Adobe After Effects - Manual (Page 96)

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Import footage items using the Import dialog box
1. Choose File > Import > File, choose File > Import > Multiple Files, or double-click an empty area of the Project panel.
If you choose Import Multiple Files, then you can perform the next step more than once without needing to choose an Import command
multiple times.
To display only supported footage files (excluding project files), choose All Footage Files from the Files Of Type (Windows) or Enable
(Mac OS) menu.
2. Do one of the following:
Select a file, and then click Open.
Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) multiple files to select them, and then click Open.
Click a file and then Shift-click another file to select a range of files, and then click Open.
(Windows only) Select an entire folder, and then click Import Folder.
If the Sequence option is selected, multiple files from the folder are imported as a sequence of still images.
Import footage items by dragging
If you always want the layered still-image files that you drag into After Effects to be imported as a composition, choose Edit > Preferences >
Import (Windows) or After Effects > Preferences > Import (Mac OS), and choose Composition or Composition - Retain Layer Sizes from the
Drag Import Multiple Items As menu. (See Import a still-image sequence as a composition.)
To import a single file, drag it from Windows Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (Mac OS) into the Project panel.
To import the contents of a folder as a sequence of still images that appear in the Project panel as a single footage item, drag a folder from
Windows Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (Mac OS) into the Project panel.
To import the contents of the folder as individual footage items that appear in the Project panel in a folder, Alt-drag a folder from Windows
Explorer (Windows) or Option-drag a folder from the Finder (Mac OS) into the Project panel.
To import a rendered output file from the Render Queue panel, drag the corresponding output module from the Render Queue panel into the
Project panel.
If you drag an output module from the Render Queue panel into the Project panel before rendering, After Effects creates a placeholder
footage item. References to the placeholder footage item are automatically replaced when the output module is rendered; the placeholder footage
item itself is not replaced.
Interpret footage items
After Effects uses a set of internal rules to interpret each footage item that you import according to its best guess for the source file’s pixel aspect
ratio, frame rate, color profile, and alpha channel type. If After Effects guesses wrong, or if you want to use the footage differently, you can modify
these rules for all footage items of a particular kind by editing the interpretation rules file (interpretation rules.txt), or you can modify the
interpretation of a specific footage item using the Interpret Footage dialog box.
The interpretation settings tell After Effects the following about each footage item:
How to interpret the interaction of the alpha channel with other channels (See Alpha channel interpretation: premultiplied or straight .)
What frame rate to assume for the footage item (See Frame rate .)
Whether to separate fields and, if so, what field order to assume (See Interlaced video and separating fields.)
Whether to remove 3:2 or 24Pa pulldown (See Remove 3:2 or 24Pa pulldown from video.)
The pixel aspect ratio of the footage item (See Pixel aspect ratio and frame aspect ratio .)
The color profile of the footage item (See Interpret a footage item by assigning an input color profile.)
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