Adobe 12040118 - After Effects Standard Tutorial page 184

Dragging the zero-point crosshair
About title-safe and action-safe zones
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 kind of cropping 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
certain margins, in areas known as safe zones. Safe-zone margins represent the percentage of image dimensions not included in the safe zone.
You should always design from one edge of the frame to the other, because computer monitors and some television sets may show the entire
frame.
The conventional action-safe zone is 90% of the width and height of the frame, which corresponds to a margin of 5% on each side. Keep
important visual elements within this zone.
The conventional title-safe zone is 80% of the width and height of the frame, which corresponds to a margin of 10% on each side. Keep text that
you intend for the audience to read within this zone.
Compositions with a frame aspect ratio equal to or near 16:9 have two additional center-cut safe-zone indicators. The center-cut indicators show
which parts of a 16:9 composition may be cut off when the image is shown on a 4:3 display. Such cropping is a concern when creating images for
high-definition displays that may also be shown on standard-definition television sets. By default, the center-cut action-safe margin is 32.5%
(16.25% on each side), and the center-cut title-safe margin is 40% (20% on each side).
Note: The center-cut safe-zone margins are only shown if the frame aspect ratio for the composition is equal to or near 16:9.
Safe zones and grids in Composition panel
A. Grid B. Center-cut title-safe zone C. Center-cut action-safe zone D. Title-safe zone E. Action-safe zone
Aharon Rabinowitz provides a video tutorial in the Multimedia 101 series on the Creative COW website that explains safe zones.
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Additional resources for viewing and previewing
When you want to view certain crucial frames in a composition—such as when showing them to a client for interim approval—you may want to
create a contact sheet. Jeff Almasol provides a script that creates a contact sheet that consists of a grid of specific individual frames from a
composition. You specify which frames to show by setting layer markers. For more information, go to Jeff Almasol's redefinery website.
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