Adobe After Effects CS3 Manuel d'utilisateur

ADOBE® AFTER EFFECTS® CS3PROFESSIONALUSER GUIDE

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide5Keyboard shortcuts for Help navigation (Windows)• To move between panes, press Ctrl+Tab (forward) and Shift+Ctrl+Tab (back

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide95Note: You can also use the Color Sampler tool to place up to nine color samplers in the preview image. The RGB valuesappe

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide96The Basic tab in the Camera Raw dialog box has three controls for correcting a color cast in an image:White Balance Camer

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide97Adjust tone in Camera RawYou adjust the image tonal scale using the tone controls in the Basic tab.When you click Auto at

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide98Brightness Adjusts the brightness or darkness of the image, much as the Exposure property does. However, insteadof clippi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide99HSL / Grayscale controls in Camera RawYou can use the controls in the HSL / Grayscale tab to adjust individual color rang

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide100Embedded Use the profile embedded in the current file. TIFF, JPEG, and DNG files can have embedded profiles.2 Adjust th

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide101unwanted effects, choose Highlight Edges to correct color fringing only in edges of highlighting, where fringing ismost

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide102Remove red-eye in Camera Raw1 Zoom the image in to at least 100%.2 In the Toolbar, select the Red Eye Removal tool .3 D

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide1032 In the Detail tab, adjust any of these controls:Amount Adjusts edge definition. Increase the Amount value to increase

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide104Camera Raw settingsSave, reset, and load Camera Raw settingsYou can reuse the adjustments that you’ve made to an image.

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide6When you start the Adobe Video Workshop, you choose the products you want to learn and the subjects you wantto view. You c

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide1052 In the Camera Raw Preferences dialog box, choose one of the following from the Save Image Settings In menu:Camera Raw

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide106Applying a presetNote: You can also apply presets from the Presets tab.Export Camera Raw settings and DNG previewsIf you

107Chapter 5: CompositionsComposition basicsIntroduction to compositionsA composition is the framework for a movie. A typical composition includes mul

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide108See also“Creating layers” on page 133“Preview video and audio” on page 120“Work with the Flowchart panel” on page 24Crea

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide109Create multiple composition from multiple footage items1Select footage items in the Project panel.2 Dragtheselectedfoota

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide110“Work with columns” on page 18“Using and modifying keyboard shortcuts” on page 638Work with composition settingsYou can

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide111Start Timecode or Start Frame Timecode or frame number assigned to the first frame of the composition. This valuedoes no

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide112• To hide the thumbnail images in the Project panel, choose Edit > Preferences > Display (Windows) or AfterEffects

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide113See also“Preview video and audio” on page 120Nesting, precomposing, and pre-renderingAbout nesting and precomposingNesti

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide114In the Advanced composition settings (Composition > Composition Settings), choose Preserve Resolution WhenNestedorPre

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide7Videos also show you how to use After Effects CS3 with other Adobe products:• Importing Photoshop files• Using Dynamic Lin

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide115Note: Apply your final output settings when you pre-render the nested composition.1 Select the composition in the Projec

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide116Collapsing transformations can, for example, preserve resolution when a layer is scaled down by half in a nestedcomposit

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide117A. Composition-time marker B. Composition-time marker with cue-point data C. Layer-time marker D. Layer-time marker with

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide118Work with layer-time markersLayer-time markers are retained when you render to AVI or QuickTime format.Layer-time marker

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide119See also“Work with scripts” on page 45Synchronize markers to audioAfter Effects provides a quick way to add and label ma

120Chapter 6: Views and previewsPreviewingPreview video and audioYo u c a n preview all or part of your composition as you work, without rendering to

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide121Use RAM previewRAM preview allocates RAM to play video and audio in the Timeline, Layer, or Footage panel in real time.

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide122Loop options for previewsClick the Loop Options button in the Time Controls panel until it shows the desired state:Loop

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide123Audio panelA. VU meter B. Level controls C. Level units D. Audio panel menu E. Level valuesChoose Options on the Audio p

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide124• To go to a specific frame, click in the time ruler; click the current-time display in the Footage, Layer, Composition,

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide8and websites to DVD menus and video buttons. Each template file is professionally constructed and represents abest-use exa

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide125• Adaptive Resolution Decreases the preview resolution of layers when necessary to maintain speed of updating ofimages d

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide126Preview on an external video monitorYou can preview the contents of your Layer, Footage, or Composition panel on an exte

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide127See also“Select a 3D view” on page 127“Work with viewers” on page 19Select a 3D viewYou can view your 3D layers from sev

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide128ZoomThe Magnification Ratio control in the lower-left corner of a Composition, Layer, or Footage panel shows andcontrols

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide129You can choose from the following Resolution settings in the Composition Settings (Composition > CompositionSettings)

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide130The Adjust Exposure control is useful for finding the black point or white point in an image. For example, drag thevalue

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide131Composition panel’s zones and gridsA. Grid B. Title-safe zone C. Action-safe zone D. Overscan• To change the portion of

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide132By default, After Effects displays time in Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) timecode:hours, mi

133Chapter 7: Layers and propertiesCreating layersAbout layersLayers are the elements that make up a composition. Without layers, a composition is onl

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide134Changes made to one layer do not affect other layers, unless you specifically link the layers. For example, you canmove,

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide9Note: Bridge Home may not be available in all languages.Adobe Design CenterAdobe Design Center offers articles, inspiratio

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide135Create layers from footage itemsYou can create a layer from any footage item in the Project panel, including another com

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide1364 To create a layer based on this trimmed footage item, click an Edit button at the bottom of the Footage panel:Overlay

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide137Because effects on adjustment layers apply to all layers beneath them, they are useful for applying effects to manylayer

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide138Top layer selected, but no properties selected; bottom layer selected with properties selected.To scroll the topmost sel

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide139Note: Becauseoftheirdepthproperties,thestackingorderof3DlayersintheTimelinepaneldoesnotnecessarilyindicatetheir spatial

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide140See also“Work with safe zones, grids, guides, and rulers” on page 130“Work with layer anchor points” on page 154“Select

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide141• When you distribute layers of different sizes, the spaces between layers may not be uniform. For example, distrib-utin

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide142You can extend many kinds of layers for any duration, extending their In points and Out points out past their originalti

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide143When performing a slip edit, you probably want to move some keyframes with the source footage—such as maskkeyframes. Oth

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide144• To move the entire layer in time by dragging, drag the layer duration bar to the left or right. To snap the layerdurat

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide10New ideas are the heart of Think Tank, Dialog Box, and Gallery:• ThinkTankarticlesconsiderhowtoday’sdesignersengagewithte

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide145Overlapping layers can have Opacity keyframes set automatically to create a cross-dissolve.For a layer to be put into a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide146See also“Copy and paste keyframes” on page 191“Work with layer properties in the Timeline panel” on page 152“Shortcuts f

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide147Note: If you specify an auto-orientation option, and then change the layer's Orientation or X, Y, or Z Rotation pro

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide148To show or hide columns in the Timeline panel, click the Layer Switches , Transfer Controls , orIn/Out/Duration/Stretch

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide149• To select the Video switch for all layers, choose Layer > Switches > Show All Video.• To deselect the Video swit

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide150• To change the color of a label for all layers with that label color, select one of the layers belonging to the label g

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide151See also“Layer switches and columns in the Timeline panel” on page 147“Preview modes” on page 124Continuously rasterize

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide152Modify layer propertiesWork with layer properties in the Timeline panelEach layer has properties, many of which you can

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide153• To show only a specific property or property group, press its shortcut key or keys.• To add a property or property gro

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide154• To reset properties in a property group to their default values, click Reset next to the property group name. Toreset

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide11Adobe LabsAdobe Labs gives you the opportunity to experience and evaluate new and emerging technologies and products from

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide155Move a layer anchor point• Drag the anchor point using the Selection tool in the Layer panel.Note: Layers of some types,

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide156Scaling a raster (non-vector) layer down sometimes causes a slight softening or blurring of the image. Scaling a rasterl

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide157See also“Work with layer anchor points” on page 154“Selecting and arranging layers” on page 137“Shortcuts for modifying

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide158Work with parent and child layersTo synchronize changes to layers by assigning one layer’s transformations to another la

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide159Paul Tuersley provides a script for duplicating a parent layer and all of its children, preserving the parentinghierarch

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide160• To render a composition with its visible guide layers, click Render Settings in the Render Queue panel, and chooseCurr

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide161Brainstorm dialog box in Randomness modeA. Original composition (original in center tile when using Brainstorm on single

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide162You can use Brainstorm on any property that has numeric values or options in a pop-up menu in the Timeline panel.Example

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide163You can move back or forward a generation by clicking the arrow buttons on either side of the Brainstorm button atthe bo

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide164Blending mode referenceAll blending modes described in this section are available for blending between layers. Some of t

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide12Flash integrationYou can export FLV files with cue points that you create as markers within After Effects. Now, when you

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide165Blending mode descriptionsIn the following descriptions, these terms are used:• The source color is the color of the lay

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide166• The underlying color is the color of the composited layers below the source layer or paint stroke in the layerstacking

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide167Lighten Each result color channel value is the higher (lighter) of the source color channel value and the corre-sponding

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide168Exclusion CreatesaresultsimilartobutlowerincontrastthantheDifferencemode.Ifthesourcecoloriswhite,theresult color is the

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide169WhenyouimportaPhotoshopfilethatincludeslayersasacomposition,youcanretaineditablelayerstylesormergelayer styles into foot

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide170See also“Preparing and importing Photoshop files” on page 83“Render order and collapsing transformations” on page 115“Ho

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide171Exclude channels from blendingYou can exclude one or more of a layer’s color channels from blending operations.The Blend

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide172Note: After Effects 7.0 and earlier included a Standard 3D rendering plug-in; this plug-in is not included with AfterEff

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide173Convert a 3D layer to a 2D layer❖ Deselect the layer’s 3D Layer switch in the Timeline panel, or select the layer and ch

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide174Donat Van Bellinghen provides a some expressions for placing and orienting a 3D layer in the plane defined by threepoint

13Chapter 2: User interfaceCustomizing the user interfaceAbout workspacesAdobe video and audio applications provide a consistent, customizable workspa

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide175How render order and collapsed transformations affect 3D layersThe positions of certain kinds of layers in the layer sta

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide176See also“Render order and collapsing transformations” on page 115“Precompose layers” on page 114“Continuously rasterize

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide177See also“Working with 3D layers” on page 171“Auto-Orientation options” on page 146“Shortcuts for 3D layers” on page 649“

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide178Aperture The size of the lens opening. The Aperture setting also affects the depth of field—increasing the apertureincre

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide179See also“Working with 3D layers” on page 171“Auto-Orientation options” on page 146“Create an adjustment layer” on page 1

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide1802 (Optional) To set the camera or light to ignore the point of interest, choose Layer > Transform > Auto-Orient an

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide181Material Options properties3D layers have Material Options properties, which determine how a 3D layer interacts with lig

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide182When a shadow-casting layer intersects another layer, sometimes there is a small gap behind the intersection that issupp

183Chapter 8: AnimationAnimation basicsAbout animation, keyframes, and expressionsAnimation ischangeovertime.Youanimatealayeroraneffectonalayerbychang

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide184When the stopwatch is active for a specific property, After Effects automatically sets or changes a keyframe for theprop

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide14Choose a workspaceEach Adobe video and audio application includes several predefined workspaces that optimize the layout

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide185Two animated properties (Position and Scale) shown in the Graph EditorThere are two types of graphs available in the Gra

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide186Graph Options in the Graph EditorClick the Graph Options button at the bottom of the Graph Editor to select from the fo

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide187Setting, selecting, and deleting keyframesSet keyframesWhen the stopwatch is active for a specific property, After Effec

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide188“Shortcuts for keyframes” on page 650“Shortcuts for showing properties in the Timeline panel” on page 647Move the curren

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide189• To select all keyframes that follow or precede a selected keyframe, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (MacOS) a k

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide190• Time-Reverse Keyframes Reverses selected keyframes in time.See also“Interpolation” on page 204Delete or disable keyfra

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide191Value graphA. Keyframe. B. A level value graph indicates unchanging values. C. A rising graph indicates increasing value

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide192Note: Whencopyingandpastingbetweenthesameproperties,youcancopyfrommorethanonepropertytomorethanone property at a time. H

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide1936 Select the cells that contain your data. The top-left cell in your selection should be A1. The bottom row of yourselec

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide194Expand or contract a group of keyframes in layer bar mode1 Select at least three keyframes.2 Hold down Alt (Windows) or

Copyright© 2007 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.Adobe® After Effects® CS3 User Guide for Windows® and Mac OSIf this guide is distribut

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide15Dragging panel (A) onto grouping zone (B) to group it with existing panels (C)Dock or group panels1If the panel you want

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide1955 If the target layer contains keyframes, move the current-time indicator to the time where you want to paste thevalue.

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide196When you select multiple keyframes in the Graph Editor, a free-transform bounding box appears.1 Switch to the Graph Edit

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide197Creating and modifying motion pathsWork with motion pathsWhen you animate spatial properties—including Position and Anch

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide198Note: The current-time indicator does not need to be located on a keyframe before you drag it.Drag a keyframe in the Com

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide199A new keyframe appears at the frame you clicked, on the motion path and in the Timeline panel. To move thekeyframe, use

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide200• A path copied from Illustrator or PhotoshopYou can paste any of these paths into the Position or Anchor Point property

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide201You can use motion blur when you animate a layer—for example, moving a layer of text across the screen. You cannotaddmot

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide202Smooth motion and velocitySmooth motion paths, value curves, and velocity curves to eliminate bumpiness or excess keyfra

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide2033 For Apply To, select the type of curve you want The Wiggler to change. If you selected keyframes for a propertythat va

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide204See also“Set the work area” on page 112InterpolationControlling change with interpolationAfter you create keyframes and

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide16Drag group gripper to move entire groupThe application docks or groups the panel, according to the type of drop zone.Undo

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide205Motion path interpolationA. Linear B. Auto Bezier C. Continuous Bezier D. Bezier E. HoldNote: In some cases, the Auto Be

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide206All interpolation methods used by After Effects are based on the Bezier interpolation method, which providesdirection ha

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide207If you apply Bezier interpolation to all keyframes of a layer property, After Effects creates a smooth transitionbetween

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide208You can easily freeze the current frame for the duration of the layer using the Freeze Frame command. To freeze aframe,

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide209Lock To Time keeps the selected keyframes at their current position in time. They stay in place unless you move themmanu

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide210Modifying a Bezier direction handleSee also“Work with the Graph Editor” on page 184“About animation, keyframes, and expr

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide211Motion path in Composition panel (top) compared to speed graph in Graph Editor (bottom)A. Dots are close together, indic

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide212Linear interpolation (top) causes sharp changes; Bezier interpolation (bottom) creates smoother changes.See also“Work wi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide213Shorter temporal distance between keyframes increases layer speed.• Apply the Easy Ease keyframe assistant, which automa

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide214See also“Work with the Graph Editor” on page 184“Modify Bezier direction handles” on page 209Adjust the rate of change w

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide17Dragging divider between panel groups to resize them horizontallyA. Original group with resize icon B. Resized groupsOpen

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide215Dragging direction handle to create a peakStart or stop change graduallyDirection handles can create gradual starts and

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide2162 Click the Graph Editor button and display the speed graph for the property.3 Using the Selection tool, click a keyfram

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide217The original motion path (top) shows different velocities between keyframes. After the keyframes are set to rove (bottom

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide218• Click the Easy Ease , Easy Ease In , or Easy Ease Out button located at the bottom of the Graph Editor.Use Exponential

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide219If you time-stretch a layer so that the resulting frame rate is significantly different from the original frame rate, th

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide220Reverse a layer’s playback directionWhen you reverse a layer’s playback direction, all keyframes for all properties on t

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide221Layer panel for time remappingA. Current-time indicator B. Time-remap value C. Remap-time marker D. Navigator bar• The G

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide222Theoriginaldurationofthesourcefootagemaynolongerbevalidwhenremappingtime,becausepartsofthelayerno longer play at the ori

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide2236 Press Ctrl+C (Windows) or Command+C (Mac OS) to copy the keyframe.7 Press Ctrl+V (Windows) or Command+V (Mac OS) to pa

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide224• Tofreezethepreviouskeyframe,dragthecurrentkeyframemarkertoavalueequaltothepreviouskeyframevalueso that the graph line

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide18Reset a workspaceReset a workspace to return to its original, saved layout of panels.❖ With the workspace you want to res

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide225See also“Preview video and audio” on page 120Change the pitch of an audio layer1In a Composition or Timeline panel, sele

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide226The Quality setting you select also affects frame blending. When the layer is set to Best quality, frame blending result

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide227Each Puppet tool is used to place and modify a specific kind of pin:Puppet Pin tool Use this tool to place and move Defo

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide228You can use expressions to link the positions of Deform pins to motion tracking data, audio amplitude keyframes, orany o

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide229See also“Work with pins and the distortion mesh” on page 231“Creating and modifying motion paths” on page 197Record anim

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide230How the Puppet effect creates outlinesWhen a Puppet mesh is created, its boundaries are determined by an outline, which

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide231Work with pins and the distortion mesh• To show the mesh for the Puppet effect, select Show in the options section of th

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide232Overlap pin with positive In Front value (top), and Overlap pin with negative In Front value (bottom)Each Overlap pin ha

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide233Unwanted distortion in figure (top left) is prevented with Starch pin (upper right and lower left)Each Starch pin has th

234Chapter 9: ColorColor basicsSet the color depthColor depth (or bit depth) is the number of bits per channel (bpc) used to represent the color of a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide19You can scroll in a panel even if it is not currently active, as long as you move the pointer over it. For instance, youc

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide235Project Settings button in the Project panelYou can specify a color depth for each render item, which overrides the proj

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide236Select a color or edit a gradientIn many contexts, you can click an eyedropper button to activate the eyedropper tool,

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide237Select a color with the Adobe Color Picker1Click a color swatch to display the Adobe Color Picker.2 (Optional) To preven

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide238Edit a gradientA gradient is defined by color stops and opacity stops. Each stop has a location along the gradient and a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide239A color space is a variant of a color model. A color space is distinguished by a gamut (range of colors), a set of prima

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide240The gamma value for an entire system—from capture, through production, to display in the viewing environment—is the prod

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide241Color managementWhy you should use color managementTo see a video tutorial on color management in After Effects, go to t

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide242Color management and color profilesColor information is communicated using numbers. Because different devices use differ

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide243ProfileConvertereffect,AfterEffectsCS3willnotautomaticallyupdatetheseprofilestothenewequivalentprofiles(Kodak 5218/7218

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide244Choosing a working color space is an essential step in managing color in a project. Footage items’ colors areconverted i

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide20Activate a toolThe Tools panel can be displayed as a toolbar (as shown here) or as a normal panel.Tools panelA. Selection

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide245Stu Maschwitz's blog has several posts that are useful for learning about how, when, and why to work in a linear co

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide246The Interpret As Linear Light option determines whether the assigned input color profile is interpreted as beinglinear (

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide247After Effects chooses a rendering intent based on the output color profile that you choose. For most output types,the re

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide248Simulate how colors will appear on a different output deviceOften, you need to preview how a movie will appear on a devi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide249Note: Merely applying the correct profiles can’t compensate for different color gamuts for different devices. For exampl

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide250Simulate an output type in a movie rendered for final outputColor management for output simulation is only for previews,

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide251The Color Finesse plug-in included with After Effects includes excellent tools that can help you keep your colorswithin

252Chapter 10: Masks, transparency, andkeyingTransparency overviewUse masks, keying effects, and mattes to determine which parts of a layer are transp

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide253A matte is a layer (or any of its channels) that defines the transparent areas of that layer or another layer. Whitedefi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide254A mask path consists of segments and vertices. Segments are the lines or curves that connect vertices. Vertices arewhere

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide21See also“Using and modifying keyboard shortcuts” on page 638Work with preferences• To open the Preferences dialog box, ch

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide255• Paste a path copied from another layer or from Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks. (See “Copy a path fromIllus

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide256The motion path of the spaceship (top) is copied to the background layer (bottom left) and used by the Vegas effect (bot

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide257• To create mask keyframes across a range of frames, set a work area that spans that range.2 Select one or more layers.3

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide258Select masks, segments, and verticesUnlikelayers,maskscanhavemorethanonelevelofselection.Youcanselectamaskasawholepath,w

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide259Lock or unlock masksLocking a mask prevents you from selecting it in the Timeline, Composition, and Layer panels or sett

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide260Control mask path colorTo help you identify and work with masks, the Composition and Layer panels outline a mask’s path

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide261Compound masks that result when different modes are applied to the circle mask. The masks in this illustration have diff

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide262Difference Themaskisaddedtothemasksaboveitinthestackingorder.Inareaswherethemaskdoesnotoverlapthe masks above it, the ma

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide263The PV Feather plug-in from RE:Vision Effects provides the ability to control the feather amount for each vertex ofa mas

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide264See also“About alpha channels and mattes” on page 252“Split a layer” on page 146Convert a layer into a track matte1 Drag

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide22• Disable Thumbnails In Project Panel: “Work with composition thumbnail images” on page 111• Auto-zoom When Resolution Ch

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide265Use Smart Mask InterpolationSmart Mask Interpolation provides a high level of control for creating mask path keyframes a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide266Quality SpecifieshowstrictlySmartMaskInterpolationmatchesverticesfromonekeyframetoanother.Avalueof0 specifies that a par

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide267When you use the Pan Behind tool to pan a layer behind a mask, the mask’s position remains constant in the Compo-sitionp

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide268Motion blur settings for a layer and a compositionA. Enable Motion Blur composition switch B. Motion Blur layer switch1

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide269Difference keying works somewhat differently from color keying. Difference keying defines transparency withrespect to a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide270• To key well-lit footage shot against multiple colors or unevenly lit footage shot against a bluescreen or greenscreen,

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide271Example of using a hold-out matteA. Original bluescreen image. The number’s background is also blue. B. After keying, th

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide272Gray Level Softness Specifies how soft to make the edges of the matte. At 0%, the matte edges contain only fullyopaque a

273Chapter 11: TextCreating and editing text layersAbout text layersYou can add text to a composition and animate the properties of entire text layers

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide274Paul Tuersley provides a script for importing Substation Alpha (SSA) karaoke files and automatically creatinganimated te

23Chapter 3: Planning and managingprojectsProject basicsAbout project filesAn After Effects project isasinglefilethatstorescompositionsandreferencesto

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide275The small line through the type tool pointer marks the position of the text baseline. For horizontal text, thebaseline

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide276Resize a text bounding box1 With a type tool active, select the text layer in the Composition panel to display the bound

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide277Note: You can’t convert text in text-editing mode.2 Using a type tool, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide2782 Edit text.Formatting charactersUsing the Character panelUse the Character panel to format characters. If text is selec

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide279Choose a font family• Click in the Font Family menu text box, and begin typing the name. Continue typing until the desir

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide280Add a stroke (outline) to text1Select the characters to which you want to add a stroke.2 Set a stroke size with the Stro

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide281Tracking set to default value of 0 (left), Tracking set to -50 (center), and Tracking set to 200 (right)• To use a font’

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide282Blend overlapping characters in a text layer1 In the Timeline panel, expand the text layer and the More Options group.2

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide283Original layer (left) and after tate-chuu-yoko is applied (right)1 Select the characters that you want to rotate.2 Choos

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide284 Aligns horizontal text to the right, leaving the left edge of the paragraph ragged. Aligns vertical text to the top, le

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide24See also“Lock or unlock a layer” on page 149Open a template project• To browse and open template projects using Adobe Bri

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide285Text composition methodsTheappearanceoftextonthepagedependsonacomplexinteractionofprocessescalledtext composition.Usingt

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide286The text animation presets were created in an NTSC DV 720 x 480 composition, and each text layer uses 72-pointMyriad Pro

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide287Harry Frank provides a tutorial on animating text with text animators on the Digital Arts Online website:www.adobe.com/g

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide288Work with animator propertiesAnimator properties work much like other layer properties, except that their values only in

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide289Character Range Specifies limits on the character. This property appears whenever you add the Character Offset orCharact

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide290See also“Working with expressions” on page 547“Mask modes” on page 260Common selector propertiesMode Specifies how each

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide291Setting Shape to TriangleSmoothness Determines the amount of time the animation takes to transition from one character t

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide292Inadditiontotheexpressionelementsyouuseelsewhere,youcanusethefollowingattributestoanimateselectionsin any number of inte

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide2932 Do any of the following:• Choose how to group the text layer’s character anchor points from the Anchor Point Grouping

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide294See also“Creating and importing masks” on page 254“Mask modes” on page 260Position text along a mask’s path1Create a tex

iiiContentsChapter 1: Getting startedInstallation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide25Mid-gray lines between tiles in the flowchart indicate that the Video or Audio switch for those items is deselected inthe

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide295Examples of text animationFor examples of using an expression on the Source Text property to animate text to overcome so

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide296Animating the offset values for the characters in the word Galaxy1 Create a new composition.2 Create a new text layer wi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide297Animating the color and position of the characters in the word Galaxy1 Create a new composition.2 Create a new text laye

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide298Animating the tracking values for the characters 3579 (left and center) so that only the 7 in the middle remains (right)

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide299Animating the skew values in the characters in the word Speeding1 Create a new composition.2 Create a new text layer wit

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide3007 Move the current-time indicator to 5 seconds and drag the start selector in the Composition panel to the rightedge of

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide301Example: Animate text position with expressionsThis example uses the textIndex and textTotal attributes with the wiggle

302Chapter 12: Drawing and paintingUsing paint toolsScott Squires provides a pair of movies that show how to rotoscope, both painting and masking:• ww

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide303• To rename a paint stroke, select the paint stroke in the Timeline panel and press Enter on the main keyboard(Windows)

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide304See also“Work with paint tools and paint strokes” on page 302“Common paint tool settings in the Paint panel” on page 303

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide26Project planning and setupWorkflowWhether you use Adobe After Effects to animate a simple title or create complex special

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide305Roundness The ratio between the brush’s short and long axes. A value of 100% indicates a circular brush, a value of0% in

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide306See also“Common paint tool settings in the Paint panel” on page 303“Select a color or edit a gradient” on page 236“Blend

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide3074 Press 2 on the main keyboard to advance the number of frames specified by the Custom duration setting, and thenrepeat

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide308Displaying the clone source overlay while cloning between two different layersA. Clone source overlay B. Current stroke

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide3092 Open the source layer in a Layer panel and move the current-time indicator to the frame from which to beginsampling.No

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide310Work with clone presetsUse clone presets to save and reuse clone source settings: Source Layer, Aligned, Lock Source Tim

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide311See also“Work with layer properties in the Timeline panel” on page 152“Add, edit, and remove expressions” on page 549Ani

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide312Shape layers overviewAbout vector graphics and raster imagesVector graphics are made up of lines and curves defined by m

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide313About pathsSeveral features of After Effects, including masks and shapes, rely on the concept of a path. A path consists

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide314Adjusting the direction lines on a smooth point (left) and a corner point (right)A path can either be open or closed. An

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide27Example workflow: Create a simple movieThisexampleassumesthatyouhavealreadystartedAfterEffectsandhavenotmadeanychangestot

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide315Shape paths, paint operations, and path operations for shapes are collectively called shape attributes.Youaddshapeattrib

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide316A. Two shapes in a group B. Two paths in a compound shape C. Circle path with Wiggle Paths applied D. One stroke applied

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide317• Paint operations within a group are performed from the bottom to the top in the Timeline panel stacking order.This mea

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide318Creating shapes and masksCreating shapes and shape layersYou create a shape layer by drawing in the Composition panel wi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide319• To scale a circle, ellipse, square, rounded square, rectangle, or rounded rectangle around its center while drawing,ho

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide3202 (Optional) Do the following before releasing the mouse button:• To add or remove points, press the Up Arrow key or the

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide321See also“About text layers” on page 273Create a Bezier shape or mask using the Pen toolYou can create a Bezier mask usin

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide322Draw curved manual Bezier path segments with the Pen toolYou create a curved path segment by dragging direction lines. T

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide323Convert a path between manual Bezier and RotoBezierYou can convert any manual Bezier mask path or manual Bezier shape pa

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide324Adjust the tension of a RotoBezier mask1If you want to adjust the tension of more than one vertex simultaneously, then s

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide28• Type glow in the Contains field at the top of the Effects & Presets panel to find the Glow effect. Double-click the

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide325Note: YoucanalsouseacopiedIllustrator,Photoshop,orFireworkspathasanAfterEffectsmotionpath.See“Createamotion path from a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide326When a pen tool is active, path-editing mode is active. To remain in path-editing mode, select the Pen tool; press Vor C

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide327• To select an entire path, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) a segment or vertex of the path with theSelecti

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide328The pointer changes to a duplication pointer ( or ) as you hold the key and place the pointer near the grouptransform b

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide329Linear gradient The fill or stroke consists of colors and opacity values defined by a linear gradient and then mappedont

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide330Controls for mapping gradient colors in Composition panelA. Highlight control point B. Start Point C. End Point1 Select

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide331Line Join options for strokesThe Line Join property for a stroke determines the appearance of the stroke where the path

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide332Alter shape paths with path operationsPath operations are live, which means that you can modify or remove them at any ti

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide333Merge Paths optionsThe Merge Paths path operation takes all of the paths above it in the same group as input. The output

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide334Original shape (top left), one instance of the Repeater operation applied (top right), and two instances of the Repeater

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide29The best way to ensure that your movie is suitable for a specific medium is to render a test movie and view it usingthesa

335Chapter 13: Motion trackingMotion tracking overviewAbout motion trackingWith motion tracking, you can track the movement of an object and then appl

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide336Layer panel with track pointA. Search region B. Feature region C. Attach pointFeature region The feature region defines

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide337For best results, prepare the object or region that you are tracking before you begin shooting. Because After Effectscom

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide338Attach point offset from feature region5. Adjust the feature region, search region, and tracking optionsPlace each featu

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide339Note: If the layer that you’re attaching has motion blur enabled, make sure that the Shutter Phase value is set to -1/2t

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide340• Analyze Backward : Analyze from the current-time indicator backward to the beginning of the trimmed layerduration.• An

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide341Note: To determine an acceptable confidence threshold, track the motion and then examine the Confidence values forthe tr

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide342Tracking motionTrack or stabilize motionTracking motion and stabilizing motion are essentially the same process, only wi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide343After Effects creates keyframes for the target layer.When tracking position and applying this position data to a target,

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide344Track point components and Selection tool pointer iconsA. Search region B. Feature region C. Keyframe marker D. Attach p

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide30Composition settingsAfter you prepare and import footage items, you use these footage items to create layers in a composi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide345Apply tracking data to a new targetAfter you’ve tracked a motion source layer, you can apply that layer’s stored trackin

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide3462 Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) the feature and search regions only (not the attach point) to thecorrect lo

347Chapter 14: Effects and animation presetsEffects and animation presets overviewAbout animation presetsAnimation presets let you save and reuse spec

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide348About effectsAfter Effects includes a variety of effects, which you apply to layers to add or modify video and audio cha

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide349An effect applied to an adjustment layer affects all layers below it in the layer stacking order in the Timeline panel.(

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide350When you apply an effect with a Comp Camera attribute to a 2D layer, the effect can track the composition’s cameraand li

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide351You can scroll through the list of effects and animation presets, or you can search for effects and animation presetsby

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide352By default, when you apply an effect to a layer, the effect is active for the duration of the layer. However, you can ma

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide3534 Choose Refresh List from the Effects & Presets panel menu to update the list of animation presets in the panel.The

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide354About randomness and random seedsBecause true randomness is not repeatable, many effects simulate randomness by using a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide31When rendering your final movie, choose a file type and encoder appropriate for the final media. The correspondingdecoder

355Chapter 15: Effect referenceAdobe provides many third-party effect plug-ins with After Effects. Keylight, Color Finesse, and Cycore FX plug-insare

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide356Channel effects gallery“Box Blur effect” on page 376 “Channel Blur effect” on page 376 “Compound Blur effect” on page 37

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide357Color Correction effects gallery“Calculations effect” on page 383 “Channel Combiner effect” on page 383 “Compound Arithm

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide358“Broadcast Colors effect” on page 390 “Change Color effect” on page 390 “Change To Color effect” on page 391“Channel Mix

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide359Distort effects gallery“PS Arbitrary Map effect” on page 401 “Shadow/Highlight effect” on page 402 “Tint effect” on page

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide360Generate effects gallery“Optics Compensation effect” onpage 410“Polar Coordinates effect” on page 411 “Reshape effect” o

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide361“Audio Waveform effect” on page 423 “Beam effect” on page 423 “Cell Pattern effect” on page 424“Checkerboard effect” on

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide362Keying effects galleryMatte effects galleryNoise & Grain effects gallery“Color Difference Key effect” onpage 440“Col

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide363Paint effects galleryPerspective effects gallery“Add Grain effect” on page 459 “Dust & Scratches effect” on page 460

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide364Simulation effects galleryStylize effects gallery“Bevel Edges effect” on page 484 “Drop Shadow effect” on page 484 “Radi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide32“About compression of movie files” on page 618“Preview a movie on a virtual mobile device using After Effects” on page 61

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide365Text effects gallery“Motion Tile effect” on page 520 “Posterize effect” on page 521 “Roughen Edges effect” on page 521“S

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide366Time effects galleryTransition effects gallery“Echo effect” on page 531 “Posterize Time effect” on page 532 “Time Differ

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide367Utility effects gallery3D Channel effectsAbout 3D Channel effectsThe 3D Channel effects work on 2D layers—specifically,

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide3683D Channel Extract effectThe 3D Channel Extract effect makes auxiliary channels visible as either grayscale or multichan

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide369Original (top left), with effect applied (bottom left), and with effect applied and Invert Alpha selected (bottom right)

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide370To show the depth of an object in the Info panel, click the object in the Composition panel or Layer panel using theSele

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide371See also“About 3D layers” on page 171ID Matte effectMany 3D programs tag each element in a scene with a unique Object ID

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide372See also“Preview video and audio” on page 120Bass & Treble effectThe Bass & Treble effect boosts (increases) or

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide373Stereo Voices Alternates assignment of voices to one of the two channels so that the first voice appears in the leftchan

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide374Amplitude Modulation The amount of amplitude modulation.See also“Preview video and audio” on page 120Parametric EQ effec

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide33It is often a good idea to prepare a still image in Photoshop before importing it into After Effects. Examples of suchpre

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide375Stereo Mixer effectThe Stereo Mixer effect mixes the left and right channels of audio and pans the entire signal from on

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide376Some blur effects have a Repeat Edge Pixels option. Select this option to make the blur algorithm operate as if thepixel

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide377Original (top left), blur layer (bottom left), and result (bottom right)Maximum Blur The maximum amount, in pixels, that

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide378Original (left), and with effect applied (right)Gaussian Blur effectThe Gaussian Blur effect blurs and softens the image

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide379Iris Blade Curvature The roundness of the edges of the iris.Iris Rotation The rotation of the iris.Iris Radius The size

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide380Sharpen effectThe Sharpen effect increases the contrast where color changes occur. The layer’s quality setting doesn’t a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide381Threshold The greatest difference between adjacent pixels for which contrast isn’t adjusted. A lower value producesagrea

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide382• Block Above Set the pixel’s channel value to zero if the pixel’s original value is greater than the value specified;ot

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide383Note: You can create a crossfade without applying an effect by animating the Opacity property of one layer on top ofanot

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide384From Which values to use as input; the first several items in the menu are actually multichannel combinations ofinput an

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide34Exporting Flash video (FLV) from After EffectsWhen you render finished video from After Effects, select FLV as the output

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide385This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.Original (left), and with effect applied (right)Channel Which channel or c

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide386Use Background Color to specify the new background color. To allow this effect to generate color values outside ofthe ra

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide387Composite Matte With Original Composites the new matte with the current layer, rather than replacing it. Theresultingmat

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide388Histogram for image that does not use full tonal rangeInput sliders moved so that output uses full tonal rangeHistogram

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide389The Auto Levels effect uses many of the same controls as the Auto Color and Auto Contrast effects.These effects work wit

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide390Broadcast Colors effectNote: The Color Finesse plug-in included with After Effects includes excellent tools that can hel

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide391pink match, for example. Chroma uses the two chrominance components to determine similarity, ignoringluminance (lightnes

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide392Channel Mixer effectTheChannelMixereffectmodifiesacolorchannelusingamixofthecurrentcolorchannels.Usethiseffecttomakecrea

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide393Clip The percentage of pixels to ignore at the extreme channel values. This clipping is useful for reducing theinfluence

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide394Guy Chen provides an example of using the Fractal Noise effect to generate the base noise (in this case for theturbulent

ivBlending modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide35Working with Adobe Premiere Pro and After EffectsAdobe Premiere® Pro is designed to capture, import, and edit film and vi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide395Note: When you animate the Output Cycle, a triangle’s position and color are interpolated between keyframes. For bestres

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide396Blend With Original The effect’s transparency. The result of the effect is blended with the original image, with theeffe

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide397Original (left), and with effect applied (right)Equalize RGB equalizes the image based on red, green, and blue component

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide398The Black Stretch control remaps the low pixel values of all channels. Large Black Stretch values brighten dark areas.Ga

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide3993 Drag the Colorize Hue dial to select a new color if desired.4 Drag the Colorize Saturation and Colorize Lightness slid

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide400Input Black and Output Black Pixels in the input image with a luminance value equal to the Input Black value aregiven th

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide401To retain Photo Filter adjustment layers created in Photoshop, import the Photoshop file into your After Effectsproject

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide402Shadow/Highlight effectThe Shadow/Highlight effect brightens shadowed subjects in an image and reduces the highlights in

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide403may want these colors to be more vivid. The higher the Color Correction value, the more saturated these colorsbecome. Th

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide404Distort effectsZaxwerks provides a set of 3D Warps effect plug-ins, which can be used to distort layers in 3D space:www.

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide362 Choose Layer > Adobe Encore > Assign To Subpicture [number] or Assign To Video Thumbnail.Export a button for use

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide405Original (top left), and with variations of Bulge applied (bottom left and right)Horizontal Radius and Vertical Radius T

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide406Displacement Map effectThe Displacement Map effect distorts a layer by displacing pixels horizontally and vertically bas

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide407Original (top left), and with variations of Liquify applied (bottom left and right)Mask propertiesFreeze Area Mask Deter

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide408• Specify a brush size and brush pressure. A low brush pressure makes changes occur more slowly, so it’s easier tostop t

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide409Magnification Percentage by which to scale the magnified area.Link How the size and edge feathering of the magnified are

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide410To select multiple vertices, Shift-click the vertices.Rows, Columns Specify up to 31 patches vertically (Rows) or horizo

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide411Reverse Lens Distortion Reverses the lens distortion. For example, to remove wide-angle lens distortion, set Field OfVie

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide412Original (top left), and with variations of Polar Coordinates applied (bottom left and right)StuMaschwitzprovidesanexamp

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide413Original including three masks (top left), and with variations of Reshape applied (bottom left and right)By default, Aft

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide414Interpolation Method Specifies how After Effects determines the distortion of each video or animation frame in theinterv

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide37If you are building cross-platform projects, it’s best if the full paths have the same names on Mac OS and Windowssystems

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide415This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.Radius Controls the distance the ripples travel from the center point. The

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide416Note: You must specify both a boundary mask and a source mask to create a distortion.Boundary Mask Specifies a mask as t

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide417This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.Transform effectThe Transform effect applies two-dimensional geometric tra

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide418Note: The Cycle control affects only the state of the fractal, not geometrics or other controls, so you can get differen

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide419Warping a layerWave Warp effectThe Wave Warp effect produces the appearance of a wave traveling across an image. You can

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide420This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.Blend Higher values create more gradual transitions between colors.Jitter

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide421Decay Main Core Decays the main core along with its forks.Composite On Original Composites the lightning with the origin

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide422Original (top left), and with effect applied (bottom left and right)Audio Layer The audio layer you want to use as input

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide423Audio Waveform effectApply the Audio Waveform effect to a video layer to display the audio waveform amplitude of an audi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide424This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color.Original (left), and with a simulated beam (right)The Length cont

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide38After Effects renders each frame of a composition one layer at a time. For this reason, the memory requirement ofeach ind

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide425• Wrap Back Values above 255 or below 0 are reflected back into the 0-255 range. For example, a value of 258(255+3) is r

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide426Opacity The opacity of the colored rectangles.Blending Mode Theblendingmodetousetocompositethecheckerboardpatternontopof

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide427Maintain Original Alpha Maintains the original layer’s alpha channel. If you choose Including Alpha in the AveragePixel

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide428Mandelbrot, Julia Specify the settings for the specified set. X (Real) and Y (Imaginary) specify the pixels at the cente

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide429• Use the Hand tool to pan the image. Press Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) to pan the opposite fractal. Forexample,

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide430Single lens flare (bottom left) and multiple lens flares (bottom right)Lightning effectThe Lightning effect creates ligh

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide431Branch Seg. Length The length of each branch segment as a fraction of the average length of the segments in thelightning

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide432• Straight Color Specifies that the effect fills only the fill point area’s RGB channel with the new color.• Transparen

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide433Polygon wave type with square stroke profile (bottom left), and Image Contour wave type with Sine stroke profile (bottom

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide434Source Center Specifies the center point of the shape, relative to the source layer. For example, if you isolate a shape

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide39The operating system imposes certain limits on the amount of memory that an application can use. After Effects onthe Mac

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide435Fade-in Time Specifies the amount of time it takes the wave to fade into view. Fade-in Time is measured in secondsand be

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide436Masks (top left), Scribble applied to outside edges (bottom left), and Scribble applied to inside edges with Composite o

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide437• Spacing and Spacing Variation The number of pixels between lines and zigzags. Setting a value equal to the strokewidth

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide438Vegas effectThe Vegas effect generates running lights and other path-based pulse animations around an object. You can ou

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide439Rotation Animates the segments around the contour. For example, to create the appearance of running lights, startwith a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide440Paint Time Properties and Brush Time Properties Specifies whether paint properties and brush properties areapplied to ea

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide441Note: To use any of the eyedroppers in the Layer panel, choose Color Difference Key from the View menu in the Layerpanel

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide442Color Key effectThe Color Key effect keys out all image pixels that are similar to a specified key color. This effect mo

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide443See also“Keying overview and tips” on page 268“Matte Choker effect” on page 450“Simple Choker effect” on page 451Use the

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide444Difference Matte Key effectA. Original image B. Background image C. New background image D. Final composite imageSee als

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide40rendering a frame, memory usage drops back down to, at most, the amount set by the Maximum RAM Cache Sizepreference.You c

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide4459 Adjust the Matching Tolerance slider to specify the amount of transparency based on how closely colors mustmatch betwe

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide446Note: To taper the edges of the transparency control bar, you must first shorten the transparency bar.• Drag the entire

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide4477 Specify the Edge Threshold, which is a soft cutoff for removing low-opacity pixels that can cause unwanted noisein the

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide4485 Select a key color in one of the following ways:• Select the Thumbnail eyedropper, and then click an appropriate area

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide449This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.White background of original (top left and bottom left) is removed using L

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide450Original greenscreen (top left) leaves green glow when keyed out (bottom left). Spill Suppressor removes glow (bottom ri

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide451Original (top left) shows areas of unwanted transparency after using Color Key (bottom left) that are removed with Matte

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide452Noise & Grain effectsWork with Grain effectsAlmost every digital image captured from the real world contains grain o

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide453Apply a grain effectEach grain effect is applied with default settings and is displayed in Preview viewing mode, which h

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide4543 Adjust the Blur Matte value to soften the matte and to produce a softer transition between the affected andunaffected

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide41Ifbackgroundprocessesareusedforrendering,thenthemainforegroundapplicationisnotalsousedforrendering.Thismeansthatcreatingb

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide455Generate a layer matteIn some cases, you may want to use a different layer or track as a mask for the layer that uses a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide456• To increase the effect’s interaction speed and RAM preview duration, use the Region Of Interest feature in theComposit

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide4572 Choose Manual from the Sample Selection pop-up menu in the Sampling controls group.3 To remove the least desirable sam

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide458The Add Grain and Match Grain effects let you reproduce these subtle changes in grain patterns across areas of animage o

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide459Using the Color controls group in the Effect Controls panel, you can adjust any of the following:Monochromatic Givesthea

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide460You can use the Add Grain effect’s controls to do the following:• To reproduce the grain of a particular film or photogr

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide461Original image with scratches (top left), enlarged view of scratches (bottom left), and scratches removed with loss of c

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide462a mostly black and/or white image with less gray area. Therefore, higher contrast settings display less subtle detail.Wh

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide463To ensure that a cycle completes full revolutions, choose a Cycle value that either matches or is evenly divisible bythe

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide4648 Trim the layer’s Out point at this frame.9 Prerender this layer, and import the pre-rendered movie into your project.1

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide42• Adjust the size of the virtual memory paging file (Windows only). Virtual memory enables the system to use hard-disk sp

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide465The grain is automatically sampled and applied to the preview region on the destination layer. If you need anautomatic m

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide466• Enter new x and y coordinates adjacent to the sample point under the Compensation Sample Points controls inthe Effect

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide467Amount The magnitude of the noise.Original Alpha How to apply the noise to the alpha channel:• Add Produces equal amount

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide468Original (left), and with effect applied (right)Noise The type of noise. Uniform produces uniform noise. Squared creates

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide469Original (left), and with effect applied (right)Remove noise or grain from an image1Select the layer you want to affect.

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide470Clean Solid Areas Controls the extent to which adjacent pixels with low variations in value are smoothed out by thenoise

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide471Paint effectsPaint effectApply the Paint effect using the paint tools.This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc c

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide472When you use Vector Paint on a layer, you can start over at any time by deleting all strokes or the Vector Paint effecti

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide473Work with Vector Paint brushesVector Paint includes three brush types: Paint, Air, and Square. These brush types define

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide474The pressure variation of the pen on the tablet alters the opacity of the stroke as you draw. Light pressure results inl

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide43• Deselect the Continuously Rasterize switch for a vector layer until you need to view or render it in detail. Thispreven

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide475If Color Clone is enabled in the Effect Controls panel, this swatch represents the sampled color. Shift-click the ColorS

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide476Play back your strokes using standard (spacebar) preview or RAM preview, or by viewing the results of a renderedcomposit

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide477Bychangingtheplaybackspeed,youcanchangethetimingforstrokeappearancesinpreviewsandrenderedcompo-sitions.1 In the Effect C

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide478Note: You cannot use the Undo command to reverse the Re-timer after you apply it. However, you can apply the Re-timer ag

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide479When Displacement Detail values are set very high, the stroke may not resemble its original shape at all. Thisapproach i

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide480Composite Paint optionsA. In Original (default setting), before painting The imported image is visible.B. In Original, w

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide481J. As Inverse Matte Before you paint, the original image is visible in the working view. Painting affects only areaswith

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide482Original (left), and with effect applied (right)To avoid problems with flipped views, keep in mind the following guideli

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide483• Balanced Red Green LR Performs the same operation as Red Green LR but also balances the colors to reduceshadows or gho

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide484Specular Highlight Adds a glint of light that reflects off the surface of the layer, as if an overhead light were shinin

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide44• Lowerthecomposition’smagnification.WhenAfterEffectsdisplaystheComposition,Layer,andFootagepanelsat magnifications of 10

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide485This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.Original (left), and with effect applied (right)To render the shadow witho

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide486• Glass Edge Creates a colored shadow based on the color and opacity of the layer. If the layer contains semitrans-paren

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide487Specular Reflection Takes into account the position of the viewer. It models the reflection of the light source back tot

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide488For example, select a vertical grayscale gradient layer (black on top, white on bottom) from the Gradient Layer 1menu, a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide489Camera System and Camera Position controlsCamera System Specifies whether to use the effect’s Camera Position properties

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide490Original (top left), and with Bottom set to the text layer (bottom left) and Water Surface set to the whirl layer with S

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide491Smoothing Specifies the roundness of the waves by blurring the water surface layer. Very high values eliminatedetail. Ve

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide492Original (top left), with Foam applied (bottom left), and with a robot layer used as the Bubble Texture Layer (bottom ri

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide493upper-left corner of the screen if you don’t select Zoom Producer Point. If you select Zoom Producer Point, the pointmov

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide494Repulsion Controls whether bubbles bounce off each other, stick to each other, or pass through each other. At a valueof

vChapter 15: Effect referenceGalleries of effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide45Plug-ins compiled for the Macintosh PowerPC processor architecture do not run natively on Macintosh computersthat use Int

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide495Bubble Orientation Determines the direction that the bubble rotates. Fixed releases the bubble from the producerright si

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide496Particles shooting out of the spacecraft layer (top left), text characters used as particles shooting out of a ray gun (

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide497When you use another layer as a source for particles, Particle Playground ignores any changes you made to that layerwith

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide498WiththeGrid,anewparticleappearsoneveryframeateachgridintersection.Youcan’tadjustthisfrequency,butifyou want to turn off

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide499Radius Of New Particles Specifies the radius of the particles resulting from the explosion. This value must be smallerth

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide500advances as the current time advances. However, the range is always between the current time and one second earlierthan

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide5016 Click the Font Size value, type a value of 10 or greater, and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).If you want to

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide502Gravity controlsUse Gravity controls to pull existing particles in a direction you specify. Particles accelerate in the

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide503Note: The simulation space is not bounded by the dimensions of the layer to which Particle Playground is applied. Youmay

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide5043 Choose a property for each of the Map Red To, Map Green To, and Map Blue To controls. You don’t have to mapproperties

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide46For a complete description of the scripting capabilities available with After Effects, see the After Effects ScriptingGui

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide505Gradient Force Copiestheforceadjustmentbasedonareasofalayermaponboththexandyplanesofmotion.Thepixel brightness values in

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide506• You set the initial velocity of a particle and then use a layer map to affect the X Speed value. However, you findthat

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide507Regardless of the color depth of the image that you use as a layer map, After Effects always uses its red, green, andblu

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide508Before you apply a layer map to a particle layer, they must be in the same composition, in a stacking order thatproduces

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide509Original (top left), and as Shatter is applied over time to reveal another layer (bottom left and right)AharonRabinowitz

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide510Shape controlsShape controls specify the shape and appearance of the shattered pieces.Pattern Specifies the preset patte

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide511negative Strength value does not suck the pieces into a black hole; instead, the pieces fly through each other and backo

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide512Viscosity Specifies how fast pieces decelerate after being blown apart. The higher the Viscosity value, the more resis-t

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide513Camera System and Camera Position controlsCamera System Whether to use the effect’s Camera Position properties, the effe

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide514Note: The custom shatter map determines the shapes of the pieces a layer shatters into, but not when the pieces shatter.

47Chapter 4: ImportingImporting and interpreting footage itemsWorking with imported filesYou import footage items into a project and use them as sourc

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide515Wireframe controlsWireframe controls fine-tune the appearance of the wireframe model. These controls don’t affect the gr

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide516Damping Specifies how quickly a wave’s energy is absorbed by the liquid it travels through. The higher the value, thequi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide517Angle Specifies the angle of the wave producer area for the Line and Ring types. This control sets the orientation ofthe

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide518Blend With Original The effect’s transparency. The result of the effect is blended with the original image, with theeffe

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide519Find Edges effectThe Find Edges effect identifies the areas of an image that have significant transitions and emphasizes

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide520Color Looping The shape of the gradient curve to use if A & B Colors is selected for Glow Colors.Color Loops Creates

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide521Posterize effectThe Posterize effect lets you specify the number of tonal levels (or brightness values) for each channel

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide522Offset (Turbulence) Determines the portion of the fractal shape that is used to create the roughness.Complexity Determin

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide523Strobe Light effectThe Strobe Light effect performs an arithmetic operation on a layer or makes the layer transparent at

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide524• Center Texture Positions the texture in the middle.• Stretch Texture To Fit Stretches the texture to the dimensions of

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide48Supported import formatsSome file-name extensions—such as MOV and AVI—denote container file formats rather than denoting

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide525Note: The behavior of the Position point is affected by the Alignment setting in the Basic Text dialog box. The pointalw

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide526Note: Leap years are taken into consideration. Note that on some Mac operating systems, the clock starts on January 1,19

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide527Note: IfyouuseAdobeTypeManager(ATM)andlargetextlooksblockyordoesn’totherwiserenderproperly,increasethe Character Cache S

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide528• Vertex 2 Specifies the ending vertex of a Bezier curve and the angle of a line. For circles or loops, Vertex 2 isignor

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide529Left Margin, Right Margin Specify the margins. Left Margin specifies the position of the first character in pixels,relat

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide530You can specify the following Jitter options:• Baseline Jitter Max Sets a maximum distance, in pixels, that characters a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide531Time effectsEcho effectThe Echo effect combines frames from different times in a layer. The Echo effect has a variety of

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide532See also“Precompose layers” on page 114Posterize Time effectThe Posterize Time effect locks a layer to a specific frame

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide533Time Offset The relative time in the comparison layer, in seconds, where the layers are compared. If this control isset

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide534TheTimeDisplacementeffectautomaticallyreplacespixelsacrosstimewithoutkeyframesorexpressions.However,you can animate othe

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide49• Radiance (HDR, RGBE, XYZE; 32 bpc)• SGI (SGI, BW, RGB; 16 bpc)• Softimage (PIC)• Targa (TGA, VDA, ICB, VST)• TIFF (TIF)

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide535Note: After Effects uses the layer you select in its original form, without any masking, effects, or transformations you

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide536Error Threshold Determines the precision of pixel matching from one frame to the next. A higher value results infewer mo

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide537See also“About animation, keyframes, and expressions” on page 183Block Dissolve effectThe Block Dissolve effect makes a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide538See also“About randomness and random seeds” on page 354“Common Lighting controls and Material controls” on page 486Basic

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide539Corner Pins controlsCornerPinningisanalternativecameracontrolsystem.Useitasanaidforcompositingtheresultoftheeffectintoa

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide540Original (top left), and with effect applied (bottom left and right)Thegradientlayercanbeastillimageoramovingimage.Thegr

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide541Original (top left), and with effect applied (bottom left and right)Linear Wipe effectThe Linear Wipe effect performs a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide542Original (top left), and with effect applied (bottom left and right)Venetian Blinds effectThe Venetian Blinds effect rev

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide543The 10 bits of data available in each Cineon channel for each pixel make it easier to enhance an important range oftones

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide544To convert the color profile of the layer, select a color profile from the Input Profile menu. Select Project WorkingSpa

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide50For information on importing Apple Motion projects into After Effects, see the Apple website:www.adobe.com/go/learn_ae_im

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide545Note: You should not need to use this effect when working with effects that work with 32-bpc color, because these effect

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide5466 Apply another instance of the HDR Compander effect to the layer. Make sure that the second instance of HDRCompander is

547Chapter 16: ExpressionsWorking with expressionsMany of the examples in this section are based on examples provided by Dan Ebberts. Dan Ebberts also

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide548Expression interface in the Timeline panel in layer bar modeA. Enable Expression switch B. Show Post-Expression Graph bu

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide549Note: The arguments for some After Effects effects have changed from those in previous versions. If you have existingexp

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide550Important: You must replace the argument names written by the Expression Language menu with actual values.See also“About

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide551The format of expressions created by the pick whip is determined by the Expression Pick Whip Writes CompactEnglish prefe

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide5525 The element thisComp is a global attribute whose value is a Comp object representing the current composition.To determ

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide553See also“Work with the Graph Editor” on page 184“Creating and modifying motion paths” on page 197Writing expressions for

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide554• Type /* at the beginning of the comment and */ at the end of the comment. Any text between /* and */ isignored. For ex

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide51Interpret footage itemsAfter Effects uses a set of internal rules to interpret each footage item that you import accordin

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide555Note: As with pasting keyframes and other items, you can often paste the item into the target layer and rely on AfterEff

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide556The expression languageAbout the expression languageThe After Effects expression language is based on JavaScript 1.2, wi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide557You can assign an Array to a variable, making it easy to refer to Array values in other areas of the expression. Forexam

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide558y = position[1];[9,y]The following is even more succinct:[9, position[1]]This is an important point, so let’s look at on

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide559Generally, it is best to use the name of a layer, effect, or a mask instead of a number to avoid confusion and errors if

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide560• “Time conversion methods” on page 561• “Vector Math methods” on page 562• “Random Numbers methods” on page 563• “Inter

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide561Represents the layer containing the expression. Because thisLayer is the default object, its use is optional. Forexample

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide562Argument type: t is a Number, ntscDropFrame and isDuration are Booleans.Converts t to a String representing NTSC timecod

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide563div(vec, amount) Return type: Array.Argument type: vec is an Array, amount is a Number.Divides every element of the vect

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide564The random and gaussRandommethods use a seed value that controls the sequence of numbers. By default, the seedis compute

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide52Edit interpretation rules for all items of a specific kindThe interpretation rules file contains the rules that specify h

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide565If minValOrArray and maxValOrArray are Numbers, this method returns a random number. Approximately 90% ofthe results are

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide566Similar to linear with the same arguments, except that the interpolation eases in and out so that the velocity is 0 atth

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide567radiansToDegrees(radians) Return type: Number.Argument type: radians is a Number.Converts radians to degrees.Comp attrib

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide568Returns the marker that is nearest in time to t. For example, this expression returns the time of the composition-timema

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide569Footage attributes and methodsTo use a footage item from the Project panel as an object in an expression, use the global

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide570Argument type: index is a Number.After Effects finds the mask by its index in the Timeline panel, starting at 1 and coun

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide571Returnstrueifthelayer’sVideoswitch isonandthecurrenttimeisbetweenthelayer’sInpointandOutpoint;false otherwise.audioActiv

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide572Returns the value of the Audio Levels property of the layer, in decibels. This is a 2D value; the first value represents

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide573rotationZ Return type: Property.Returns the z rotation value, in degrees, for a 3D layer.lightTransmission Return type:

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide574Transforms a point from composition space to layer space. The resulting point in a 3D layer may have a nonzerovalue even

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide53A footage item with premultiplied channels (top) appears with a black halo when interpreted as Straight-Unmatted (bottom

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide575zoom Return type: Property.Returns the camera’s zoom values in pixels.Here's an expression for the Scale property o

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide576Returns the light’s shadow darkness value as a percentage.shadowDiffusion Return type: Property.Returns the light’s shad

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide577Argument type: t is a Number.Returns the property’s value at the specified time, in seconds.For example, to have a prope

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide578freq = 3;amp = 50;w = wiggle(freq,amp);[value[0],w[1]];temporalWiggle(freq, amp, octaves=1, amp_mult=.5, t=time) Return

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide579the last keyframe. For example, loopOut("cycle", 1) loops the segment bounded by the last keyframe andsecond-t

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide580Example: Animating with the propertyGroup method and propertyIndex attributeValues of propertyGroup relative to brush st

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide581index Return type: Number.Returns the index of the keyframe.MarkerKey attributesYou can access values for composition-ti

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide582For example, if you have a parameter named “background color”, then you can use the following expression to accessits va

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide583thisComp.layer("hour hand").rotation*12Guy Chen provides a simple project that takes this idea further, connec

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide5844 SelecttheBulgeeffect’sBulgeCenterpropertyintheTimelinepanelandchooseAnimation>AddExpression,orAlt-click (Windows) o

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide54Setting the composition frame rate to twice the rate of the output format causes After Effects to display each field ofin

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide585Example: Animate scale at each layer-time marker❖ Apply the following expression to a Scale property to make a layer wob

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide586See also“Add, edit, and remove expressions” on page 549Example: Match camera’s focal plane to another layer❖ Apply the f

587Chapter 17: Rendering and exportingBasics of rendering and exportingAbout rendering and exportingRendering is the creation of the finished frames o

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide588In the Render Queue panel, you can manage several render items at once, each with its own render settings andoutput modu

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide589Video and animation formats• 3GPP (3GP, 3G2, AMC; requires QuickTime 6.5 or later)• Adobe Clip Notes (PDF containing ren

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide590• SGI (SGI, BW, RGB, 16 bpc)• Targa (TGA, VBA, ICB, VST)• TIFF (TIF; 8, 16, and 32 bpc)Audio-only formats• AU audio file

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide591To create a new composition from a footage item and add that composition to the render queue, drag the footageitem from

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide592Pause or stop rendering• To pause rendering, click Pause. To resume rendering, click Continue.While rendering is paused,

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide593The specific file formats that you can export to using QuickTime depend on how you’ve configured QuickTime. Ifyou instal

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide594Important: Use caution when enabling the OpenGL renderer in a network rendering environment. Inconsistencies mayarise if

1Chapter 1: Getting startedInstallationRequirements❖ To review complete system requirements and recommendations for your Adobe® software, see the Read

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide55Change frame rate for a composition1Choose Composition > Composition Settings.2 Do one of the following:• Choose a com

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide595Obey Proxy Settings Use this option with compositions that include proxies to specify whether you want the copyto includ

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide596Click the triangle to open the Output To menu, or click the underlined text to enter a destination.Specify the file name

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide597Name output files automaticallyThe Use Default File Name And Folder preference ensures that all compositions added to th

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide598Note: The default render settings template is assigned to a render item when it is created. To change which render setti

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide599Frame Blending On For Checked Layers renders frame blending only for layers with the Frame Blending switchset, regardles

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide600To duplicate an output module, select it and press Ctrl+D (Windows) or Command+D (Mac OS).Note: Before rendering, check

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide601Add an output module to selected render items• Choose Composition > Add Output ModuleOutput module settingsFor inform

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide602playback on the computer, and a 16-bit sample depth for CD and digital audio playback or for hardware that supports16-bi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide603Flash (SWF)SWF files are small files that are often used to deliver animated vector graphics (such as cartoons), audio,

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide604The exported SWF file includes each unchanged item in the After Effects composition once, and then references itfor each

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide56Square and nonsquare pixelsA. Square pixels and 4:3 frame aspect ratio B. Nonsquare pixels and 4:3 frame aspect ratio C.

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide605that are then ignored or rasterized, and white fringes may appear around some objects. The process can be slow,memory-in

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide606enabled are rasterized. The SWF file maintains the Illustrator crop marks. Artwork outside the crop marks isincluded in

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide607See also“Render and export a movie using the render queue” on page 590Export a single frame of a compositionYou can expo

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide608From some video editing and compositing applications such as Adobe Premiere Pro (Windows only) and AfterEffects, you can

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide609About Dynamic Link (Production Premium only)In the past, sharing media assets among post-production applications has req

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide610If you’re working with complex source compositions and experiencing playback delays, you can take the compo-sition offli

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide611Encore and After Effects: If you are linking to Dynamic Link compositions that were created using Create AfterEffects Co

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide612Offline compositions appear with an Offline icon in the Adobe Premiere Pro Project panel. In Encore, thethumbnail previ

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide613See also“Render and export a movie using the render queue” on page 590“Work with output module settings” on page 599Abou

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide614After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro add metadata to MPEG-2 files that Encore can read for aid in authoring andbuilding

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide57Change pixel aspect ratio for a composition1Choose Composition > Composition Settings.2 Do one of the following:• Choo

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide615Note: When comparing CBR and VBR files of the same content and file size, you can make the following generalizations:A C

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide616Audio Format Determines the audio type.Bit Rate Specifies the output bit rate of the audio. Generally, higher bit rates

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide6176 In the Select Audience (or Select Alternate) dialog box, select the item you want to copy or delete, and clickDuplicat

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide618Add XMP metadata to an exported fileMetadata is descriptive file information that can be searched and processed by a com

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide619About data rateWith some video and audio codecs, you can specify the data rate,alsocalledthebit rate, which controls the

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide620Note: (Mac OS only) If you intend to use key frames in the movie, hold down Option and adjust the Quality slider tocontr

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide6214 In the Video Compression dialog box, choose a compressor from the first menu in the Compressor section.Chooseacompress

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide622Render a composition to OMF (Windows only)You can render a composition to the OMF (Open Media Framework Interchange) for

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide623This example command tells After Effects to render frames 1 through 10 of Composition_1 in project_1.aep to anumbered se

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide624Lloyd Alvarez provides a script that takes items that are ready to render in the render queue and sends them to renderin

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide584 Choose Composition > New Composition, and then do one of the following:• If your final output is DV, choose NTSC DV,

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide625Network rendering with watch foldersYou can render one or more compositions from a project using multiple computers over

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide626• DonotrendertoorinitiateWatchFoldermodeontherootofavolumeorasharedfolderthatappearsastherootwhen viewed from another co

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide6273 In each render engine, choose File > Watch Folder, and select the watch folder that you’ve created.4 Create your pr

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide628Start in watch-folder modeWatch-folder mode applies only to rendering from a folder on your local computer.• TostartAfte

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide6294 In the Render Queue panel, select Skip Existing Files in the Render Settings section so that multiple computersdo not

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide630Converting moviesConvert footage items between video formatsYoucanuseAfterEffectstoconvertonetypeofvideotoanother.Whenco

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide6312 Import your DV PAL footage into the new composition.3 Select the layer with the DV PAL footage, and choose Layer >

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide632Crop to a region of interest To render just a portion of the composition frame, define a region of interest in theCompos

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide633Note: Adding an odd number of pixels to the top of a field-rendered movie reverses the field order. For example, if youa

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide634Test field-rendering orderWhen you render a composition containing separated footage, set the Field Rendering option to

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide59Rename and sort items• To rename a composition, footage item, or folder, select it in the Project panel, press Enter (Win

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide635Composition-time markers (After Effects) and sequence markers (Adobe Premiere Pro) are included with the movieas comment

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide636Stream Video Posts the rendered movie to an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server and includes a link to the movieinthePDF

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide6372 Choose File > Import > Adobe Clip Notes.3 Select the XFDF file that contains the comments, and click Open.Clip N

638Chapter 18: Keyboard shortcutsUsing and modifying keyboard shortcutsUse keyboard shortcuts to speed up common tasks.Note: On Mac OS, some keyboard

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide639Shortcuts for working with projectsShortcuts for working with preferencesShortcuts for panels, viewers, workspaces, and

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide640Shortcuts for activating toolsNote: You can activate some tools only under certain circumstances. For example, you can a

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide641To momentarily activate a tool with a single-letter keyboard shortcut, hold down the shortcut key; release theshortcut k

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide642Shortcuts for working with compositions and the work areaShortcuts for working with previewsResult Windows Mac OSNew com

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide643Note: Some shortcuts are marked with an asterisk (*) to remind you to make sure that Num Lock is on when you usethe nume

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide644Shortcuts for working with footageShortcuts for using and modifying viewsResult Windows Mac OSImport one file or image s

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide60Reveal footage items• To reveal where a footage item is used in a composition, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Ma

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide645Shortcuts for effects and animation presetsShortcuts for working with layersNote: Some operations do not affect shy laye

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide646Result Windows Mac OSNew solid layer Ctrl+Y Command+YNew null layer Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Y Command+Option+Shift+YSelect layer

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide647Note: Some shortcuts are marked with an asterisk (*) to remind you to make sure that Num Lock is on when you usethe nume

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide648Shortcuts for modifying propertiesShow only Opacity property (forlights, Intensity)TTShow only Position property P PShow

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide649Shortcuts for 3D layersNote: (Mac OS) Shortcuts involving function keys F9-F12 may conflict with shortcuts used by the o

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide650See also“Shortcuts for showing properties in the Timeline panel” on page 647Shortcuts for keyframesNote: (Mac OS) Shortc

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide651Shortcuts for working with textEasy ease selected keyframes F9 F9Easy ease selected keyframes in Shift+F9 Shift+F9Easy e

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide652In horizontal text, move insertionpoint one character left or right;one line up or down; one word leftor right; or one p

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide653Shortcuts for working with masksDecrease or increasebaseline shiftby 2 unitsAlt+Shift+Down Arrow orAlt+Shift+Up ArrowOpt

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide654Shortcuts for working with paint toolsNote: Some shortcuts are marked with an asterisk (*) to remind you to make sure th

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide61If the selected composition includes items that are turned off (that is, the Video or Audio switch is deselected in theTi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide655Shortcuts for working with shape layersShortcuts for working with markersResult Windows Mac OSGroup selected shapes Ctrl

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide656Shortcuts for motion trackingShortcuts for saving, exporting, and renderingGo to a composition-time marker(0-9)0-9 on ma

657IndexNumerics16-bpc color 23424Pa pulldown 723:2 pulldownadding 633removing 7232-bpc color 2343D Channel effects3D Channel Extract effect 368about

INDEX658aerender 622aeselflink 40After Effects. See Adobe After Effectsaligninglayers 140text 283, 294alpha channelsabout 252copying channels to 386cr

INDEX659reference 164Solid Composite effect 387Blending Options properties 171blending, linear 244blending, restricting to channels 171Block Dissolve

INDEX660clamp (expression element) 563clip markers, conversion in AfterEffects 67Clip Notes 635, 636Clone Stamp tool 302, 307See also paint toolscodec

INDEX661crystals, creating with CellPattern 424cue points 118cuePointName (expressionelement) 581current-time display 132current-time indicator 109mov

INDEX662exportingabout 587After Effects project to AdobePremiere Pro 608Clip Notes 634output module settings 599render queue 590, 591supported formats

INDEX663framesToTime (expressionelement) 561frameTarget (expressionelement) 581Free Transform Points command 327freeze frame 208, 222fromComp (express

INDEX664inPoint (expression element) 570input color profiles 245installation 1intensity (expression element) 575inter-character blending 282interlaced

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide62Work with placeholders and missing footage itemsFor best results, set the placeholder to exactly the same size, duration,

INDEX665rotating 157selecting 138sequencing 144solid-color 136splitting 146stacking and render order 138trimming and extending 141layer-time markers,

INDEX666Mirror effect 410mixing audio 375mobile devicessetup 30Modulator effect 373monitorsprofiling 243Monochrome control, ChannelMixer effect 392Mos

INDEX667panelsdocking and grouping 14opening and closing 17resizing 16panninganchor point 154audio 375masks 266Paragraph panel 283paragraph textSee al

INDEX668Qquality, layer image 150QuickTimecompression settings 619encoding presets 616QuickTime (MOV) formatexporting 592QuickTime videoexporting 33qu

INDEX669selectinglayers 138selectorsadding 289Expression 300, 301Range 289, 295, 298Wiggly 289, 296, 300selflink 40Send Layer Backward command 138sepa

INDEX670Scatter effect 522Strobe Light effect 523Texturize effect 523Threshold effect 524sub (expression element) 562subscript text 281superscript tex

INDEX671tracking, text 280transfer modes, conversion in AdobePremiere Pro 66transfer modes. See blending modesTransform effect 417Transform properties

INDEX672Wireframe preview mode 124WM9 HDTV 69work area 112workflow 26working color space 244workspacesabout 13choosing 14deleting 18docking and groupi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide63Create placeholders for outputYou can create placeholder files that can be used in different compositions. For example, y

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide64Import an Adobe Premiere Pro projectThe ability to import Adobe Premiere Pro projects into After Effects eliminates the n

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide2Read MeThe installation disc contains the Read Me file for your software. (This file is also copied to the application fol

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide65Copy between After Effects and Adobe Premiere ProYou can copy and paste layers and assets between Adobe After Effects and

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide66Copy from Adobe Premiere Pro to After EffectsYoucancopyavideooraudioassetfromanAdobePremiereProsequenceandpasteitintoanAf

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide67Importing video and audioWork with the media cacheWhen After Effects imports video and audio in some formats, it processe

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide68A database retains links to each of the cached media files. This media cache database is shared with Adobe PremierePro, A

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide69To apply digital effects to motion-picture film using After Effects, you must first transfer the film to a digital format

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide70the data rate. H.264 is built into the Apple QuickTime 7 multimedia architecture, and it’s supported by bothHD-DVD and Bl

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide71The terms progressive and noninterlaced are thus closely related and are often used interchangeably, but progressiverefer

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide72Determine the original field orderThe field order for an interlaced video footage item determines the order in which the

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide73When you apply 3:2 pulldown to footage, one frame of the film (A) is separated into two or three interlaced video fields

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide74The root of the P2 folder structure is a CONTENTS folder. Each essence item(anitemofvideooraudio)iscontainedin a separate

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide3Most versions of in-product and LiveDocs Help let you search across the Help systems of multiple products. Topicsmay also

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide75For additional information on the Panasonic P2 format and workflows with Adobe digital video software, see theAdobe websi

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide76Missing media Referencedmediathatisnotaccessibleduringtheimportoperationappearsasplaceholderfootagein After Effects.Empty

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide77• Ifyou’reeditingalayerthatcontainsbothaudioandvideo,chooseFile>SaveAs.Afteryousavethefile,importit into After Effects

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide78Importing 3D images from Photoshop Extended and Illustrator3D models in PhotoshopAdobe Photoshop Extended can import and

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide79Baking and importing Maya dataAfter Effects imports camera data from Maya project files. Before importing Maya camera inf

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide80See also“Working with 3D layers” on page 171“Cameras, lights, and points of interest” on page 176Importing still imagesPr

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide81• Set the pixel dimensions to the resolution and frame aspect ratio that you will use in After Effects. If you plan tosca

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide82A sequence of still-image files (left) becomes one image sequence when imported into After Effects (right).See also“Work

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide83Import a still-image sequence as a compositionWhen you import a Photoshop or Illustrator file as a composition, you have

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide84A very convenient command within After Effects is Layer > New > Adobe Photoshop File, which adds a layer to acompos

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide4Adobe HelpA. Back/Forward buttons (previously visited links) B. Expandablesubtopics C. Icons indicating shared topic D. Pr

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide85Before you import a layered Photoshop file into After Effects, prepare it thoroughly to reduce preview and renderingtime.

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide86Cineon files are commonly used to transfer motion-picture film to a digital format. To preserve the full dynamicrange of

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide87When you shoot JPEG files with your camera, the camera automatically processes the JPEG to enhance andcompress the image.

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide88Note: In Photoshop, the Camera Raw dialog box is automatically suppressed when you use a batch of files for a web photoga

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide893. Adjust color.Color adjustments include white balance, tone, and saturation. You can make most adjustments on the Basic

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide90After Effects applies the settings for the first camera raw image in the sequence to all of the images in the sequencetha

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide91Note: Somecontrols,suchastheWorkflowOptionslink,thatareavailablewhenyouopentheCameraRawdialogboxfrom Adobe Bridge or Phot

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide92Note: The Camera Raw cache holds data for about 200 images for each gigabyte of disk storage allocated to it. By default,

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide93• To process JPEG or TIFF images in Camera Raw, select one or more JPEG or TIFF files in Adobe Bridge, and thenchoose Fil

AFTER EFFECTS CS3User Guide94Format optionsDigital Negative Saves a copy of the camera raw file in the DNG file format.• Compressed (lossless) Uses lo