To collect a specific composition in After Effects, essentially gathering all the project files used within that composition into a single location, follow these steps:
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Select the Composition(s): In the Project Panel of After Effects, select the composition(s) you want to collect. This ensures that After Effects knows which assets you want to include.
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Access the Collect Files Command: Navigate to the "File" menu, then go to "Dependencies," and finally select "Collect Files..." This opens the Collect Files dialog box, where you can configure your collection settings.
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Configure the Collect Files Settings: In the "Collect Files" dialog box, ensure you have the following settings (or adjust them as needed for your specific workflow):
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Collect Source Files: This section is crucial. Choose the option that best suits your needs:
- "For Selected Comps" (if you only want to collect the files used in the selected comps). This is typically what you want.
- "All" (collects files for all comps in the project).
- "None" (collects only the report, skipping all files)
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Create Report: It's recommended to leave this option checked. It generates a text file listing all the collected files and their original locations. This helps track the collected project.
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Change Render Output To: This allows you to also collect your render outputs. Generally best to leave unchecked unless you need to collect these too.
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Path Mode: Determines how After Effects will handle file paths in the collected project. "Relative" is usually preferred, as it maintains relative paths to the collected folder. This makes the project more portable. "Absolute" will save the file with absolute file paths, meaning they'll only work correctly on the computer where they were collected.
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Destination: Click "Browse..." to choose the folder where you want to save the collected project. Create a new folder specifically for the collected files to keep everything organized.
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Click "Collect": Once you've configured the settings, click the "Collect" button. After Effects will copy all the necessary files (footage, images, audio, project file) into the specified folder, create a new project file pointing to the new locations, and generate the report (if selected).
Example Scenario:
Let's say you have a composition named "MainComp" that uses several image files and a sound effect. You want to hand off this composition to a colleague. By using the Collect Files command with the "For Selected Comps" option, After Effects will create a new folder containing:
- A new After Effects project file.
- Copies of all the image files used in "MainComp".
- A copy of the sound effect file.
- A report detailing where the files were originally located.
This ensures that your colleague has all the necessary assets to open and work on the "MainComp" composition without any missing file errors.
By following these steps, you can reliably collect all the necessary files for a specific composition in After Effects, making it easy to archive projects, share them with collaborators, or move them to a different computer. Remember to double-check the collected project to ensure all files are present and linked correctly.
