To print a topic from Help 1 Select the topic you want to print, and click the Print button. 2 Choose the printer you'd like to use, and then click Print. To change the view By default, Adobe Help Center opens in Full view. Full view gives you access to the Product Help, Expert Support, and More Resources sections. Switch to Compact view when you want to see only the selected Help topic and you want to keep the Help window on top of your product workspace. Click the view icon to switch between Full and Compact views. To use bookmarks You can bookmark especially helpful topics for easy access, just as you bookmark pages in a web browser, and reread them at another time. · To view bookmarks, click the Bookmarks tab in the navigation pane. · To create a bookmark, select the topic you want to mark, and click the Bookmark button . When the New Bookmark dialog box appears, type a new name in the text box if desired, and then click OK. deletion. · To delete a bookmark, select it in the Bookmarks pane, and click the Delete button. Click Yes to confirm the · To rename a bookmark, select it in the Bookmarks pane, and then click the Rename Bookmark button . In the dialog box, type a new name for the bookmark and then click OK. · To move a bookmark, select it in the Bookmarks pane, and then click the Move Up button or the Move Down button . Tips, training, and other resources Learning resources Adobe provides a wide range of resources to help you learn and use Adobe products. · "Total Training Video Workshop DVD" on page 6: Professional training videos from experts. · "Adobe Studio" on page 6: Videos, tips and tricks, and other learning material on Adobe products. · "Other resources" on page 7: Training, books, user forums, product certification, and more. · Support: Complimentary and paid technical support options from Adobe. · "Extras and other downloads" on page 7: Other software and content. See also "About Adobe Help Center" on page 2 "Using Help" on page 3 ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 6 User Guide Total Training Video Workshop DVD Presented by experts in their fields, Total Training videos provide overviews, demonstrations of key new features, and many useful tips and techniques for beginning and advanced users. Look for accompanying step-by-step instructions to selected Total Training videos in monthly updates to Adobe Studio. In addition to the Total Training Video Workshop DVD included with your software, short Total Training web videos on a variety of products and topics are also available in Adobe Studio, and complete Total Training courseware can be purchased online from the Adobe Store. See also "Adobe Studio" on page 6 Adobe Studio Adobe Studio provides a wealth of tips, tricks, tutorials, and instructional content in video, PDF, and HTML formats, authored by experts from Adobe and its publishing partners. You can search the entire collection or sort by product, topic, date, and type of content; new content is added monthly. Adobe Studio is available in English, French, German, and Japanese. Find it from the home page of the Adobe website. Tips and tutorials in Adobe Studio For free content and add-ons, visit Adobe Studio Exchange, an online community where users download and share thousands of free actions, plug-ins, and other content for use with Adobe products. To visit Adobe Studio Exchange, go to Adobe Studio from the home page of the Adobe website. ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 7 User Guide See also "Total Training Video Workshop DVD" on page 6 "Other resources" on page 7 Other resources Additional sources of information and help are available for Adobe products. · Visit the Training area of the Adobe website for access to Adobe Press books; online, video, and instructor-led training resources; Adobe software certification programs; and more. · Visit the Adobe user forums, where users share tips, ask questions, and find out how others are getting the most out of their software. User forums are available in English, French, German, and Japanese from the main Support page of your local Adobe website. · Visit the Support area of the Adobe website for additional information about free and paid technical support options. Top issues are listed by product on the Adobe U.S. and Adobe Japan websites. · Click More Resources in Adobe Help Center to access many of the resources on the Adobe website and to create your own list of frequently visited user groups and websites and valuable contacts. · For complete developer documentation and resources, visit the Developers area of the Adobe website at http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/main.html. For additional backgrounders and instructional content, visit Adobe Studio. Extras and other downloads Your product includes Adobe Stock Photos, an integrated service available within Adobe Bridge that lets you search, view, try, and buy royalty-free stock photography from leading stock libraries. Because of the tight integration between Stock Photos and Adobe products, you can download images directly into your projects. The Downloads area of the Adobe website includes free updates, tryouts, and other useful software. In addition, the Plug-ins section of the Adobe Store provides access to thousands of plug-ins from third-party developers, helping you automate tasks, customize workflows, create specialized professional effects, and more. Adobe periodically provides downloadable updates to topics in Adobe Help Center and to Adobe Help Center software itself. See also "About Adobe Bridge" on page 24 "About Adobe Stock Photos" on page 40 "Adobe Studio" on page 6 "Other resources" on page 7 "About Adobe Help Center" on page 2 ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 8 User Guide New features What's new Redesigned, unified user interface Work within an elegantly redesigned interface featuring dockable panels that eliminate overlapping windows and let you rearrange your workspace quickly and easily. Save custom workspaces, control user interface brightness, and more. (See "About the Adobe workspace" on page 14.) Graph Editor Create precise animations with the new Graph Editor, which offers complete visual control over keyframe editing and easy synchronization of animated properties across layers. (See "About the Graph Editor" on page 188.) High dynamic range (HDR) color (Pro only) Match the behavior of color and light in the real world with new 32-bit- per-channel floating-point HDR color support. (See "High dynamic range footage (Pro only)" on page 62.) Animation presets and project templates Produce great-looking animations quickly using hundreds of fully customizable behaviors and other animation presets, including presets for animating text, effects, transitions, background movies, and expressions. Save your own animation properties as reusable presets. (See "About animation presets" on page 202.) High-fidelity OpenGL support Experience better, faster previewing and rendering with OpenGL 2.0 capabilities, including support for blending modes, motion blur on 2D layers, anti-aliasing, track mattes, shadows, and accelerated rendering of common effects. (See "Supported OpenGL features" on page 140.) Timewarp (Pro only) Slow down and speed up footage with smooth, crisp results and minimal artifacts. (See "To apply the Timewarp effect (Pro only)" on page 239.) Adobe Bridge Simplify the everyday tasks of asset management with Adobe Bridge, which offers powerful ways to browse and search digital assets, preview and apply presets, work with metadata, manage files, and run batch processes. (See "About Adobe Bridge" on page 24.) Expanded file format support Take advantage of new support for HDV, Camera Raw, OpenEXR, AAF, 10-bpc YUV (v210), and 32-bpc TIFF and PSD formats. Support for some file formats is available only in the Professional edition. (See "Supported file formats for import" on page 69 and "Supported file formats for output" on page 590.) Unmatched integration with Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Adobe Production Studio Experience tighter integration with Adobe graphics and video tools: Create Photoshop® layers within After Effects®, export After Effects projects as Adobe Premiere® Pro projects (Windows only), use Adobe Dynamic Link to update After Effects compositions without rendering, and more. (See "To create a new Photoshop layer" on page 152, "Working with After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro" on page 94, and "About Adobe Dynamic Link (Adobe Production Studio only)" on page 632.) Creative blur effects Recreate the effect of a defocused camera lens more easily and realistically with the new Lens Blur, and use the new Smart Blur to create soft color without destroying fine detail. Use a variety of other blur effects for specific situations, including Fast Blur, Box Blur, and Compound Blur. (See "Blur & Sharpen effects gallery" on page 369.) 9 Chapter 2: Workflow and workspace Workflow and workspace basics Workflow overview Whether you use Adobe After Effects to animate a simple title or create complex special effects, you generally follow the same basic workflow. The After Effects 7.0 interface facilitates your work and adapts to each stage of the process. abc 1 2 3 4 5 6 After Effects workflow 1 Import and organize footage 2 Create compositions and arrange layers 3 Add effects and modify layer properties 4 Animate 5 Preview your work 6 Export Import and organize footage abc After you start a project, add your footage to the Project panel. After Effects automatically interprets many common media formats, but you may also specify how you want After Effects to interpret attributes such as frame rate and pixel aspect ratio. You can open and view each item in a Footage panel and set its start and end times to fit your composition. For more information, see "Working with imported files" on page 68. Imported footage initially appears in Project panel Create compositions and arrange layers abc ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 10 User Guide Create one or more compositions. Any footage item can become one or more layers in a composition. You can arrange the layers spatially in the Composition panel or arrange them in time using the Timeline panel. You can stack layers in two dimensions or arrange them in three, using 3D light sources and camera views. You can use masks, blending modes, and keying tools, to composite, or combine the images of multiple layers. For more information, see "About compositions" on page 109 and "About layers" on page 149. Work with layers in Timeline panel Add effects and modify layer properties abc You can add any combination of effects and modify any of a layer's properties, such as size, placement, and opacity. Using effects, you can alter a layer's appearance or sound, and even generate visual elements from scratch. You can apply any of the hundreds of effects included with After Effects, or create and reuse your own. For more information, see "About effects" on page 348. ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 11 User Guide Add effects to layers Animate abc You can make any combination of a layer's properties change over time, using conventional keyframing, expressions, or even keyframe assistants. With the Graph Editor, you can add, delete, and modify keyframes, and specify interpolation methods. With the powerful expression feature, you can animate and link properties using preset or customized scripts instead of keyframes. You can apply any of the hundreds of preset animations included with After Effects, or create and reuse your own. Use the Tracker Controls panel to stabilize motion or to animate one layer so that it follows the motion in another layer. For more information, see "About animation and layer properties" on page 188, "About animation presets" on page 202, "About motion tracking (Pro only)" on page 329, and "About expressions" on page 555. ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 12 User Guide Use keyframes to animate layers Preview your work abc Previewing compositions is fast and convenient, even for complex projects, especially if you use OpenGL technology to accelerate previews. You can change the speed and quality of previews by specifying their resolution and frame rate, and by limiting the area and duration of the composition that you preview. For more information, see "Methods for previewing compositions" on page 134. ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 13 User Guide A B C Previewing methods A. RAM preview in Time Controls panel B. Cache indicator in Timeline panel C. Fast Previews Export abc Add one or more compositions to the render queue to render them at the quality settings you choose, and create movies in the formats that you specify. For more information, see "About rendering" on page 590. ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 14 User Guide Dragging compositions to Render Queue panel About the Adobe workspace Adobe video and audio applications provide a consistent, customizable workspace. Although each application has its own set of panels (such as Tools, Properties, Timeline, and so on), you move and group panels on your computer screen in the same way across products. The main window of a program is the application window. The various panels are organized in this window in an arrangement called a workspace. The default workspace contains groups of panels as well as panels that stand alone. You customize a workspace by arranging the panels, usually by dragging them, in the layout that best suits your style of working. You can create and save several custom workspaces for different tasks--for example, one for editing and one for previewing. You can drag panels to new locations, move panels into or out of a group, place panels alongside each other, and undock a panel so that it floats in a new window above the application window. As you rearrange panels, the other panels resize automatically to fit the window. You can use floating windows to create a workspace more like those in previous versions of Adobe applications, or to place panels on multiple monitors.