Adobe After Effects CS4 - Manual (Page 393)

387 Last updated 12/21/2009
Chapter 13: Effects and animation presets
Effects and animation presets overview
Animation presets overview and resources
For a video tutorial on applying and working with effects and animation presets, go to the Adobe website at
www.adobe.com/go/vid0228 .
With animation presets, you can save and reuse specific configurations of layer properties and animations, including
keyframes, effects, and expressions. For example, if you created an explosion using several effects with complex
property settings, keyframes, and expressions, you can save all of those settings as a single animation preset. You can
then apply that animation preset to any other layer.
Many animation presets don’t contain animation; rather, they contain combinations of effects, transform properties,
and so on. A behavior animation preset uses expressions instead of keyframes to animate layer properties.
Animation presets can be saved and transferred from one computer to another. The filename extension for an
animation preset is .ffx.
After Effects includes hundreds of animation presets that you can apply to your layers and modify to suit your needs.
You can browse and apply animation presets in After Effects using the Effects & Presets panel or Adobe Bridge. To
open the Presets folder in Adobe Bridge, choose Browse Presets from the Effects & Presets panel menu or from the
Animation menu.
A great way to see how advanced users use After Effects is to apply an animation preset, and press U or UU to reveal
only the animated or modified layer properties. Viewing the animated and modified properties shows you what
changes the designer of the animation preset made to create the animation preset.
More Help topics
“ Apply an effect or animation preset ” on page 393
“ Working with Adobe Bridge and After Effects ” on page 37
Downloading, installing, and moving animation presets
The animation presets that are installed with After Effects are in the Presets folder located in the Program
Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS4\Support Files (Windows) or Applications/Adobe After Effects CS4 (Mac OS)
folder. Animation presets that you create are saved by default in the Presets folder located in My
Documents\Adobe\After Effects CS4 (Windows) or Documents/Adobe/After Effects CS4 (Mac OS).
You can add a single new animation preset or an entire folder of new animation presets to either of the Presets folders.
When After Effects starts, it searches both of the Presets folders and their subfolders for installed presets and adds them
to the Effects & Presets panel. After Effects ignores the contents of folders with names that begin and end in
parentheses; for example, the contents of the folder (archived_animation_presets) are not loaded.
Note: Animation presets appear in the Effects & Presets panel only if they are located in one of the Presets folders or a
subfolder of one of the Presets folders. If you move a preset to a new folder, place a shortcut (Windows) or an alias (Mac
OS) of that folder in the Presets folder.