OLIVER AEMISEGGER After Effects Basics
01 · Basics

Workspace, Structure + Film Formats

Oliver Aemisegger · 6 min read

Learning new software is a hunt for hidden buttons. Let’s find them and set things up right from the start.

This section enables you to

  • Reset the workspace and find the panels
  • Structure and save your project cleanly
  • Create a composition with the right settings

The Workspace

We want everyone’s workspace to look the same, so we reset it to Default. Do this any time your panels end up in strange places.

  1. 01

    Reset your workspace

    Windows all over the place? Follow this path.

    Window > Workspace > Default ⇧F10

We have different panels for different things:

  1. Toolbar – on top. Create shape and text layers, move objects and adjust anchor points.
  2. Project – on the left. Import your files and manage your project’s structure.
  3. Effect Controls – a tab behind the Project panel. The settings of the effects on your selected layer.
  4. Composition – in the centre. This is where you preview your animation.
  5. Effects & Presets – on the right, stacked with other panels. Find your effects here.
  6. Timeline – at the bottom. This is where you’ll spend most of your time: arranging, cutting and animating.

Structure

A clean structure helps you find your files fast and update projects later. After Effects links files instead of embedding them: the project only stores where your files are.

On disk
  • motion_design
    • aep
    • footage
      • ai
      • psd
    • output
In the Project panel
  • comps
    • maincomps
    • precomps
  • footage
    • ai
    • audio
    • mov
    • psd
    • Solids
  1. 01

    Build it on disk

    Create the folder structure on your disk before you save. If everything stays inside it, you can move the whole folder later.

  2. 02

    Create folders

    In the Project panel, Ctrl-click and choose New Folder.

  3. 03

    Sort into categories

    Two main folders: comps and footage. Comps split into maincomps and precomps, footage gets one folder per file type.

  4. 04

    Save into aep

    Save your project into the aep folder.

    ⌘⇧S
  5. 05

    Date the filename

    Save manually every day with the date in front of the name.

    20240409_projectname

Film Formats + Compositions

After Effects measures in pixels, because we make video. We work in RGB at 25 frames per second. A composition is your film: it holds the layers and has its own timeline.

  1. 01

    New composition

    Use the menu, or Ctrl-click in the empty Project panel.

    Composition > New Composition
  2. 02

    Name it

    Use a descriptive name, no spaces.

    motion_design_basics_01
  3. 03

    Set the preset

    Leave Square Pixels and set Duration to 10 seconds.

    HD · 1920×1080 · 25 fps
    Composition Settings: HD 1920×1080, 25 fps, Square Pixels, 10 seconds
  4. 04

    Open and file it

    Double-click the comp (filmstrip icon) to open it in the Timeline. Move it into your comps folder.

Exercise

Set up your first project

Starter file: aep_structure.zip

Expected result
Your Project panel
  • comps
    • maincomps
      • motion_design_basics_01
    • precomps
  • footage
    • ai
    • psd

Shortcuts

ActionMac
New Composition⌘N
Composition Settings⌘K
Save As⌘⇧S
Default workspace⇧F10

More info