Adobe After Effects CS3 - Manual (Page 358)

AFTER EFFECTS CS3
User Guide
353
4 Choose Refresh List from the Effects & Presets panel menu to update the list of animation presets in the panel.
The list of effects is only updated when the application starts.
Rather than removing effects or animation presets entirely, consider creating a subfolder in the Plug-ins or Presets
folder for effects or animation presets that you seldom use. After Effects ignores the contents of folders with names
that begin and end with parentheses, such as (archive_folder).
Save an animation preset
You can save any combination of properties and their keyframes and expressions as an animation preset. This
includes effects and their properties. 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.
Animation presets appear in the Animation Presets category in the Effects & Presets panel.
1 Select any combination of properties (e.g., Position and Scale) and property groups (e.g., Paint and Transform). If
you are selecting only effects, you can select them in the Effect Controls panel.
2 Choose Save Animation Preset from the Animation menu or from the Effects & Presets panel menu.
3 Specify a filename and location, and then click Save.
For the animation preset to appear in the Effects & Presets panel, it must be saved in the Presets folder.
Note: If the animation preset does not appear in the Effects & Presets panel, choose Refresh List from the Effects & Presets
panel menu.
Work with effect control points
Some effects have effect control points, which determine how the effect is applied to the layer. For example, the
Advanced Lightning effect has two effect control points—Origin and Direction—which specify where the lightning
begins and in which direction it points.
The coordinates for effect control points are in the layer’s coordinate space (layer space), not in the composition’s
coordinate space (composition space). The coordinates shown in the Info panel are in layer space when the Layer
panel is active.
View an effect control point
• To view an effect control point in the Layer panel, choose the effect name from the Layer panel’s View menu.
• To view an effect control point in the Composition panel, select the effect name in the Timeline panel or Effect
Controls panel.
Note: To view effect control points in the Composition panel, you must have Show Layer Controls selected in the View
menu and Effect Controls selected in View Options (View > View Options).
Move an effect control point
• In the Composition panel or Layer panel, drag the effect control point .
• In the Effect Controls panel, click the effect control point button ; then, in the Composition or Layer panel,
click where you want the effect control point.
• In the Timeline or Effect Controls panel, drag or enter values for the x and y coordinates for the effect control point
as you would to modify any other property.