Adobe After Effects CS3 - Manual (Page 131)

AFTER EFFECTS CS3
User Guide
126
Preview on an external video monitor
You can preview the contents of your Layer, Footage, or Composition panel on an external video monitor. This
requires additional hardware, such as a video capture card or a FireWire port. If you’re using a video digitizing card
to connect an external video monitor, follow the directions that came with your video digitizing card to connect the
monitor for viewing previews. If you’re using a FireWire port, first connect a digital camcorder or video tape recorder
(VTR) to the port, then connect the video monitor to the camcorder or VTR. For more information on setting up
FireWire previews, see the documentation that came with your digital camcorder or VCR.
Whether or not color management is enabled for the project, After Effects does not manage the color of previews on
an external video monitor. The colors sent to the external video monitor are in the project’s working color space. For
more information, see “Choose a working color space and enable color management” on page 243.
1 Choose Edit > Preferences > Video Preview (Windows) or After Effects > Preferences > Video Preview (Mac OS).
2 Choose an external device from the Output Device menu. (If a device is available, it’s automatically listed in this
menu.)
3 Choose a mode from the Output Mode menu. The choices listed depend on the device you are using. The Frame
Size value that appears under the Output Mode menu is dependent on the value that you select from the Output
Mode menu, and is not dependent on any other After Effects settings.
4 Set any of the following options:
Previews Displays RAM previews or standard previews on the external monitor only.
Mirror On Computer Monitor Displays RAM previews or standard previews simultaneously on the external monitor
and on the computer screen. This may slow down the previews.
Interactions Displays interactive previews, such as scrubbing in the Timeline panel or dragging in the Composition
panel, on the computer screen and simultaneously on the external monitor.
Renders Displays each frame on the computer screen and simultaneously on the external monitor as the frames
render in the render queue.
5 Select Scale And Letterbox Output To Fit Video Monitor if you are working with image sizes that don’t match your
preview device frame size and you want to see the entire image scaled to fit.
After choosing an output device in the Video Preview preferences, you can preview the current frame on the output
device by pressing the forward slash (/) key on the numeric keypad. Press Ctrl+/ (Windows) or Command+/
(Mac OS) to toggle the preference to Desktop Only or to the output device you specified.
Modifying and using views
Select a view layout and share view settings
The Composition panel can show one, two, or four views at a time. By default, viewer options (such as grids and
rulers) affect only the currently selected view.
• To select a view layout, choose an option from the Select View Layout menu at the bottom of the Composition
panel.
• To scroll through view layouts, position the pointer over the Select View Layout menu and spin the mouse wheel.
• To apply view settings to all views in the current layout, choose Share View Options from the Select View Layout
menu. Hold Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) to momentarily reverse this behavior.