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C
Chris7474
Participant
July 20, 2020
Question

Using a "plate"

  • July 20, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 516 views

Hello,

first i have to say that iam a beginner and do not know much about after effects and its controls.

i do not understand what the creator of this video at youtube has done at 3:18 minutes. He made a plate of the

selected composition elements. But i do not understand what a "plate" is and what kind of keyboard control i have to use. Can u explain me what a plate is and how to use it ?

 

Greetings

 

Chris

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIS86giOG-Q 3:18

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

R
Community Expert
Rick GerardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 20, 2020

A plate is a layer. It's just another name for Layer. You stack up layers or plates to make a composite. All that the presenter did was pre-compose or group a bunch of layers into a single layer. None of it was necessary. 

 

I would give the workflow in that tutorial a C-, the explanation a C. I didn't hear the word Plate anywhere near 3:18 in the tutorial you mentioned. `Did you send us the right link.

 

The best place to get started using After Effects is the User Guide. Most of the tutorials you find on YouTube do not promote very efficient workflows and the explanations leave a lot to be desired. There was a lot of unnecessary work done in the 3 Cinematic Glow Techniques tutorial and absolutely no explanation of how the glow effect works or what the controls do. 

 

 

C
Chris7474Author
Participant
July 21, 2020

Thank you for your fast answer.

 

I heard the word "plate" at 3:16 in the video i put in at my last comment. I proved it through clicking on the subtitle and he said "plate". But dont worry. You saw the whole video ? I stuck at the moment he made a plate of the layers because iam not sure which controls i have to use. I think its strg+shift+c but then the window for pre composing opens. In the video this window does not open when he is doing this. So it must be another control which he is using in the video.

 

Greetings

 

Chris

R
Community Expert
Rick GerardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 21, 2020

When you pre-compose using the menu or the keyboard shortcut Shift + Ctrl/Cmnd + c, you get a pop-up panel that gives you the option to Name the comp, open the new comp, trim the comp to the in and out points of the layers, and if you are pre-composing a layer that is not a shape layer or text layer, you have the option to move all attributes to the new comp or keep them with the layer. You can find Pre-compose in the Layer menu or by right-clicking on selected layers in the Timeline.

 

You need to spend some more time with the User Guide. It will teach you the basics in a couple of hours. 

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