Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 5.5 Help Manual page 64

Adobe After Effects Help
Using Help | Contents
E. Red, green, blue, and alpha channel icons Click one of the first three icons to view
the composition's red, green, or blue channel. Areas with high values of that channel's
color are displayed as white. Click the fourth icon to view the composition's alpha channel.
Transparent and opaque areas are displayed as black and white, and degrees of opacity
appear as shades of gray. See "Viewing color and alpha channels" on page 20.
F. Region of interest Used to narrow the composition area for previewing. See
"Changing the region of interest" on page 65.
G. Composition window menu Used to display the Composition Settings dialog box,
enable frame blending and motion blur, and display effect layer controls such as handles
and paths.
H. Comp family button Displays the Timeline window for this composition.
Arranging a footage item in a composition by dragging
You can change the spatial position of a layer in a composition by selecting and dragging
the layer in the Composition window. When you want to move a layer into or out of the
frame, you can position it completely or partially outside the frame.
When you arrange a layer in the Composition window, you determine the position of the
layer at the current time, indicated by the current-time marker in the Timeline window. If
no keyframes are set for a layer, the position values you set will apply for the duration of
the layer. The layer remains in position until you set up a change over time in the Timeline
window; see "Understanding keyframes" on page 96. For information about changing the
order of layers, see "Changing the layer stacking order" on page 75.
To arrange a layer in a composition by dragging:
1 Select the selection tool from the Tools palette.
2 Click a layer in the Composition window to select it or, if the layer is obscured by
another layer, select the layer name in the Timeline window.
You can select layers behind other layers in a Composition window. Using the
selection tool, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the top layer, choose
Select, and then choose a layer name.
3 Position the pointer within the layer (but not on a handle) and drag the layer to a
location within the Composition window.
After you start dragging a layer, hold down Shift to constrain the dragging to
horizontal or vertical movements, or hold down Ctrl+Shift (Windows) or
Command+Shift (Mac OS) to snap to the frame edges or center.
Setting the background color of a composition
The default background color for the Composition window is black, but you can change
the color at any time. When you add one composition to a second composition (nesting),
the second composition's background color is preserved, and the first composition's
background becomes transparent. If you want to preserve the first composition's solid
background color, create a new, colored solid to use as a background layer in the first
composition. See "Creating a new solid layer" on page 73. For more information on
nesting, see "Organizing a project using nesting" on page 265.
You can also change the color of the pasteboard in the Composition window.
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