After Effects New Project Template
Creating Default Folders
In this short workflow guide, I’ll show you how to make use of the ‘New Project Template’ option to create your own Default Folder Structure appear each time you start a new After Effects project file.
This structure is based on Folders that are likely to appear in each project and also resembles the folder I use outside of After Effects. I’ve made a video on Folder Structures, be sure to check it out.
Links:
Transcript
I’m going to show you how to set up a default folder structure inside After Effects to keep your project library organised each time you start a new project.
Here we are inside a new After Effects file. Over on the left is the project window, and as you can see I’ve already made a start and populated it with folders.
These folders match the folder structure on my hard drive and are folders that are likely to come up each time I work on a new project.
The Assets folder is broken into subfolders which include everything I need to support the animation, such as Audio, Graphics and Storyboard frames.
We’re going to add another one to this list that’s likely to come up again, and that’s a Brand folder. This is where I’ll store any key branding material like logos
To add a new folder, just click the folder option below, give it a name and then drop it into the Assets folder.
Outside of Assets, we’ve got the Project folder which will house my main composition. Depending on the project, this may have subfolders for particular scenes, supporting precomps and even landscape or portrait variations.
Next, I want to mention the Solids folder. This is a folder that is generated each time you create a Null, Solid or adjustment layer.
But did you know that you can pre-define it?
So, I’ll delete this generated folder and it’s contents, and then create a new one.
I normally stick to Solids, but for this demonstration we’ll call it ‘My Solids Folder’.
As before, I’ll move it into the Assets folder. Then, right-click on the folder and select ‘Solids’ folder.
Now, once you’re happy with the folder layout, you’ll want an empty project file, so it only contains the folders.
And save the project file.
Then go to Edit > Preferences > New Project.
Make sure the top tick box is selected, click ‘Choose Project Template’, and find this project file.
And that’s it!
Now each time you open up a new After Effects project, you’ll have this structure in place as a strong starting point to an organised workflow.
To make life easier, you can download this project file for free.