Adobe AFTER EFFECTS CS3 PROFESSIONAL User Manual page 140

The Adjust Exposure control is useful for finding the black point or white point in an image. For example, drag the
value control to the right (positive values) until the entire image is white except for one area; that area is the darkest
area in the image.
• To adjust exposure for a viewer, drag the Adjust Exposure control to the left or right, or click the control and enter
a value in the text box.
• To reset exposure, click the Reset Exposure button. To return to the most recent non-zero setting, click the button
again.
See also
"Exposure effect" on page 395
Work with safe zones, grids, guides, and rulers
In the Footage, Layer, and Composition panels, you can display safe zones, grids, rulers, and guide lines to align and
arrange visual elements. After Effects preserves guides when importing Photoshop files saved with guides.
Television sets enlarge a video image and allow some portion of its outer edges to be cut off by the edge of the screen.
This is known as overscan. The amount of overscan is not consistent between television sets, so you should keep
important parts of a video image within margins known as safe zones. The conventional action-safe zone is 90% of
the width and height of the frame; keep important visual elements within this zone. The conventional title-safe zone
is 80% of the width and height of the frame; keep text that you intend for the audience to read within this zone. Safe-
zone margins represent the percentage of image dimensions not included in the safe zone.
Grids, guides, and rulers can help you to arrange and align layers. The size of proportional grids increases or
decreases when the composition size changes; the size of standard grid squares remains the same regardless of
composition size.
You can change the origin, or zero point, in both rulers. The position of the pointer measured from the new zero point
is shown in the Info panel as X' and Y' coordinates.
Grids and guides are not rendered, either for RAM previews or for final output.
Composition panel's zones and grids
A. Grid B. Title-safe zone C. Action-safe zone D. Overscan
• To change the portion of the composition marked as title-safe or action-safe, as well as other options for grids and
guides, choose Edit > Preferences > Grids & Guides (Windows) or After Effects > Preferences > Grids & Guides
(Mac OS).
A
B
C
D
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User Guide