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james grochowalski
New Participant
December 18, 2017
Question

Preview Files in Ae easier

  • December 18, 2017
  • 5 replies
  • 6825 views

Hi,

I'm wondering if theres a way to preview files in a folder just like Premiere pro has it's features to view images/video in a folder showing thumbnails. It's odd to me that After effects doesn't have this same capability. Opening one by one in a preview window takes forever. Wondering if theres an add on or script that helps with this.

Thanks!

5 replies

lflegg
Inspiring
December 1, 2024

It blows my mind how AE can be such a mature and widely used product and STILL somehow doesn't support thumbnails in the Project panel?! - like not even the option to enable them. What in the world are the design team thinking? Every app including Adobe (Premiere, Photoshop, etc) have all had thumbnails since the dawn of time. 

But in AE, I have to scroll through a list of potentially hundreds of images, individually clicking on each of them one by one and previewing them to see what they are. 

So incredible that in 2024 this is still lacking.

desobot
Participating Frequently
April 28, 2023

Is there STILL no thumbnial view within AE? This seems insane. 

westmeetseast
Participating Frequently
June 18, 2024

Not so insane once you realize that A-duh-be is here to only take your money, not help you work more efficiently!

Inspiring
December 19, 2017

There's a much more robust Media Browser-like script called AEViewer: AEViewer - aescripts.com

In fact, it was just updated today!

Known Participant
March 12, 2024

But AEviewer is only for importing media, does not show those are already imported? Or am I missed something?

Mylenium
Brainiac
December 19, 2017

AE has no thumbnail mode, but as Dave said, the preview shows at the top of the project window when you select an item.

Mylenium

Dave_LaRonde
Inspiring
December 18, 2017

What, are you saying that when you highlight a clip in the project pane, you don't see a thumbnail at the top of the pane?

Known Participant
November 16, 2023

This isn't the answer. The answer is simply "no". Obviously you can see the preview up top in the project panel, but you cannot see every clip as a preview thumnail in one window. This is what the OP was asking about. This is unfortunate if you have a lot of footage and are looking for clips of specific content. You have to go through every single clip one-by-one to find what you're looking for, and the only difference between doing this and opening each clip in the Footage window is that you click on it once instead of twice.