User Guide

CHAPTER 2
82
Preparing and Importing Footage
With RLA files, all of the auxiliary channels are included in a single file. Softimage PIC files
have a corresponding ZPIC file that contains the z-depth channel information. Although
you can’t import a ZPIC file, you can access the additional channel information as long as
the ZPIC file is stored in the same folder as the imported PIC file.
Similarly, Electric Image (EI) files can now have associated EIZ files with z-depth channel
data. Just as with ZPIC files, you cannot import EIZ files into After Effects; instead, you
store them in the same folder as the EI files. For information about creating EIZ files, see
your Electric Image documentation.
Importing an audio file
You can import a variety of audio file formats directly into After Effects. When you add
audio-only files to a composition, they appear as layers in the Timeline window. You can
adjust the audio preview settings, such as sample rate, in the General Preferences dialog
box. These settings change the quality of audio playback when you preview the compo-
sition, not when you render it. For more information, see “Using audio layers” on
page 153.
Importing Cineon files
You can import Cineon 4.5 or Digital Picture Exchange (DPX) files directly into an After
Effects project as individual frames or as a sequence of numbered stills. Once you have
imported a Cineon file, you can use it in a composition and then render the composition
as a Cineon sequence. See “Importing a sequence of still-image files” on page 70.
Cineon files are commonly used to transfer motion-picture film to a digital format. To
preserve the full dynamic range of motion-picture film, Cineon files are stored using loga-
rithmic 10 bits per channel (bpc). However, After Effects internally uses linear 8-bpc color,
(or 16-bpc, for the Production Bundle only). By default, After Effects stretches the atten-
dant logarithmic values to the full range of values available. You can then use the Cineon
Import Options dialog box or the Cineon Converter effect to control the conversion. (If
you are working with a film sequence in which exposure conditions vary over time, you
can vary the conversion over time by setting keyframes.) For information on using the
Cineon converter, see online Help.
UG.book Page 82 Wednesday, February 21, 2001 12:05 PM