Adobe After Effects CS4 - Manual (Page 201)

195 Last updated 12/21/2009
Chapter 7: Views and previews
Previewing
When you want to view certain crucial frames in a composition—such as when showing them to a client for interim
approval—you may want to create a contact sheet. Jeff Almasol provides a script that creates a contact sheet that
consists of a grid of specific individual frames from a composition. You specify which frames to show by setting layer
markers. For more information, go to
Jeff Almasol's redefinery website .
Preview video and audio
You can preview all or part of your composition as you work, without rendering to final output. Though it is common
to speak of rendering as if this term only applies to final output, the processes of creating previews to show in the
Footage, Layer, and Composition panels are also kinds of rendering.
Many of the controls for previewing are in the Preview panel.
With all previewing methods—as with rendering to final output—a layer is only visible in rendered previews if its
Video layer switch
is selected.
Some factors that influence the speed with which previews are rendered include layer switches, Fast Previews settings,
preference settings, and composition settings.
One of the simplest and most influential of the preview settings controls is the Resolution/Down Sample Factor setting
menu at the bottom of the Composition panel. Choose a value other than Full from this menu to see all previews at a
lower resolution. (See “
Resolution ” on page 206.)
To turn pixel-aspect ratio correction on or off for previews, click the Toggle Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction button
at the bottom of the panel. Because the scaling is not of high quality, use pixel aspect ratio correction to evaluate
shapes, not fine pixel detail. (See “ Pixel aspect ratio and frame aspect ratio ” on page 77.)
When possible, preview on the same kind of device that your audience will use to view your final output. For example,
you can preview on an external video monitor. To see your composition as it will appear on a mobile device—such as
a mobile phone—first render your composition to final output, and then use Adobe Device Central to view the movie.
If you create compositions for mobile devices using Device Central, you can preview the compositions within After
Effects with guides and settings that simulate some aspects of the target mobile devices. (See “
Create compositions for
playback on mobile devices ” on page 56.)
If color management is enabled, you can preview a composition, layer, or footage item as it will appear in the output
color space. (See “
Simulate how colors will appear on a different output device ” on page 292.)
Note: Select Show Rendering Progress In Info Panel And Flowchart (Edit > Preferences > Display (Windows) or After
Effects
> Preferences > Display (Mac OS)) to see additional information in the Info panel or the project Flowchart panel
during rendering, either for previews or for final output.
More Help topics
“ Work area ” on page 201
“ Previews (keyboard shortcuts) ” on page 743
“ Views (keyboard shortcuts) ” on page 744