To Use Adjustment Layers From Photoshop; To Continuously Rasterize An Illustrator File - Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 Manual

If the layered Photoshop file contains clipping groups, After Effects imports each clipping group as a composition
nested within the main composition. After Effects automatically applies its Preserve Underlying Transparency
option to each layer in the clipping-group composition, maintaining transparency settings.
When you import a Photoshop file as a composition, any vector masks convert to After Effects masks. You can then
modify and animate these masks within After Effects.
After Effects also supports any blending modes applied to the file.
For more details about how After Effects works with transparency in Photoshop files, visit the support area of the
Adobe website.
See also
"Preparing layered Photoshop files" on page 89
"To preserve underlying transparency during compositing" on page 280
"About transparency" on page 242
"About alpha channels and mattes" on page 242

To use adjustment layers from Photoshop

Adjustment layers in Adobe Photoshop change the color and tonal qualities of an image without permanently
modifying the original image. Adobe Photoshop adjustment layers affect the appearance of all layers below them.
When you import an Adobe Photoshop file containing one or more adjustment layers as a composition, After Effects
directly converts the Adobe Photoshop adjustment layers to After Effects adjustment layers.
•
To remove the effect and display the layer as a white solid, turn off the Adjustment Layer switch in After Effects.
•
To remove the effect and the white solid, either delete the adjustment layer or turn off the Video switch for the
layer.
See also
"Audio/Video and Layer switches" on page 167

To continuously rasterize an Illustrator file

When you import a vector file, After Effects automatically rasterizes it. However, if you want to scale a vector file
above 100%, you need to continuously rasterize it to maintain image quality. You can continuously rasterize an
Illustrator file (or any other vector file) at any time while designing your project. Continuously rasterizing causes
After Effects to rasterize the file as needed based on the transformation for each frame. A continuously rasterized
file generally produces higher quality results, but it may preview and render slower than a rasterized image.
When you apply an effect to a continuously rasterized layer, the results may be different than when you apply the
effect to a nonrasterized layer. This is because the default rendering order for the layer changes. The default rendering
order for a nonrasterized layer is masks, effects, and then geometrics (transformations), whereas the default
rendering order for a continuously rasterized layer is masks, geometrics (transformations), and then effects. You can
change the default rendering order; see "Changing the rendering order" on page 594.
For example, if an Illustrator file pictures a dog and if you want to animate the scale of the dog and apply the Bulge
effect to the dog's nose, turn off continuous rasterization so that the bulge stays on the dog's nose as the picture scales
larger and smaller. Make sure to check the results of the effect before continuing to work on your project.
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