<aside> 📌 TL;DR you can get the AET File and guide here on Gumroad if you don’t want to make your own manually with this guide! ⭐

</aside>

Overview

This guide will walk you through setting up an After Effects folder template. This will automatically create folders in new projects to help stay organized and help others navigate our files if shared out/given to lead animators.

Setting a Template as default in After Effects

1. In After Effects navigate to:

   After Effects > Preferences > New Project (Mac)

   -or-

   Edit > Preferences > New Project (PC)

2. Check the ‘New Project loads template’ box

3. Click ‘Choose Project Template…’ and navigate to the .aet file in finder

4. Select the .aet and click ‘OK’ to close the Preferences Panel

Now new projects will have folders populated in the Project panel.

The top level folders in the template are as follows:

• __RENDER OUT: The highest level composition meant for rendering or importing into premiere lives here.
• PRECOMPS: All compositions that support the composition in __RENDER OUT live here
• ASSETS: All .png, .psd, jpeg, .ai, .eps, etc. files should live here
• BUILDS: All After Effects pre-renders and support projects live here

__RENDER OUT

The _RENDER OUT comp should consist of a series of cuts/edits in the timeline to allow for easy transitions and revisions. There should never be just one long composition. These shots should be labeled in a uniform manner that makes sense. For example “Shot01_open” or “Shot05_car”, rather than “open” or “car”.

For smaller projects, use your best judgement on naming conventions.

As the project progresses, this allows flexibility to control render times and allows other artists and producers to easily navigate the project.

00-PRE COMPS

The 00-PRE COMPS folder should hold all compositions that contribute to the __RENDER OUT composition.

On very complex jobs, please sort the composition based on shot number/scene. These shots should be labeled in a uniform manner that makes sense. For example “Shot01_open” or “Shot05_car”, rather than “open” or “car”.

For smaller projects, use your best judgement on naming conventions.

01-ASSETS

The 01-ASSETS folder should hold all base elements for the project including audio, footage, raster, and vector assets.

If the project includes multiple composited shots or many videos, please sort them into folders based on the shot number or asset name.

As the project progresses, please move old or no longer used assets into the respective ‘_OLD’ folder to keep things nice and tidy. That way when the project is reduced down the production line those assets are removed

02-BUILDS

The 02-BUILDS folder should hold the After Effects pre-renders and support projects.

The Pre-Renders folder is where we place all renders of AE that are to be imported back into the master projects. As shots get locked, import the pre-render into this folder (either ProRes 422 HQ or 4444), place at the top of the precomp and hit the solo button.

As the project progresses, please move old or no longer used pre-renders into the ‘_OLD’ folder to keep things nice and tidy. The support projects folder should house imported AE projects to support your video. These can be from our own AE template files, or from other artists on this project.

On very complex jobs, please sort the support projects based on shot number/scene. For smaller projects, use your best judgement on naming conventions.