EDUCBA

EDUCBA

MENUMENU
  • Free Tutorials
  • Free Courses
  • Certification Courses
  • 280+ Courses All in One Bundle
  • Login

Composition in After Effects

Home » Design » Design Tutorials » After Effects Tutorial » Composition in After Effects

Composition in After Effects

Introduction to Composition in After Effects

In this article, we will learn about Composition in After Effects. Composition is nothing but a window where we can keep our layers, files and sequence is called composition, it’s just like a container for files and layers, whatever we need to start we need to create composition first, we can also call it as an independent timeline which contains our image, movie, and text files.

Compositions are the foundation for the project in the after-effects because without creating composition we can import the files and layers, it’s a basic thing but very important options, in some editing software we call sequence as same in after effects we can call it as composition, these compositions are like separate mini-projects.

Start Your Free Design Course

3D animation, modelling, simulation, game development & others

How to Create a Composition?

Let’s start creating a new composition in after effects with the following steps.

Step 1: Here we can see the project with some files.

Composition in After Effects - 1

We can view the files but we can perform any action on these files without creating a composition. We can find composition option none on the top.

composition option

Step 2: We need to create a new composition.

new composition

At the bottom of the project window, we can find an icon, it’s the composition icon in after effects, by clicking on the icon we can open new composition.

Popular Course in this category
After Effects Training (1 Courses, 3+ Projects)1 Online Courses | 3 Hands-on Projects | 20+ Hours | Verifiable Certificate of Completion | Lifetime Access
4.5 (2,784 ratings)
Course Price

View Course

Related Courses
Adobe Premiere Pro Tutorial (2 Courses, 7+ Projects)All in One Design Bundle (280+ Courses, 100+ projects)

project window

We have another option to open a new composition i.e go-to composition and select first option also we can use Ctrl+N for a new composition.

Step 3: Once we open a new composition we will get a window like this asking for compositing settings, in this window we can find a lot of options lets see that in detail.

compositing settings

Step 4: First, we can find the composition name by default it will be as Com 1, giving composition name is very important because we may have multi compositions in a project so we don’t get confused on the compositions.

name by default

Step 5: Next, we have Basic settings, Presets setting is one of the important in settings, when we click on the preset we can get a drop-down menu.

Basic settings

In the drop-down menu, we can find a lot of video presets, these presets indicate the quality of our output and according to our requirement we need to select the presets.

Step 6: After selecting the presets we can find the size option below the presets.

size option

Here are the width and height options, once we select the preset the height and width will be changed default if we want to change we can change manually if we have a requirement and also we can lock the aspect ratio, if we need to change the width and height we can uncheck the lock option and we can change height and width if we did such things there will be change in the aspect ratio, so better to follow default.

Step 7: Then we have an option called pixel Aspect ratio, here we have some default options we can select from that, actually when we select the preset automatically every option will get changed if we have any requirement we can again.

Composition in After Effects - 9

Step 8: The next option is the Frame rate per second, we can change the frame rate also here. The next option is very important i.e. Resolution.

Resolution

When we select we will get a drop-down menu, we have four resolution options like Full, Half, Third, Quarter, whatever we select the resolution the same will be our output I always recommend to take a high resolution for a better output

Step 9: The next option is time code and duration will be by default we also have the option to change.

Step 10: Once we complete the compositing settings we can click OK, then we can find the compositing option in the project.

Composition in After Effects - 11

I have given composition name as Work 01, now we can find the composition in the timeline, now I think you may understand why we need to give the name for the composition.

Composition in After Effects - 12

Here we can find the composition created in the project, now we can understand that composition is nothing but a sequence, it will be in the files list we can identify the composition file with that icon

Step 11: Once we create the composition then only we can import the files to the timeline and perform actions, we can directly drag the file to the timeline each file we import to the timeline will create an individual layer, whatever files we import each file have their layers, by that we can play the clip or we can perform action to create animations or editing of the clips.

import the files

Now we can understand the importance of the composition, we can create multiple compositions in a project.

Step 12: When we have size variation in the composition we can adjust with the scale option but if we need the composition size as the same as out file, just drag the file to the composition icon in the below of the project window.

Composition in After Effects - 14

When we do this, the composition is created in the same file name itself with the original size of the file, now we can found two composition windows in the project.

Composition in After Effects - 15

By doing this method we can avoid the scale and position adjustment editing process and we can be aware of losing quality, but the output ratio will be changed.

Step 13: If unfortunately, we close the composition in the timeline, we can reopen the composition from the project menu.

Composition in After Effects - 16

Step 14: Once we completed work we can export each composition separate video files.

Composition in After Effects - 17

Select the composition file and go to the composition menu and select a make movie option, we can use Ctrl+M as a shortcut for this option.

Composition in After Effects - 18

We can also export a frame from our composition, which means we can export a snap from our timeline it may be a current frame

Step 15:If we have created a lot of compositions in one, we can place our composition in another by nesting option.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to Composition in After Effects. Here we discuss the Introduction, it’s importance, and how to create a composition. You can also go through our other related articles to learn more –

  1. Glitch Effect in After Effects
  2. Masking Layers in After Effects
  3. Text Effects in After Effects
  4. After Effects Versions

After Effects Training (1 Courses, 3+ Projects)

1 Online Courses

3 Hands-on Projects

20+ Hours

Verifiable Certificate of Completion

Lifetime Access

Learn More

0 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Primary Sidebar
After Effects Tutorial
  • Effects
    • Crop in After Effects
    • Text Effects in After Effects
    • Drop Shadow in After Effects
    • Background in After Effects
    • Blur in After Effects
    • Text in After Effects
    • Motion Blur in After Effects
    • Mask in After Effects
    • Color Correction in After Effects
    • Blending Modes in After Effects
    • Track Matte in After Effects
    • Transparent Background in After Effects
    • Slow Motion in After Effects
    • Animation in After Effects
    • Text Animation in After Effects
    • Logo Animation in After Effects
    • 2D After Effects Animation
    • 3D Effects in After Effects
    • 3D Text in After Effects
    • Shape Layers in After Effects
    • Export in After Effects
    • Morphing in After Effects
    • Twitch in After Effects
    • Snowfall in After Effects
    • Rain in After Effects
    • Masking Layers in After Effects
    • Group Layers in After Effects
    • Glitch Effect in After Effects
    • Composition in After Effects
    • After Effects Transitions
    • Typography in After Effects
    • Slider Control After Effects
    • Motion Graphics in After Effects
    • Wiggle in After Effects
    • After Effects Portable
    • Wiggle Expression in After Effects
    • Keylight in After Effects
    • Rotoscoping in After Effects
    • After Effects Render
    • After Effects Expressions
    • After Effects Presets
    • Duik After Effects
    • After Effects Split Clip
    • Trapcode in After Effects
    • Plexus After Effects
    • Logo Reveal After Effects
    • Mocha in After Effects
    • Twixtor in After Effects
    • Lens Flare in After Effects
    • After Effects Particles
    • After Effects Timeline
    • After Effects Tracking
    • Camera Tracking in After Effects
    • After Effects Repeater
    • After Effects Cartoon
    • After Effects Loop Expression
    • After Effects Optical Flares
    • Glow in After Effects
    • After Effects GIF
  • Basic
    • What is After Effects
    • After Effects Versions
    • After Effects Software
    • After Effects Shortcuts
    • Adobe After Effects Plugins
    • How to Use After Effects
  • After Effects Tools
    • After Effects Tools
    • Pen Tool in After Effects
    • Puppet Tool in After Effects
    • KeyFrames in After Effects
    • Adding Keyframes in After Effects

Related Courses

After Effects Training Course

Adobe Premiere Pro Training Course

Design Training Course

Footer
About Us
  • Blog
  • Who is EDUCBA?
  • Sign Up
  • Corporate Training
  • Certificate from Top Institutions
  • Contact Us
  • Verifiable Certificate
  • Reviews
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  •  
Apps
  • iPhone & iPad
  • Android
Resources
  • Free Courses
  • Photoshop Tutorial
  • 3ds Max Tutorial
  • All Tutorials
Certification Courses
  • All Courses
  • Design Course - All in One Bundle
  • Photoshop Course
  • Maya Course
  • Unreal Engine Course
  • Unity Course
  • DaVinci Resolve Course
  • Pro Tools Course

© 2020 - EDUCBA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE CERTIFICATION NAMES ARE THE TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

EDUCBA Login

Forgot Password?

EDUCBA
Free Design Course

3D animation, modelling, simulation, game development & others

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you
Book Your One Instructor : One Learner Free Class

Let’s Get Started

This website or its third-party tools use cookies, which are necessary to its functioning and required to achieve the purposes illustrated in the cookie policy. By closing this banner, scrolling this page, clicking a link or continuing to browse otherwise, you agree to our Privacy Policy

EDUCBA

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you
EDUCBA
Free Design Course

3D animation, modelling, simulation, game development & others

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you

Special Offer - After Effects Training (1 Courses, 3+ Projects) Learn More