Adobe After Effects CS3 User Manual

Page 613

AFTER EFFECTS CS3

User Guide

608

From some video editing and compositing applications such as Adobe Premiere Pro (Windows only) and After
Effects, you can export part or all of a composition, sequence, or clip as a single filmstrip file. Because video
compression isn’t used in creating filmstrip files, they can be large. If your computer doesn’t have enough memory
for Photoshop to load the filmstrip file, you can break the file into any number of smaller files by setting the work
area to a different portion of the composition or sequence before rendering or exporting each portion, or you can
export the composition, clip, or sequence as numbered still images so that you can edit each frame as a separate file.

Note: If you simply want to export a single frame, you don’t need to use Filmstrip format.

A filmstrip opens in Adobe Photoshop as a series of frames in a column, with each frame labeled by number, reel
name, and timecode. If the column created by the filmstrip frames is more than 30,000 pixels tall, the frames
continue in a second column. The number of frames displayed depends on the duration of the footage or clip and
the frame rate selected when you render the filmstrip.

When editing a filmstrip in Adobe Photoshop, use the following guidelines for best results:

•

After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro display only the part of each frame that lies within the frame border;
however, you can paint on the gray lines dividing the frames of the filmstrip without damaging the file.

•

You can edit the red, green, blue, and alpha channels in the filmstrip file. Use only channel 4 as the alpha channel;
other alpha channels aren’t recognized.

•

Don’t resize or crop the filmstrip.

•

Flatten any layers you add in Adobe Photoshop.

Exporting project information to other Adobe
applications

Export an After Effects project to Adobe Premiere Pro

You can export an After Effects project as an Adobe Premiere Pro project without rendering.

Note: After Effects CS3 projects saved as Premiere Pro projects cannot be opened by Premiere Pro 2.0 or earlier.

When you export an After Effects project as an Adobe Premiere Pro project, Adobe Premiere Pro uses the settings
from the first composition in the After Effects project for all subsequent sequences. Keyframes, effects, and other
properties are converted in the same way as when you paste an After Effects layer into an Adobe Premiere Pro
sequence.

Choose File > Export > Adobe Premiere Pro Project.

Specify a file name and location for the project, and click Save.

Note: You can also import Adobe Premiere Pro projects into After Effects.