Viewing safe zones and grids

In the Footage, Layer, or Composition windows, you can display safe zones for titles and actions as well as grids used for aligning layers.

Television sets enlarge a video image and allow some portion of its outer edges to be cut off by the edge of the screen. This is known as overscan. The amount of overscan is not consistent across television sets, so you should keep important parts of a video image, such as action or titles, within margins known as safe zones. When you arrange layers in a composition, do the following:

• Keep important scene elements, graphics, and actors within the action-safe zone.
• Keep titles and other text within the title-safe zone.

After Effects also provides grids that you can use to help arrange and align layers. Set the grid spacing using the Grids & Guides Preferences dialog box.


Composition window's zones and grids A. Grid B. Title-safe zone C. Action-safe zone D. Overscan

To view safe zones:

In a Footage, Layer, or Composition window, click the Title-Action Safe button  to show or hide the safe zones.

To view a standard grid:

With a Footage, Layer, or Composition window active, choose View > Show Grid.

To view a proportional grid:

Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) and click the Title-Action Safe button .

To snap a layer to a grid:

With a Footage, Layer, or Composition window active and the grid shown, choose View > Snap to Grid, and then drag a layer until it snaps to the desired grid lines.