User Guide

CHAPTER 1

Working with Projects, Windows, and Palettes

Changing safe-zone margins and grid spacing

You can change the percentage of window area marked as title-safe or action-safe, and you

can change the number of grid cells. Safe-zone margins represent the percentage of image

area not included in the safe area. You can set spacing options for standard grids or

proportional grids. The size of proportional grids increases or decreases when the compo-

sition size changes; the size of standard grid squares remains the same regardless of

composition size.

To change safe-zone margins:

Choose Edit > Preferences > Grids & Guides, type values for Action-Safe Margin and

Title-Safe Margin, and click OK.

To change grid spacing:

Choose Edit > Preferences > Grids & Guides, type a value for Gridline Every, type a value

for Subdivisions, and click OK.

To change proportional grid spacing:

Choose Edit > Preferences > Grids & Guides, type Horizontal and Vertical values for

Proportional Grid, and click OK.

Using rulers and guides

You can display rulers along the sides of the Composition, Layer, and Footage windows to

provide a visual guide for positioning and editing your footage. Using the cross hair in the

upper left corner of the rulers, you can change the origin, or zero point, in both rulers.

Changing the zero point makes it easy to measure from a speciﬁc point in the image. By

default, rulers are hidden.

For added precision in positioning objects, you can create guide lines. You can also

lock guide lines to prevent them from being repositioned.

Note: Rulers and guide lines are only a reference in the Composition, Layer, and Footage

windows. They do not appear in your rendered movie.

To display or hide rulers:

Choose View > Show Rulers or Hide Rulers.

UG.book Page 56 Wednesday, February 21, 2001 12:05 PM