Setting time-display options

After Effects supports several methods of measuring and displaying time. The method you choose applies to time display in the current project and in any subsequent project you create. Changing the method does not alter the frame rate of footage or a composition--it changes only how frames are numbered. You can choose from three time-display options:

• Timecode, which counts frames in frames per second (hours, minutes, seconds, frames).
• Frames, which counts frames of footage without reference to time.
• Feet + Frames, which counts feet of 16mm or 35mm motion-picture film and counts fractions of feet in frames; 35mm film has 16 frames per foot, and 16mm film has 40 frames per foot.

Time-display options A. Timecode B. Frames C. Feet + Frames

When working with footage digitized from NTSC video, you usually use the 30-fps, drop-frame timecode base. This counts NTSC-created frames using standard drop-frame timecode for maximum device compatibility. For frames (or Feet + Frames) timecode, you can also change the starting frame number to match the time-counting method of another editing system you may be using.