Template projects and example projects, Open a template project, Create a template project – Adobe After Effects CS4 User Manual
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USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4
Projects and compositions
Last updated 12/21/2009
You can’t directly save an After Effects CS4 project for use in After Effects CS3 or earlier.
for a manual—but still relatively efficient—way
of copying data from an After Effects CS4 project into an After Effects CS3 project.
Template projects and example projects
A template project is a file with the filename extension .aet. You can use the many template projects included with After
Effects—including DVD menu templates—as the basis for your own projects, and you can create new templates based
on your projects.
When you open a template project, After Effects creates a new, untitled project based on the template. Saving changes
to this new project does not affect the template project.
A great way to see how advanced users use After Effects is to open one of the template projects included with After
Effects, open a composition to activate it, 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 template project made to
create the template.
Often, the creator of a template project locks layers that should be left unmodified, and leaves layers that should be
modified unlocked. This is a convenient way to prevent accidental or inappropriate modifications.
You can download example projects and template projects from many websites, including the
on the Adobe website. For more sources of After Effects example projects and template projects, see “
More Help topics
Open a template project
•
To browse and open template projects using Adobe Bridge, choose File
> Browse Template Projects. Double-click
a template project to open it.
•
To open a template project, choose File
> Open Project. On Windows, choose Adobe After Effects Project Template
from the Files Of Type menu.
Create a template project
•
To convert a project to a template project, change the filename extension from .aep to .aet.
•
To save a copy of a project as a template project, choose File
> Save A Copy, and then rename the copy with the
filename extension .aet.
Flowchart panel
In the flowchart for each project or composition, individual boxes (or tiles) represent each composition, footage item,
and layer. Directional arrows represent the relationships between components.
Note: The Flowchart panel shows you only the existing relationships. You cannot use it to change relationships between
elements.
Nested compositions and other elements that make up the composition appear when you expand a composition tile.