- Getting started
- Importing footage using Adobe Bridge
- Creating a new composition
- Working with imported Illustrator layers
- Applying effects to a layer
- Applying an animation preset
- Precomposing layers for a new animation
- Previewing the effects
- Adding transparency
- Rendering the composition
- Review questions
- Review answers
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Importing footage using Adobe Bridge
In Lesson 1, you chose File > Import > File to import footage. However, you can also use Adobe Bridge—a powerful, flexible tool for organizing, browsing, and locating the assets you need to create content for print, web, television, DVD, film, and mobile devices. Adobe Bridge keeps native Adobe files (such as PSD and PDF files) as well as non-Adobe files available for easy access. You can drag assets into your layouts, projects, and compositions as needed; preview your assets; and even add metadata (file information) to assets to make files easier to locate.
Adobe Bridge is not automatically installed with After Effects; you need to install it separately from Creative Cloud. If Bridge is not installed, you’ll be prompted to install it when you choose File > Browse In Bridge.
In this exercise, you will jump to Adobe Bridge to import the still image that will serve as the background of your composition.
Choose File > Browse In Bridge. If you receive a message about enabling an extension to Adobe Bridge, click Yes. You may also be asked to allow Adobe Bridge to access various content folders on your computer.
Adobe Bridge opens, displaying a collection of panels, menus, and buttons.
Click the Folders tab in the upper left corner of Adobe Bridge.
In the Folders panel, navigate to the Lessons/Lesson02/Assets folder. Click the arrows to open nested folders. You can also double-click folder thumbnail icons in the Content panel.
The Content panel updates interactively. For example, when you select the Assets folder in the Folders panel, thumbnail previews of the folder’s contents appear in the Content panel. Adobe Bridge displays previews of image files such as those in PSD, TIFF, and JPEG formats, as well as Illustrator vector files, multipage Adobe PDF files, QuickTime movie files, and more.
Drag the thumbnail slider at the bottom of the Adobe Bridge window to enlarge the thumbnail previews.
Select the MauiCoast.jpg file in the Content panel, and notice that it appears in the Preview panel as well. Information about the file, including its creation date, bit depth, and file size, appears in the Metadata panel.
Double-click the MauiCoast.jpg thumbnail in the Content panel to place the file in your After Effects project. Alternatively, you can drag the MauiCoast.jpg thumbnail into the Project panel in After Effects.
Return to After Effects, if you’re not already there.
You can close Adobe Bridge if you’d like. You won’t be using it again during this lesson.
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