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Color, Working with flash and after effects – Adobe After Effects CS4 User Manual

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USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4

Workflows, planning, and setup

Last updated 12/21/2009

Color

After Effects works internally with colors in an RGB (red, green, blue) color space. Though After Effects can convert
CMYK images to RGB, you should do video work in Photoshop in RGB.

If relevant for your final output, it is better to ensure that the colors in your image are broadcast-safe in Photoshop
before you import the image into After Effects. A good way to do this is to assign the appropriate destination color
space—for example, SDTV (Rec. 601)—to the document in Photoshop. After Effects performs color management
according to color profiles embedded in documents, including imported PSD files.

Working with Flash and After Effects

If you use Adobe® Flash® to create video or animation, you can use After Effects to edit and refine the video. For
example, from Flash you can export animations and applications as QuickTime movies or Flash Video (FLV) files. You
can then use After Effects to edit and refine the video.

If you use After

Effects to edit and composite video, you can then use Flash to publish that video. You can also export

an After Effects composition as XFL content for further editing in Flash.

Flash and After Effects use separate terms for some concepts that they share in common, including the following:

A composition in After Effects is like a movie clip in Flash

Professional.

The composition frame in the Composition panel is like the Stage in Flash

Professional.

The Project panel in After

Effects is like the Library panel in Flash

Professional.

Project files in After

Effects are like FLA files in Flash

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You render and export a movie from After Effects; you publish a SWF file from Flash

Professional.

Additional resources
The following video tutorials provide additional detailed information about using Flash together with After

Effects:

“Importing and exporting XFL files between Flash and After

Effects” at

www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4098_xp

.

“Exporting an After

Effects composition to Flash Professional using SWF, F4V/FLV, and XFL” at

www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4105_xp

.

“Converting metadata and markers to cue points for use in Flash” at

www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4111_xp

.

Michael Coleman, product manager for After Effects, provides a video of a presentation from Adobe MAX on
Adobe TV in which he demonstrates the use of mocha for After Effects, After Effects, and Flash together to
dynamically replace a video at run time in Flash Player:

http://tv.adobe.com/#vi+f15383v1008

Tom Green provides a brief video tutorial on the Layers Magazine website that shows how to use the XFL format
to export an After Effects composition for use in Flash Professional:

http://www.layersmagazine.com/exporting-

xfl-fomrat-from-after-effects-to-flash.html

The following articles provide additional information about using Flash and After Effects together:

Richard Harrington and Marcus Geduld provide an excerpt, "Flash Essentials for After Effects Users", of their book
After Effects for Flash | Flash for After Effects on the Peachpit website. In this chapter, Richard and Marcus explain
Flash in terms that an After

Effects user can understand.

http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1350895

Richard Harrington and Marcus Geduld also provide "After Effects Essentials for Flash Users", another excerpt
from their book After Effects for Flash | Flash for After Effects. In this chapter, Richard and Marcus explain
After

Effects in terms that a Flash user can understand.

http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1350894

Tom Green provides a detailed article titled Integrating Flash CS4 with After Effects CS4 in the Flash Developer
Center:

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/integrating_fl_ae.html

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