Importing files into a project

With After Effects 6.0, you use the same Import File dialog box to import any usable file into After Effects. To save time and minimize the size and complexity of a project, import a footage item once and then use it multiple times in a composition. It is occasionally useful, however, to import a footage item more than once, such as when you want to use it at two different frame rates.

After Effects supports 24- and 32-bit files using 8 bpc--including alpha channels--and the RGB, Grayscale, and Black-and-White color modes. After Effects can also read and write 16-bpc color depth to some QuickTime codecs.

Note: The After Effects Professional edition provides support for 16 bpc.

For information on supported formats, see File formats supported for import by After Effects.

To import footage into a Project window:

1. Open a project or choose File > New > New Project.
2. With the Project window active, choose File > Import > File.
3. Do one of the following:
• Select a file and then click Open (Windows) or Import (Mac OS).
• Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS), select the items you want, and then click Open (Windows) or Import (Mac OS).
• Select an entire folder, and then click the Import Folder button.

The imported footage appears in the Project window.

The following options appear in the Files of Type pop-up menu (Windows) or the Show pop-up menu (Mac OS):

All Acceptable Files

Shows files that After Effects recognizes as supported formats. This is the default selection.

All Footage Files

Shows only supported footage files. Project files are not shown.

All Files (*.*)

Shows all files, whether or not After Effects recognizes them as supported formats. (This is useful for compatible files transferred from another platform, such as a Silicon Graphics workstation.) This option requires you to identify the format.

A specific format

Restricts the files shown to the format you choose from the menu. (Use this option as a convenience when the files you want are in large folders containing files of mixed types.)

For more information about importing folder contents, see Importing a sequence of still-image files.

Note: If the Interpret Footage dialog box appears instead, the imported footage item contains an unlabeled alpha channel, and you'll need to select a type or click Guess to let After Effects determine the type. (See Interpreting alpha channels as straight or premultiplied.)

To search for a file from the Import File dialog box in Mac OS, click Find, type the name of a file or folder, and click OK. After Effects finds the first file or folder that matches the text.

To import items by dragging:

From the desktop or a folder, select one or more items you want to import and drag them to the After Effects application icon (in Windows Explorer or Mac OS Finder) or to the Project window (in After Effects).

If you import a folder by dragging it from the desktop, the contents of that folder are imported as a sequence. To import the contents as individual footage files, press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you drag. (This is the equivalent of clicking the Import Folder button when importing footage into a Project window.) If you always want the layered footage that you drag into After Effects to be imported as a composition, you can specify this in your Import Preferences.

To set default preference for dragging layered footage:

1. Choose Edit > Preferences > Import (Windows) or After Effects > Preferences > Import (Mac OS).
2. In the Default Drag Import As pop-up menu, choose Comp.

For more information about importing sequences, see Importing a sequence of still-image files.