Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 5.5 Help Manual page 33

Adobe After Effects Help
Using Help | Contents
Organize and name layers. If you change a layer name or delete a layer in an Adobe
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Photoshop file after you have imported it into After Effects, After Effects is unable to
find the original layer name, and the Project window lists that layer as Missing.
Make sure that each layer has a unique name, because After Effects manages layers by
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their names. Duplicate layer names can cause problems when you update footage.
If you want to import a composited version of a layered Photoshop file along with a
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layered version, select the Include Composited Image With Layered Files option in the
Photoshop Saving Files Preferences dialog box.
Importing layered Photoshop files
After Effects imports attributes that were applied in Adobe Photoshop, including position,
transfer modes, opacity, visibility, transparency (alpha channel), layer masks, adjustment
layers, common layer effects, layer clipping-paths, vector masks, and clipping groups.
You can import a multilayered Adobe Photoshop file in the following ways:
As a new composition, with each layer in the Adobe Photoshop file becoming a
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separate layer in the composition
As a single still footage item imported from any one layer in the Adobe Photoshop file
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As a single still footage item imported from all the Adobe Photoshop layers merged
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together
When you import a layered Adobe Photoshop file as a composition, all the layers
contained in the composition retain their original positions as set in Adobe Photoshop.
You can open the composition in After Effects and animate the layers.
To import a layered Adobe Photoshop file as a new composition:
1 Choose File > Import > File.
2 In the Import File dialog box, make sure that All Acceptable Files is selected for Files of
Type, and then locate and select the Adobe Photoshop file you want to import.
3 Choose Composition in the Import As pop-up menu, and then click Open.
The original filename is used twice in the Project window: for the file as a composition and
for the folder containing each Adobe Photoshop layer as a separate footage items.
To import an Adobe Photoshop file or one of its layers as a single footage item:
1 Choose File > Import > File.
2 In the Import File dialog box, make sure that All Acceptable Files is selected in the Files
of Type box, and then locate and select the Adobe Photoshop file you want to import.
3 Choose Footage in the Import As pop-up menu, and then click Open. The Interpret
Footage dialog box appears (unless you have set Preferences to skip this dialog box).
4 Select the layer you want to import from the file, or choose Merged Layers to import all
layers in the file as a single layer. Then click OK.
Note: When you import one Adobe Photoshop layer as a single footage item, its name in
the Project window consists of the layer name followed by the Adobe Photoshop filename.
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Preparing and Importing Footage
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