View main composition while working in precompositions

Adobe After Effects

View main composition while working in precompositions

Posted by Stig Olsen on September 10, 2015 at 10:09 am

Hi,

I want to see my main composition when I’m doing adjustments in one of the precompositions. It’s important because I’m doing position corrections and it has to be aligned to objects that can only be seen in the main composition.

In some other softwares like Houdini you can pin the main composition view while working in nested compositions.

Any similar way to dead with this in AE?

Best, Stig

Walter Soyka replied 10 years, 8 months ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
3 Replies

Walter Soyka
September 10, 2015 at 10:32 am

Yes, After Effects allows you to lock composition viewers. The workflow is called “Edit This, Look at That (ETLAT)” [link].

You might also be able to use guide layers [link] to help you align things in your precomp without rendering them.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn]
Stig Olsen
September 10, 2015 at 11:07 am

Thank you Walter,
Nice to know that there is a solution for this!

I can’t have it to work, as when I lock the composition and click inside the nested “box” it will not open two compositions side by side as shown in the video. Any idea why this does not work for me?

Best, stig
Walter Soyka
September 10, 2015 at 12:00 pm

[stig olsen] “I can’t have it to work, as when I lock the composition and click inside the nested “box” it will not open two compositions side by side as shown in the video. Any idea why this does not work for me?”

Works well here — are you clicking on the other comp, or the same one? Can I see a screenshot of what you’re doing?

There are (at least) two other ways to start this. With the viewer active, press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N (Cmd+Shift+Opt+N on a Mac) to create a new locked viewer, or click the name of the composition (just to the right of the padlock and the word Composition on the viewer, and to the left of the “hamburger” menu) and choose “New comp viewer.”

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn]

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