Precomposing, nesting, and pre-rendering

About precomposing and nesting

If you want to group some layers that are already in a composition, you can precompose
those layers. Precomposing layers places them in a new composition, which replaces the
layers in the original composition. The new nested composition becomes the source for a
single layer in the original composition. The new composition appears in the Project panel
and is available for rendering or use in any other composition. You can nest compositions by
adding an existing composition to another composition, just as you would add any other
footage item to a composition. Precomposing a single layer is useful for adding transform
properties to a layer and influencing the order in which elements of a composition are
rendered.

Nesting is the inclusion of one composition within another. The nested composition appears
as a layer in the containing composition.

A nested composition is sometimes called a precomposition, which is occasionally

abbreviated in casual use to precomp or pre-comp. When a precomposition is used as the
source footage item for a layer, the layer is called a precomposition layer.

During rendering, the image data and other information can be said to flow from each nested
composition into the composition that contains it. For this reason, nested compositions are
sometimes referred to as being upstream of the compositions that contain them, and the
containing compositions are said to be downstream of the nested compositions that they
contain. A set of compositions connected through nesting is called a composition network.
You can navigate within a composition network using the Composition Navigator and Mini-
Flowchart.

Precompositions in After Effects are similar to Smart Objects in Adobe Photoshop.

Uses for precomposing and nesting

Precomposing and nesting are useful for managing and organizing complex compositions. By
precomposing and nesting, you can do the following:

 Apply complex changes to an entire composition - You can create a composition

that contains multiple layers, nest the composition within the overall composition, and
animate and apply effects to the nested composition so that all of the layers change in
the same ways over the same time period.
 Reuse anything you build - You can build an animation in its own composition and
then drag that composition into other compositions as many times as you want.
 Update in one step - When you make changes to a nested composition, those changes
affect every composition in which it is used, just like changes made to a source
footage item affect every composition in which it is used.
 Alter the default rendering order of a layer - You can specify that After Effects
render a transformation (such as rotation) before rendering effects, so that the effect
applies to the rotated footage.
  Add another set of transform properties to a layer - The layer that represents the
composition has its own properties, in addition to the properties of the layers that it
contains. This allows you to apply an additional set of transformations to a layer or set
of layers.

Preferences and composition settings that affect nested compositions

Because a precomposition is itself a layer, you can control its behavior using layer switches
and composition switches in the Timeline panel. You can choose whether changes made to
the switches in the containing composition are propagated to the nested composition. To
prevent layer switches from affecting nested compositions, choose Edit > Preferences >
General (Windows) or After Effects > Preferences > General (Mac OS), and then deselect
Switches Affect Nested Comps.

In the Advanced tab of the Composition Settings dialog box (Composition > Composition
Settings), choose Preserve Resolution When Nested or Preserve Frame Rate When Nested Or
In Render Queue for a composition to retain its own resolution or frame rate, and not inherit
those settings from the containing composition. For example, if you deliberately used a low
frame rate in a composition to create a jerky, hand-animated result, you should preserve the
frame rate for that composition when it is nested. Similarly, the results of rotoscoping may
look wrong when converted to a different frame rate or resolution. Use this setting instead of
the Posterize Time effect, which is less efficient.

Changing the current time in one panel updates the current time in other panels associated
with that composition. By default, the current time is also updated for all compositions
related to the current composition by nesting. To prevent compositions related by nesting
from updating their current times when you change the current time in one composition,
deselect the Synchronize Time Of All Related Items preference (Edit > Preferences > General
(Windows) or After Effects > Preferences > General (Mac OS)).

Precompose layers

Precomposing layers places them in a new composition (sometimes called a precomposition),

which replaces the layers in the original composition. Precomposing a single layer is useful
for adding transform properties to a layer and influencing the order in which elements of a
composition are rendered.

1. Select the layers in the Timeline panel, and choose Layer > Pre-compose or press
Ctrl+Shift+C (Windows) or Command+Shift+C (Mac OS).
2. Select one of the following:

Leave All Attributes In

Leaves the properties and keyframes of the precomposed layer in the original
composition, applied to the new layer that represents the precomposition. The frame
size of the new composition is the same as the size of the selected layer. This option is
not available when you select more than one layer, a text layer, or a shape layer.

Move All Attributes Into The New Composition

 Moves the properties and keyframes of the precomposed layers one level further from
the root composition in the composition hierarchy. When you use this option, changes
you applied to the properties of the layers remain with the individual layers within the
precomposition. The frame size of the new composition is the same as the frame size
of the original composition.

Opening and navigating nested compositions

Nested compositions are sometimes referred to as being upstream of the compositions that
contain them, and the containing compositions are said to be downstream of the nested
compositions that they contain. The root composition is the most downstream; the most
deeply nested composition is the most upstream. A composition flow path is a chain of
compositions that are related to one another by containing or being nested within one another.
A composition network is the entire set of compositions that are related to one another
through nesting.

After Effects provides several ways to open a nested composition (precomposition):

 Double-click the composition entry in the Project panel.

 Double-click a precomposition layer in the Timeline panel. Alt-double-click
(Windows) or Option-double-click (Mac OS) to open the precomposition layer as a
layer in the Layer panel.

Note: Double-clicking a precomposition layer when a paint tool or the Roto Brush tool is
active opens the layer in the Layer panel.

 To open the most recently active composition in the same composition network as the
currently active composition, press Shift+Esc.
 Use the Composition Navigator.
 Use the Composition Mini-Flowchart.

The Composition Navigator

The Composition Navigator is a bar along the top edge of the Composition panel that shows
the composition active in that viewer in relation to other compositions in the same
composition network. The compositions shown are the most recently active compositions in
the flow path of the currently active composition.
A. Active (current) composition B. Arrow for opening Composition Mini-Flowchart C. Panel
menu button D. Ellipsis

Arrows between the composition names indicate the direction in which pixel information
flows for this flow path. The default is to show compositions in the Composition Navigator
bar with downstream compositions on the left and upstream compositions on the right. This
default is indicated by the Flow Right To Left option in the Composition panel menu. To
show compositions in the other order, choose Flow Left To Right. This setting is a global
preference; it applies to all compositions and to the Composition Mini-Flowchart view.

The names of downstream compositions are dim to indicate that their contents are not used or
shown in the active composition.

 To show or hide the Composition Navigator bar, choose Show Composition

Navigator from the Composition panel menu.
 To activate any composition shown in the Composition Navigator bar, click the
composition name.

 If the flow path is too long to show in the Composition panel, an ellipsis button
appears at the left or right edge of the Composition Navigator bar. To temporarily
show the entire flow path, click the ellipsis button.

To scroll through a long flow path, place the pointer over a composition button in the
Composition Navigator and roll the mouse scroll wheel.

The Composition Mini-Flowchart

The Composition Mini-Flowchart is a transient control that you can use to quickly navigate
within a composition network. When you open the Composition Mini-Flowchart, it shows the
compositions immediately upstream and downstream of the selected composition.

Colors in the Composition Mini-Flowchart are based on the label colors assigned to
compositions in the Project panel. If a composition is used multiple times within one
composition, the multiple instances of the nested composition appear as one entry with a
number in parentheses indicating the number of instances.

To open the Composition Mini-Flowchart, do one of the following:

A. Indicator that composition does not flow into other compositions B. Flow direction C.
Active (current) composition D. Upstream compositions E. Indicators that other compositions
flow into these compositions
  Tap the Shift key when a Composition, Layer, or Timeline panel is active.

Note: Do not hold the Shift key down; press it briefly. Tapping the Shift key to open the
Composition Mini-Flowchart doesn’t work if the insertion point is in a search field, text field,
or expression field.

 Click the arrow to the right of a composition name in the Composition Navigator bar.
 Choose Composition Mini-Flowchart from the Composition menu, the Composition
panel menu, or the Timeline panel menu.

 Click the Composition Mini-Flowchart button at the top of the Timeline panel.

As with the Composition Navigator, you can choose whether to show the flow direction from
left to right or from right to left. Arrows indicate the direction of the flow. If a composition
has a unext to it instead of an arrow, then the composition either does not have any
compositions flowing into it or it does not flow into any compositions.

Upstream compositions in the Composition Mini-Flowchart are sorted from top to bottom
either alphabetically or by layer order. To switch between these sorting orders, press the S
key when the Composition Mini-Flowchart is open. When sorting by layer order, a
composition used multiple times is sorted according to its topmost instance in the stacking
order. Downstream compositions are always sorted alphabetically.

To navigate among and select compositions in the Composition Mini-Flowchart, use the

arrow keys or click the arrow or buttons on either side of a composition. To activate the
selected composition, press the spacebar or Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS). To close
the Composition Mini-Flowchart without taking any action, press Esc, tap Shift, or click
outside the Composition Mini-Flowchart.

Pre-render a nested composition

A complex nested composition can take a long time to render, either for previews or for final
output. If you have a nested composition that you do not expect to work on further, you can
save time during each rendering operation by pre-rendering the nested composition into a
movie and replacing the composition with the rendered movie. You can still modify the
original nested composition, because it remains in the Project panel. If you make a significant
change to the original nested composition, render it again.

Pre-rendering a nested composition is especially beneficial when you will use it multiple
times in a project.

Note: Apply your final output settings when you pre-render the nested composition.

1. Select the composition in the Project or Composition panel.

2. Choose Composition > Pre-render.

The Pre-render command adds the composition to the render queue and sets the
Import & Replace Usage post-render action to replace the composition with the
rendered movie.
 3. In the Render Queue panel, adjust settings as necessary, and click the Render button
to render the composition.

Note: An alternative to replacing the composition with the movie is to use the rendered
movie as a proxy for the nested composition.

Render order and collapsing transformations

A composition consists of layers stacked on top of one another in the Timeline panel. When
the composition is rendered—either for previewing or for final output—the bottom layer is
rendered first. Within each raster (non-vector) layer, elements are applied in the following
order: masks, effects, transformations, and layer styles. For continuously rasterized vector
layers, the default rendering order is masks, followed by transformations, and then effects.

Transformations are changes to those properties grouped under the Transform category in the
Timeline panel, including Anchor Point, Position, Scale, Rotation, and Opacity. What you see
in the Layer panel is the result of the rendering before transformations are performed.

Note: For additional control over when transformations are performed, you can apply the
Transform effect and reorder it with respect to other effects.

In a group of effects or masks, items are processed from top to bottom. For example, if you
apply the Circle effect and then apply the Magnify effect, the circle is magnified. However, if
you drag the Magnify effect above (before) the Circle effect in the Effect Controls or
Timeline panel, the circle is drawn after the magnification and isn’t magnified.

After a layer has been rendered, rendering begins for the next layer. The rendered layer below
may be used as input to the rendering of the layer above—for example, for determining the
result of a blending mode.

If a composition contains other compositions nested within it, the nested composition is
rendered before other layers in the containing composition.

Note: Some effects ignore masks on the layer to which they’re applied. To have such an
effect operate on a masked layer, pre-compose the layer with the mask applied, and then
apply the effect to the pre-composed layer.

Collapsing transformations

If the Collapse Transformations switch is selected for a nested composition, then the
transformations for the nested composition are not performed until after the masks and effects
for the containing composition are rendered. This render order allows the transformations for
the nested composition and the containing composition to be combined—or collapsed—and
performed together. The same is true for vector layers that are not continuously rasterized.

Note: Instead of a Collapse Transformations switch, vector layers have a Continuously

Rasterize switch in the same location. Vector layers include shape layers, text layers, and
layers with vector graphic files as the source footage. Text layers and shape layers are always
continuously rasterized.
Collapsing transformations can, for example, preserve resolution when a layer is scaled down
by half in a nested composition, and the nested composition is scaled up by a factor of two in
the containing composition. In this case, rather than performing both transformations and
losing image data in the process, one transformation can be performed—doing nothing,
because the individual transformations cancel each other.

If transformations are not collapsed, a nested composition that contains 3D layers is rendered
as a 2D image of the 3D arrangement, using the default composition camera. This rendering
prevents the nested composition from intersecting with 3D layers, casting shadows on 3D
layers, and receiving shadows from 3D layers in the containing composition. The nested
composition is also not controlled by the cameras and lights of the containing composition.

If transformations are collapsed, the 3D properties of the layers in the nested composition are
exposed to the containing composition. Thus, the nested composition can intersect with 3D
layers, cast shadows on 3D layers, and receive shadows from 3D layers in the containing
composition. The containing composition's camera and lights can also control the nested
composition.

Essentially, collapsing transformations for a nested composition tells After Effects to not
flatten and crop the layers in the precomposition. Because an adjustment layer operates on the
composite of all of the layers beneath it within the same composition, an adjustment layer
within a nested composition with collapsed transformations will force the flattening and
cropping that collapsing transformations would normally prevent.

When a closed mask (with mask mode other than None), a layer style, or an effect is applied
to a nested composition with collapsed transformations, the layers in the nested composition
are first rendered on their own, then masks and effects are applied, and then the result is
composited into the main composition. This rendering order means that the blending modes
of the nested layers are not applied to any underlying layers in the main composition, and that
3D layers above and below the collapsed layer cannot intersect or cast shadows on each
other.