Chapter 12. Sonic PromoWhen you first import layered files into an After Effects project, you have to make an important decision: Do you want to retain the layers, or should you flatten them? Until Adobe released version 6.5 of After Effects, this choice was a permanent one; if you subsequently changed your mind about the file's layered status, you had to reimport the file and use the Replace Footage feature. Now you still have to decide whether to retain a file's layers when you first import it, but the decision is no longer permanent. If you subsequently decide that you want access to the file's layers, you can make the change in one step; then you must decide whether to replace all instances of that file throughout the entire project or just a single instance. To replace all instances, you select the file in the Project window and choose File > Replace Footage > With Layered Comp; to convert a single instance, you select the layer in a Timeline window and choose Layer > Convert To Layered Comp. Easy! In this chapter, you'll design a spot with Illustrator layers that you'll make bounce to the beat of some audio. The project includes a background of translucent speakers that vibrate according to the audio and another virtual speaker that replaces a letter in the title you build. |