Adobe 65008009 - After Effects CS4 Using Manual page 117

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Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4
Importing and managing footage items
Note: Camera Raw supports images up to 65,000 pixels long or wide and up to 512 megapixels. Camera Raw converts
CMYK images to RGB upon opening. For a list of supported cameras, see www.adobe.com/go/learn_ps_cameraraw.
You must have Photoshop or After Effects installed to open files in the Camera Raw dialog box from Adobe Bridge.
However, if Photoshop or After Effects is not installed, you can still preview the images and see their metadata in
Adobe Bridge. If another application is associated with the image file type, it's possible to open the file in that
application from Adobe Bridge.
Using Adobe Bridge, you can apply, copy, and clear image settings, and you can see previews and metadata for camera
raw files without opening them in the Camera Raw dialog box. The preview in Adobe Bridge is a JPEG image generated
using the current image settings; the preview is not the raw camera data itself, which would appear as a very dark
grayscale image.
Note: A caution icon
appears in the thumbnails and preview image in the Camera Raw dialog box while the preview
is generated from the camera raw image.
You can modify the default settings that Camera Raw uses for a particular model of camera. For each camera model,
you can also modify the defaults for a particular ISO setting or a particular camera (by serial number). You can modify
and save image settings as presets for use with other images.
When you use Camera Raw to make adjustments (including straightening and cropping) to a camera raw image, the
image's original camera raw data is preserved. The adjustments are stored in either the Camera Raw database, as
metadata embedded in the image file, or in a sidecar XMP file (a metadata file that accompanies a camera raw file). For
more information, see "Specify where Camera Raw settings are stored" on page 135.
After you process and edit a camera raw file using the Camera Raw plug-in, an icon appears in the image thumbnail
in Adobe Bridge.
If you open a camera raw file in Photoshop, you can save the image in other image formats, such as PSD, JPEG, Large
Document Format (PSB), TIFF, Cineon, Photoshop Raw, PNG, or PBM. From the Camera Raw dialog box in
Photoshop, you can save the processed files in Digital Negative (DNG), JPEG, TIFF, or Photoshop (PSD) formats.
Although Photoshop Camera Raw software can open and edit a camera raw image file, it cannot save an image in a
camera raw format.
As new versions of Camera Raw become available, you can update this software by installing a new version of the plug-
in. You can check for updates to Adobe software by choosing Help > Updates.
Different camera models save camera raw images in many different formats, and the data must be interpreted
differently for these formats. Camera Raw includes support for many camera models, and it can interpret many camera
raw formats.
About the Digital Negative (DNG) format
The Digital Negative (DNG) format is a non-proprietary, publicly documented, and widely supported format for
storing raw camera data. Hardware and software developers use DNG because it results in a flexible workflow for
processing and archiving camera raw data. You may also use DNG as an intermediate format for storing images that
were originally captured using a proprietary camera raw format.
Because DNG metadata is publicly documented, software readers such as Camera Raw do not need camera-specific
knowledge to decode and process files created by a camera that supports DNG. If support for a proprietary format is
discontinued, users may not be able to access images stored in that format, and the images may be lost forever. Because
DNG is publicly documented, it is far more likely that raw images stored as DNG files will be readable by software in
the distant future, making DNG a safer choice for archival storage.
Metadata for adjustments made to images stored as DNG files can be embedded in the DNG file itself instead of in a
sidecar XMP file or in the Camera Raw database.