Preparing and importing still images, Preparing still-image files for importing – Adobe After Effects CS4 User Manual
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USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4
Importing and managing footage items
Last updated 12/21/2009
Note: After Effects reads only the rendering cameras in Maya files and ignores the orthographic and perspective cameras.
Therefore, always generate a rendering camera from Maya, even if it’s the same as the perspective camera. If you apply
the FilmFit camera setting, make sure to use either horizontal or vertical FilmFit, not fill.
After Effects can read Maya locator nodes, which enable you to track objects from the Maya scene as it is translated
into After Effects. After Effects creates a null layer and applies the relevant transformations to it if the name of a Maya
locator node contains the word Null, NULL, or null. Avoid parenting locator nodes to each other in Maya; instead,
parent the locator nodes to geometry.
Note: After Effects doesn’t read World or Underworld coordinates in the LocatorShape. Use a transform node to place them.
More Help topics
Cameras, lights, and points of interest
Preparing and importing still images
Preparing still-image files for importing
You can import individual still images into After Effects or import a series of still images as a sequence. For
information about the still-image formats that After Effects imports, see “
After Effects works internally in an RGB color space, but it can import and convert CMYK images. However, when
possible, you should work in an RGB color space in applications such as Illustrator and Photoshop when creating
images for video, film, and other non-print media. Working in RGB provides a larger gamut and more accurately
reflects your final output.
Before you import a still image into After Effects, prepare it as completely as possible to reduce rendering time. It is
usually easier and faster to prepare a still image in its original application than to modify it in After Effects. Consider
doing the following to an image before importing it into After Effects:
•
Make sure that the file format is supported by the operating system you plan to use.
•
Crop the parts of the image that you do not want to be visible in After Effects.
Note: Illustrator files can have fractional dimensions (for example, 216.5x275.5 pixels). When importing these files,
After Effects compensates for the fractional dimensions by rounding up to the next whole number of pixels (for
example, 217x278 pixels). This rounding results in a black line at the right (width) or bottom (height) edge of the
imported image. When cropping in Illustrator, make sure that the dimensions of the cropped area are whole numbers
of pixels.
•
If you want to designate areas as transparent, create an alpha channel or use the transparency tools in applications
such as Photoshop or Illustrator.
•
If final output will be broadcast video, avoid using thin horizontal lines (such as 1-pixel lines) for images or text
because they may flicker as a result of interlacing. If you must use thin lines, add a slight blur so that the image or
text appears in both video fields instead of flickering between them. (See “
Interlaced video, noninterlaced video,
Best practices for creating text and vector graphics for video
page 342.)
•
If final output will be broadcast video, make sure that important parts of the image fall within the action-safe and
title-safe zones. When you create a document in Illustrator or Photoshop using a preset for film and video, the safe
zones are shown as guide lines. (See “