Is there a way to resize original photos but keep size in AE?

[Simon Bonner]

Hi David,

Ok, you have some images that are big – do you mean big in terms of dimensions (e.g. 4000 pixels by 6000 pixels) or in terms of disc space (30mb)? If both, which is the one that is bothering you, and why? Is the image too large for AE to handle without crashing? Or do you just want the image to be smaller so that it’s the right size in the frame?

Simon Bonner

youtube.com/simonsaysfx

[David Del]

The images are 2000X2500. I must have been out to lunch when I first made them and used it as a template there-in.
The comp is 720X480. They are PNG so they are not too bad for file size, but the dimensions are much too big and is making the project go really slow.
I tried to resize them in PS, but when I REPLACED the old photos (2000X2500) with them in AE, the picture in AE grew noticeably smaller. I also tried to fix this with a simple scaling, but when I scaled the smaller image, it did not scale in the same place. If it was only 1 or 2 photos, I would just re-do it, but it is 50+ photos using a 3D camera etc.

[David Del]

yeah, I was under a tight deadline, still am. Learning as I go isn’t the best way to go in a situation like that, but there you have it.

[Alan Waldo]

If I’m understanding your situation correctly, one thing you might try is loading the re-sized pictures into After Effects as proxies for the originals. I believe After Effects will then replace all the images with the smaller files, but keep scaling, transformations, etc. consistent. You can then render out using the “Use proxies” feature in your render settings.

I haven’t tried this myself ever, and I’m having proxy issues of my own right now, but I believe this method is theoretically sound.

Alan

[David Del]

Thanks everyone. I haven’t tried the proxies yet. I rendered out all night and finished this morning. I will try that to see if the proxies work on the weekend. Again, many thanks