Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 5.5 Help Manual page 81

Adobe After Effects Help
Using Help | Contents
Locking and unlocking a layer
The Lock switch prevents accidental selection of layers that you do not want to alter. When
a layer is locked, you cannot select it in either the Composition or Timeline windows. If you
try to select or modify a locked layer, the layer flashes in the Timeline window.
When a layer is locked, the Lock icon ( ) appears in Features panel, which appears by
default to the left of the layer name in the Timeline window.
To lock or unlock layers:
Do one of the following:
In the Timeline window, click the Lock switch for the layer to place (lock) or clear
•
(unlock) the Lock icon ( ).
Select one or more layers in the Timeline window and choose Layer > Switches > Lock.
•
To unlock all layers in the active composition, choose Layer > Switches > Unlock All
•
Layers.
Soloing a layer
You can isolate one or more layers for animating, previewing, or rendering by soloing.
Soloing excludes all other layers of the same type from appearing in the Composition
window. For example, if you solo a video layer, any lights and audio layers are unaffected,
so they appear when you preview or render the composition. However, the other video
layers do not appear. Soloing is useful for speeding up redraw and rendering.
To isolate a layer:
In the Timeline window, select the layers you want to isolate, and choose Layer >
Switches > Solo to add a checkmark next to the Solo command.
The Solo icon ( ) appears in the switches panel to the left of the layer names in the
Timeline window. You can also click this icon to toggle soloing off and on for a layer.
Understanding trimming
You can trim (hide) footage at the beginning or end of a layer, changing which frames are
first or last in the composition. The first frame to appear is called the In point, and the last
frame is called the Out point.
A
A. Original In point B. Original Out point C. Out point after trimming D. Underlying (trimmed)
footage or composition E. Original Out point reference
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Managing Layers
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