User Guide

CHAPTER 1
40
Working with Projects, Windows, and Palettes
Flash (.swf) files When you export compositions as Flash (.swf) movies, After Effects
maintains vectors as much as possible. However, some items cannot be represented as
vectors in the Flash file. See “Exporting to Macromedia Flash (SWF) format” on page 365.
Considerations for cross-platform projects
After Effects project files are compatible with both the Mac OS and Windows platforms.
You can do several things to ease the process of exchanging projects between platforms.
Project hierarchy When you move a project to a different computer and open it, After
Effects attempts to locate the project’s footage files, first looking in the folder in which the
project file is located, second using the file’s original path or folder location, and third
searching the root of the directory where the project is located.
If you are building cross-platform projects, it is best if the full paths have the same names
on Mac OS and Windows systems. If the footage is on a different volume than the project,
make sure that the appropriate volume is mounted before opening the project, and that
network volume names are the same on both systems.
It helps to store footage in the same folder as the project file or in another folder within
that folder. Here's a sample hierarchy:
c:\newproject\project_file.aep
c:\newproject\source\footage1.psd
c:\newproject\source\footage2.avi
The newproject folder can then be copied in its entirety across platforms, and After Effects
will properly locate all of the footage.
File-naming conventions When possible, name your footage and project files with
Windows-compatible filename extensions, such as .mov for QuickTime movies and .aep
for After Effects projects. If files will be used on the World Wide Web, be sure that
filenames adhere to the appropriate conventions for extensions and paths.
Mac OS file types On Mac OS systems, footage files should have proper Mac OS file types.
Using services for Macintosh in Windows NT Server or Windows 2000 Server, you can set
up explicit extension-to-file-type mappings; see the system’s server documentation. If
footage files are not properly recognized on Mac OS systems, select All Files for Show in
the Import File dialog box to override the Mac OS file types. To open a Windows project
on a Mac OS system, the project must have the correct .aep extension.
UG.book Page 40 Wednesday, February 21, 2001 12:05 PM