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Opinion: "Create Composition" is redundant

Guide ,
Aug 25, 2022 Aug 25, 2022

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In my view Create Composition is redundant if your select either Composition - Retain Layer Sizes or Composition. Because word Composition is there. 

11.png

 

Even selecting Footage no need "Create Composition" option because there is a easy way to create a New Composition From Footage.

 

111.png 

What do you think?

 

[NOTE: The title of this discussion has been edited to indicate that it's the OP's opinion]

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Aug 28, 2022 Aug 28, 2022

@MahaB82A wrote:

What you mean is:

Create Composition is an option for Import As footage only. 

Import As Composition - Retain Layer Sizes / Composition does not need Create Composition option.  

 


 

 

Yes.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 25, 2022 Aug 25, 2022

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The New Composition From Footage button in an empty Composition Panel sends you to the Import Panel. So does the File/Import menu, or right-clicking in the Project Panel and choosing Import, or  Double-clicking in an empty area of the Project Panel, will do the same thing, open the Import panel. The New Composition From Footage button always creates a comp from a single selected file. You cannot stop that unless you select multiple files, then dismiss the dialogue that asks you if you want to create multiple compositions or a single one.

I rarely use the button because most of my comps are created from shots I need to trim before creating a composition. I don't need the slate and the director calling Action, I only need the frames that are going to be included in the final edit. If your footage is already trimmed or you are importing only graphics, the button might be considered more efficient. Almost all of my projects involve multiple shots from a single scene, but nearly all of my comps that have video as the main elements are one trimmed shot and a bunch of other elements that are either footage, graphics, or effects. 

 

The options in the Import Panel to choose Footage, Composition Retain Layer Size, or Composition, as well as the option to create a sequence, are similar, but they do not force the creation of a new comp. Creating a composition is not redundant because there are times when it is more efficient to have every layer the same size when you import a layered Photoshop or Illustrator file. Most of the time, retaining layer size is more efficient with most of my projects. 

 

I don't think the comp panel button is redundant. I do not use it very often. My usual workflow is to open After Effects and then save the project in the appropriate folder using the standard naming and file structure I learned when I started in the motion picture business way before we had computers. Then I usually add a couple of appropriately named folders to the Project Panel, select the folders, and press Ctrl/Cmnd + I to add footage and graphics to the appropriate folders before I even think of creating a comp. If I am coming from Premiere Pro, most of that work is already done, and all I have to do is name and save the project before I begin work.

 

 

 

 

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Guide ,
Aug 25, 2022 Aug 25, 2022

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I am in the process of reading a Ae tutorial. In that tutorial both Composition - Retain Layer Sizes & Create Composition is selected to import a file. I cannot understand why you have to select both because Composition - Retain Layer Sizes has a Composition in it.

 

I assume both Compositions are indicating similar composition. If it is indicating different composition then selecting both are understood. One is Ai composition (Composition - Retain Layer Sizes) & other one is Ae  composition (Create Composition).

  

 

1111.png   

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Community Expert ,
Aug 25, 2022 Aug 25, 2022

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The "Create Composition" checkbox with the Import Options was a feature request that removes having to do an additional step to create Compositions from Source Footage in After Effects and the After Effects team added it.

 

Even though it's active for all pop-up menu options, it only affects the Source Footage imported as "Footage".

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Guide ,
Aug 25, 2022 Aug 25, 2022

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What you mean is:

Create Composition is an option for Import As footage only. 

Import As Composition - Retain Layer Sizes / Composition does not need Create Composition option.  

 

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Community Expert ,
Aug 25, 2022 Aug 25, 2022

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If you import retaining layer size without the composition, you get a bunch of layers that are different sizes and have no composition. If you select all those layers and create a composition, like many new users do when they import as a comp and do not open the comp AE creates, you get all of the layers in the middle of the composition.

 

If you import as a composition retaining layer size, then you get a comp with everything in the right place, every anchor point in the center of the layer, and you are ready to animate. 

 

The Composition Retain Layer Size is an accurate description of what is going to happen. If it was worded as you want it to be and it accurately did what the command said it would do, you would have a bunch of layers and no composition. 

 

I'm not sure why this is such a problem for you. All three import choices, Footage - imports footage, Composition, which creates a composition from the selected footage with every selected item centered in the composition, and Composition - Retain Layer Size, which creates a composition with all layers retaining their original size and in the correct position and in the same order that they are layered in the AI or PSD file, accurately describes what is going to happen.  

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Guide ,
Aug 27, 2022 Aug 27, 2022

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I cannot understand what you mean by this:

 

"If you import retaining layer size without the composition, you get a bunch of layers that are different sizes and have no composition." 

 

I did trail and error. I imported Ai Stage file with option of selecting Composition - Retain Layer Sizes and not seclecting Create Composition. It created Stage composition & Stage Layers folder in the Ae Project panel. Video is attached.    

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Community Expert ,
Aug 27, 2022 Aug 27, 2022

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If you could Import Retaining layer size without creating a composition, you would get a bunch of different-sized source files in the Project Panel. Composition - Retail layer size is different than Import and different than Composition.  There is no option to just import retaining layer size.

 

Adding Composition to the description of the menu items or buttons clarifies what is going to happen. It would make no sense at all to have a menu item that said only Retain Layer Size if that is all it did. You would end up with a bunch of different-sized layers that you would have to arrange in a comp to make any sense of the illustration.

 

The whole thread seems to be about the necessity of adding the word Composition to the menu option. I say it is because it describes exactly what happens. 

 

If you just import a layered file from Photoshop or Illustrator, you get the option to pick one layer and Import using Layer Size, or Document size. Here again, the menu describes exactly what is going to happen. 

 

If you don't like the word Composition in the menu, file a feature request. 

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Community Expert ,
Aug 28, 2022 Aug 28, 2022

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@MahaB82A wrote:

What you mean is:

Create Composition is an option for Import As footage only. 

Import As Composition - Retain Layer Sizes / Composition does not need Create Composition option.  

 


 

 

Yes.

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Guide ,
Aug 28, 2022 Aug 28, 2022

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Thanks

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Community Expert ,
Aug 28, 2022 Aug 28, 2022

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If you already have a Comp, the dropzones are not availble.

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Guide ,
Aug 28, 2022 Aug 28, 2022

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What do you mean?

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