Adobe 12040118 - After Effects Standard Tutorial page 89

A. Active (current) composition B. Arrow for opening Composition Mini-Flowchart C. Panel menu button D. Ellipsis
Arrows between the composition names indicate the direction in which pixel information flows for this flow path. The default is to show
compositions in the Composition Navigator bar with downstream compositions on the left and upstream compositions on the right. This default is
indicated by the Flow Right To Left option in the Composition panel menu. To show compositions in the other order, choose Flow Left To Right.
This setting is a global preference; it applies to all compositions and to the Composition Mini-Flowchart view.
The names of downstream compositions are dim to indicate that their contents are not used or shown in the active composition.
To show or hide the Composition Navigator bar, choose Show Composition Navigator from the Composition panel menu.
To activate any composition shown in the Composition Navigator bar, click the composition name.
If the flow path is too long to show in the Composition panel, an ellipsis
Navigator bar. To temporarily show the entire flow path, click the ellipsis button.
To scroll through a long flow path, place the pointer over a composition button in the Composition Navigator and roll the mouse scroll
wheel.
The Composition Mini-Flowchart
The Composition Mini-Flowchart is a transient control that you can use to quickly navigate within a composition network. When you open the
Composition Mini-Flowchart, it shows the compositions immediately upstream and downstream of the selected composition.
A. Indicator that composition does not flow into other compositions B. Flow direction C. Active (current) composition D. Upstream
compositions E. Indicators that other compositions flow into these compositions
Colors in the Composition Mini-Flowchart are based on the label colors assigned to compositions in the Project panel. If a composition is used
multiple times within one composition, the multiple instances of the nested composition appear as one entry with a number in parentheses
indicating the number of instances.
To open the Composition Mini-Flowchart, do one of the following:
Tap the Shift key when a Composition, Layer, or Timeline panel is active.
Note: Do not hold the Shift key down; press it briefly. Tapping the Shift key to open the Composition Mini-Flowchart doesn't work if the
insertion point is in a search field, text field, or expression field.
Click the arrow to the right of a composition name in the Composition Navigator bar.
Choose Composition Mini-Flowchart from the Composition menu, the Composition panel menu, or the Timeline panel menu.
Click the Composition Mini-Flowchart
As with the Composition Navigator, you can choose whether to show the flow direction from left to right or from right to left. Arrows indicate the
direction of the flow. If a composition has a
into it or it does not flow into any compositions.
Upstream compositions in the Composition Mini-Flowchart are sorted from top to bottom either alphabetically or by layer order. To switch between
these sorting orders, press the S key when the Composition Mini-Flowchart is open. When sorting by layer order, a composition used multiple
times is sorted according to its topmost instance in the stacking order. Downstream compositions are always sorted alphabetically.
To navigate among and select compositions in the Composition Mini-Flowchart, use the arrow keys or click the arrow or
side of a composition. To activate the selected composition, press the spacebar or Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS). To close the
Composition Mini-Flowchart without taking any action, press Esc, tap Shift, or click outside the Composition Mini-Flowchart.
Rich Young provides additional information about the Flowchart panel and the Composition Mini-flowchart on the
Pre-render a nested composition
A complex nested composition can take a long time to render, either for previews or for final output. If you have a nested composition that you do
button at the top of the Timeline panel.
next to it instead of an arrow, then the composition either does not have any compositions flowing
button appears at the left or right edge of the Composition
buttons on either
After Effects Portal website.
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