Time Display Style – Default Base?

[Maria Smith]

I don’t have any delivery specifications, I’m just curious what this setting does and when I need to use it. However, I’ll say that I work mostly with 25 FPS material. When should I theoretically change this setting?

[Maria Smith]

Ok! So when working with 25 FPS, I should always change this setting to 25 FPS? I thought I only needed to change the comps frame rate, I didn’t know that it was important to change the “Default Base”-project setting!? Also, don’t worry about the mixing frame rates thing, it was only a bad theoretical situation I made up.

[Tero Ahlfors]

The default base comes into play if you bring in stuff that doesn’t have a frame rate (for example a still image) and you’ve set a length for how long the single still will be when you put it in the comp under preferences – import. I have no idea if it does anything differently when the still image is actually in the comp.

I’ve never messed with it because I usually set the durations myself.

[Maria Smith]

When I play around with it, it doesn’t seem to change the FPS for a clip or anything…? Hmm… seems like Adobe doesn’t even know what this does.

[Tero Ahlfors]

It won’t affect video files as they have an fps value associated with them. If you want to change the fps of an image sequence or a video file you’ll need to go in the interpret footage page. If you’re working with image sequences you can also set the default import fps for those in the preferences.

[Maria Smith]

So it basically only tells AE which FPS to use when creating a comp from a still image? However, I don’t see why I’m able to change this value beyond 60 FPS, for example – I’m able to change it to 500.

[Tero Ahlfors]

[Maria Smith] “So it basically only tells AE which FPS to use when creating a comp from a still image? “

No. It sets the frame rate for a still image if you have an import duration set to it in preferences import. This comes into play if you put that still into a comp. I can’t see this affecting anything because it’s a still so it might be some legacy thing that’s kept in. I’ve done AE stuff for over 10 years and I’ve never touched that setting.

[Walter Soyka]

[Dave LaRonde] “You might be able to conform the frame rate of footage in the Interpret Foootage settings, but the maximum frame rate in a comp is 99 fps.”

No longer true. The maximum frame rate is now 999 fps, as of version 14.2 (April 2017).

I just want to re-emphasize that “time display style” affects how the Ae UI shows time to you, specifically, on the time rulers in the footage panel. Like Tero, I’m not sure that the “default base” setting actually does anything anymore; the footage viewer panel does not show a time ruler for footage items.

Time display will not affect how any of your work actually renders.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
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