Active windows are highlighted with a yellow perimeter.
Project window (Top left) - where things live; photoshop, illustrator, sound, image documents
Time line (Bottom panel) - where layers live
Window>Workspace>Reset to standard - after working on a project, messing about with panels, its an easy way to revert back to default.
Opposed to going File>New, to create a new project is Composition>New (cmd+N)
*ALWAYS NAME THINGS*
Presets, various presets. Different regions have different settings, UK standard is PAL while the US uses NTSC as their preferred.
PAL = 25 FPS
PAL D1/DV (digital video) Widescreen Square pixels. (selecting this option automatically fills in other fields)
Can always change the duration throughout project >> HRS:MINS:SECS:FRAMES
Background colour - When dealing with light, black is the absence of colour, opposed to print moving image considers black as blank instead of white.
When creating a new layer, it comes up as the same size as the format of the project, there are different ways to change this, click and drag from the corner. A better way is to click on the yellow box in the menu to respecify the exact dimensions.
A long red block appears after creating a new layer/shape, and extends for the whole duration. When you have a vector file it is possible to simply drag and drop to get things in the project.
To change the amount of time the layer is visible, it is a case of adjusting the red bar in the time line. The time indicator/play head is a frame by frame pin point to specify exactly what frame is being modified.
A layer can only contain one thing at a time.
Back to the layer menu. Create>New>Solid (cmd+Y). Again creates a new layer filling the entire duration of the specified time line.
3 Different playback options. The first is through the Playhead, for a manual playback. The second is by hitting the space key, it works as a play and pause button, sending the red line off at a real time speed down the time line (if project is simple) - the space bar only plays back a limited preview, too many layers can cause the playback to be slow and less accurate. The third way is the preview bar, allows a real time playback regardless of the complexity, better for more complex stuff.
If the video starts to play back slow, we can change this setting to allow the playback to become more responsive.
In the timeline, there is a small slider allowing us to zoom in, working frame by frame for more detailed work.
Using the ~ key, allows the currently selected working panel to become full screen and a quickly toggle between the two.
Only ever saving in project files, all the other media is linked.
Key frames, are specific frames with data/shape/image, the frames in between these key frames can be interpreted by the software. For example A key frame with a square on and a key frame with a circle on, there could be 30 frames in between where the software will automatically merge the two together over equal increments.
