- Displaying Information in the Project Panel
- Finding Items in a Project
- Sorting Footage in the Project Panel
- Organizing Footage in Folders
- Renaming and Removing Items
- Proxies and Placeholders
- Viewing Footage
- Opening Footage in the Original Application
- The Footage Panel
- Cueing Motion Footage
- Magnifying an Image
- Viewing Safe Zones and Grids
- Rulers and Guides
- Snapshots
- Channels
- Viewing Transparency
- Correcting for Pixel Aspect Ratios
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Snapshots
As you work, you'll often need to closely compare different frames. In After Effects, you can take a snapshot of a frame to store for later viewing. Then, with the click of a button, you can temporarily replace the current image in a Footage, Composition, or Layer panel with the snapshot image. The snapshot doesn't really replace anything; it's just used for quick reference—like holding a shirt up to yourself in a mirror to compare it with the one you're wearing. Toggling between the current frame and the snapshot makes it easier to see the differences.
You can take and view as many as four separate snapshots.
To take a snapshot:
- If necessary, cue the footage to the frame you want to use as a reference snapshot.
Click the Snapshot button
(Figure 3.73), or press Shift-F5.
Figure 3.73 Click the Snapshot button to store the current image as a snapshot.
The current frame becomes the snapshot, and the Show Last Snapshot button becomes available
(Figure 3.74).
Figure 3.74 The current frame becomes the snapshot, and the Show Last Snapshot button becomes available.
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To view the most recent snapshot:
- If necessary, cue the footage to the frame you want to compare to the snapshot (Figure 3.75).
Figure 3.75 Cue to a new frame...
Click and hold the Show Last Snapshot button
, or press F5.As long as you hold down the mouse, the window displays the snapshot (Figure 3.76); when you release the mouse, the window displays the current frame.
Figure 3.76 ...and then press and hold the Show Last Snapshot button to replace the current image temporarily with the snapshot. Release the Show Last Snapshot button to see the current frame again.
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To take and view multiple snapshots:
- In a Footage, Layer, or Composition panel, cue the footage to the frame you want to use as a reference snapshot.
To store as many as four separate snapshots, press Shift-F5, Shift-F6, Shift-F7, or Shift-F8—each of which stores a single snapshot.
The frame is stored as a snapshot.
To view a stored snapshot, press F5, F6, F7, or F8.
The snapshot stored using the corresponding function key is displayed in the window.
To purge a snapshot:
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Press Command-Shift (Mac) or Ctrl-Shift (Windows), and press the function key that corresponds to the snapshot you want to erase (F5, F6, F7, or F8).
The snapshot is purged from memory.