How Should Your After-Effects Project Be Structured?
Give your layers names and colours.
When working on large projects without labelling the layers, you run the risk of confusing them and losing track of the layers you need. It can also become confusing when you begin animating. The animation process will be fairly simple if you need to change the layers’ names and colours.
As a result, changing the layer names is the first step in organising your After-Effects files. Furthermore, you must alter the hues of these layers. This will guarantee that locating the layers won’t be difficult for you.
Prepare your layers in advance.
You can start breaking your layers up into distinct sections when you’ve logically ordered each one. As a first step, list and underline every layer connected to a specific section of your setup scenario.
By choosing the levels tab from the top-level menu bar and clicking on it, you can pre-compose a group of levels. The menu that shows has Pre-compose at the very bottom. On a Mac, you can also use the shortcuts Shift+Control+C and Cmd+Shift+C.
There will be a Pre-compose menu shown. Choose Click OK after moving every characteristic from the drop-down menu into the new composition.
These layers will now be included into a new composition that is housed inside the previous one. Return to the first background comp you had open. In this window, every layer you previously selected will show up as a distinct comp.
This is a great technique to use while working across a web of compositions and layer organisation. Since all pre-comps have the same duration, the timeline indicator will update in each one as you navigate through the main composition.
Use the timeline indicator to the right of the keyboard to find a common point in time across all of your efforts. By doing this, it will be simpler to synchronise all of the various animations.
Project Panel Organisation
Now you have to set up your project panel according to the procedure. Make two folders in your project panel for your work. Labelling one as the MAIN COMP and the other as WORKING COMPS is appropriate.
Drag and drop the comps that break up your main scene into the WORKING COMPS folder. Once you have all of your working compositions in your main comp folder, drag and drop it into the MAIN COMP folder to save it.
It is recommended that we limit the amount of keyframes and try to use smart parenting to reduce the number of layers.
Another way to reduce the number of keyframes and layers is to animate the parent layer and parent other layers to the layer that is now being animated so that they follow that layer throughout the timeline. That’s what we call “smart parenting.”
If you already know how the final video animation will look or what you are doing in the process, you may start connecting layers in your projects. You can even accomplish it while you’re working on your video’s animation.
If you have multiple layers that comprise an item in your composition, you can link the rotation, position, scale, and other characteristics of the layers to each other.
Consider the following situation to gain a better understanding: you need to apply the same animation to the remaining layers after moving one layer around. Adding keyframes to each layer of the project will be exceedingly difficult and time-consuming.
Simply parenting one characteristic or layer to another with the pick whip tool will produce an exact duplicate of the original design. It will help you save a great deal of time and prevent you from becoming overwhelmed or bewildered by the task.
Eliminate every unwanted file.
The final step after finishing the animation is to remove all of the extraneous files (such as AI, PSD, and so on) that you imported into the project.
To do this, choose the file from the menu bar; a popup window will show up; choose Dependencies; and finally, choose Remove Unused Video to eliminate the extraneous video from your project.
Within a Crux
The best thing you can do for your project is to keep it tidy, well-organised, and optimised. If your project is poorly structured, being disorganised will take up a lot of time and brain memory. However, being organised is not always easy or something you would tolerate. It is important that you get used to organising your duties because it will improve your workflow and become second nature after you have made it a habit.
The first thing I do now before beginning a project is to organise the imported source material and give the files the proper names. Any professional motion graphics designer who want to streamline and enhance their workflow must maintain sound organising techniques. You will undoubtedly save yourself and others many hours of aggravation and ambiguity by organising your After Effects projects properly.
FAQs
How should my After Effects project be structured?
For effective workflow and project management, you must organise your After Effects project. Begin by organising your computer’s project folder so that all associated materials, including video, pictures, and audio, are in one place. To organise assets, make folders and subfolders in After Effects using the Project panel. Additionally, you may visually organise items using colour labels to make them easier to find and manage.
How should my After Effects timeline be structured?
Keeping your After Effects timeline organised properly preserves clarity and expedites the editing process. To highlight important passages or periods in your composition, think about utilising composition markers and labels. Layer markers can also be used to add instructions or comments for particular layers. Layers can be rearranged by simply dragging and dropping them into the timeline. For better organisation, group relevant layers together using precompositions.
Is it possible to create folders in After Effects?
Yes, you may use After Effects to organise your project by creating folders. To create a new folder, right-click in the Project panel and select “New Folder.” After that, you may move folders, compositions, or assets into it and give it a name. You can keep your project organised and transparent with the aid of this hierarchical framework.
In After Effects, how may a project be made simpler?
A complicated After Effects project may be made simpler by segmenting it into more manageable, smaller compositions. To make your primary composition easier to handle, use precompositions to encapsulate groupings of layers and effects. To cut down on clutter, you can also use layer controls, such as shy layers, to conceal or expose layers in the timeline as needed. Finally, colour-coding and naming conventions might improve your project’s organisation and ease of use.
