what do the icons in the layers mean? Newbie here!

[dp77743631]

Hi, newbie here, I'm teaching myself. I bought a template and I am editing it. I am learning a lot but I can't find any info anywhere with an icon or symbol glossary.

there is the star- for shape layer? but what is the square with the dot?  and  circle square triangle, does that mean composition? and the square next to it with the black dot?  thank you!

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

The first icon represents a layer type. Layer 1 and layer 4 are compositions. Video footage has a different icon than a still image. Each source file type has its own icon with the exception that all video footage (avi, mov, mp4) will have the same icon. The shape layer is always represented as a star.

When you set up a layer as a track matte the square with the white dot icon is added and the layer below, the layer that is using the track matte gets the kind of gray * with a hole in it is the layer that is pulling transparency from the layer above. The icons are there to quickly show you the source of the matte and the layer using the track matte when the Modes column is hidden. Turn off the track matte and both icons go away. The only other additional icon that may appear on a layer is one that looks a bit like # and is kind of cyan-colored. When you see that the layer has been set to a Guide layer and it will not render. Guide layers will preview, but they will not render.

The square brackets [] around a layer name mean that layer has not been renamed and you have the Layer Name column selected. If the square brackets are gone and you are looking at the Layer Name column then that layer has been renamed. If you want to know the name of the original source file you can click on the Layer Name column to switch it to the Source Name column. The Layer Name/Source Name column is the only column that cannot be turned off. You can hide all of the other columns. 

All of this is in the User Guide, but it is kind of hidden. 

As you learn AE make sure that you vet the people presenting tutorials and advice. There are probably more poor quality and many downright wrong tutorials on YouTube now than there are good ones. Enthusiasts are always posting incomplete and misleading workflows. Vet your trainers.

Your best free source of training materials is right in the Learn section of the After Effects Home screen, on this forum under the User Guide heading or on the After Effects product page. They all point here: Learn AE. Another great source of information is the Search Help field in the top right corner of AE. If you wanted to learn more about Track mattes all you have to do is type "track matte:" there and you will be takes to a bunch of resources that explain the purpose, use and proper workflow for creating track mattes as well as other types of masking. It will require a little reading but your time will not be wasted.

I hope this helps.

[dp77743631]

Thank you for your reply. I did download the user guide, but 300 pages in (of 600+) I couldn't find it.  I'm an eager learner and have a lot to learn, I find tutorials or step by steps books help me out the most. I will continue working through the project I was given now. I have already picked up a bunch of new skills. But I'm sure I may have more basic questions coming! Thanks again

[Charlie33524870hssh]

Hi Rick, 

your responses have saved me many times so thanks in advance for that! Basically, I've been messing with a template file and tried to precompose a video that meant the file broke and displayed incorrectly. Long story short, I've tried to 'un'precompose by copying the original video and pasting back into original comp. This has fixed the issue that I've had, but the icon you meantioned above to 'pull transparency from layer above', is now stuck on the precomp I created and not on the file I pasted back in. How do I select this setting again on the original video. Please see image to make things clearer. Hope that makes sense! Thanks