Opening and navigating nested compositions, Opening and, Navigating nested compositions – Adobe After Effects User Manual
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head and tail durations for more editing flexibility.
Opening and navigating nested compositions
Nested compositions are sometimes referred to as being upstream of the compositions that contain them, and the containing compositions are
said to be downstream of the nested compositions that they contain. The root composition is the most downstream; the most deeply nested
composition is the most upstream. A composition flow path is a chain of compositions that are related to one another by containing or being
nested within one another. A composition network is the entire set of compositions that are related to one another through nesting.
After Effects provides several ways to open a nested composition (precomposition):
Double-click the composition entry in the Project panel.
Double-click a precomposition layer in the Timeline panel. Alt-double-click (Windows) or Option-double-click (Mac OS) to open the
precomposition layer as a layer in the Layer panel.
Double-clicking a precomposition layer when a paint tool or the Roto Brush tool is active opens the layer in the Layer panel.
To open the most recently active composition in the same composition network as the currently active composition, press Shift+Esc.
Use the Composition Navigator.
Use the Composition Mini-Flowchart.
The Composition Navigator
The Composition Navigator is a bar along the top edge of the Composition panel that shows the composition active in that viewer in relation to
other compositions in the same composition network. The compositions shown are the most recently active compositions in the flow path of the
currently active composition.
A. Active (current) composition B. Arrow for opening Composition Mini-Flowchart C. Panel menu button D. Ellipsis
Arrows between the composition names indicate the direction in which pixel information flows for this flow path. The default is to show
compositions in the Composition Navigator bar with downstream compositions on the left and upstream compositions on the right. This default is
indicated by the Flow Right To Left option in the Composition panel menu. To show compositions in the other order, choose Flow Left To Right.
This setting is a global preference; it applies to all compositions and to the Composition Mini-Flowchart view.
The names of downstream compositions are dim to indicate that their contents are not used or shown in the active composition.
To show or hide the Composition Navigator bar, choose Show Composition Navigator from the Composition panel menu.
To activate any composition shown in the Composition Navigator bar, click the composition name.
If the flow path is too long to show in the Composition panel, an ellipsis
button appears at the left or right edge of the Composition
Navigator bar. To temporarily show the entire flow path, click the ellipsis button.
To scroll through a long flow path, place the pointer over a composition button in the Composition Navigator and roll the mouse scroll wheel.
The Composition Mini-Flowchart
The Composition Mini-Flowchart is a transient control that you can use to quickly navigate within a composition network. When you open the
Composition Mini-Flowchart, it shows the compositions immediately upstream and downstream of the selected composition.
Colors in the Composition Mini-Flowchart are based on the label colors assigned to compositions in the Project panel. If a composition is used
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