Naming an After Effects project

[John Ratard]

I am refreshing my training with CC 2017 by using videos in Lynda and other courses.  In Premier Pro it is easy to name a project at the start of a new project.  Unfortunately, each time I start a new project in After Effects the process of naming a project is unlike Premier Pro.  The project starts with Untitled Project.  I imagined it should be easy to rename but neither Preferences nor Settings have provided me with the answer.

How do I rename an After Effects project?

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

All new AE projects started in AE are called Untitled Project. As soon as you save (Ctrl/Cmnd + s) you are given the chance to give the project a name. You should do this every time you start a new project. That's all there is to it.

Premiere Pro goes through a name the project routine before you start a project because PPro needs to set up all kinds of directories and file structures for every project. There is no default.

[John Ratard]

Thank you for information that I have so far not found in training videos.

It would be nice if there was consistency in applications.  Apart from refreshing my memory on Effects and technique with training videos, I sometimes use AE or P.Pro on an editing support PC to test functions I do not initially intend to save before applying them on the dedicated editing PC.  I find a consistent file structure and tidy habits makes editing life more manageable at the start of a project.  As a result, an immediate save to apply a trial project name at startup will require me to go back in the files to delete it.

[Szalam]

It would also prevent a lot of the "oh my goodness, I worked for four hours and didn't save my project. WHAT DO?" threads we get sometimes. Because, if you don't save, there's no autosave either.

[P.M.B]

I can understand the confusion as some programs let you name a project when you create it but I don't understand your explanation as to why you would rather not save a project under a dedicated name.   If you're not going to save it they why does need a unique name?  If at some point you decide to save it then you name it at that point.  Why would it need a name prior to that anyway? 

As for the fact that auto-save doesn't work until and initial save (even though you claim you do not want it to save) just work from a base project.   For example I have a project called basicTemplate.aep, it has a folder structure I like & a few compositions (main, titles and assets) that I use in most projects.  I just open AE with that file and then immediately save it with a new name. But even if I do not do an initial save the auto-save function works since I'm working from an existing file. 

[Szalam]

Gutter-Fish wrote:

I have a project called basicTemplate.aep, it has a folder structure I like & a few compositions (main, titles and assets) that I use in most projects.

The CC 2017 release of AE lets you set up something like this a bit more automatically (details here in the "New Project Templates" section), in case future Google searchers come across this looking for template project workflow ideas.

[P.M.B]

Szalam wrote:

The CC 2017 release of AE lets you set up something like this a bit more automatically (details here in the "New Project Templates" section), in case future Google searchers come across this looking for template project workflow ideas.

Thanks..that looks handy.  Usually my template project appears in the "recent projects" section so i just use that but there are times when it doesn't and I have to manually open it so this feature could be useful.   Once I move over to my new computer (probably next month) I am going to bite the bullet and start using 2017. I will enable that feature when I do. The only caveat is that this feature says it opens the project as an "Untitled/Unsaved project"  which would mean that auto-save would again be disabled.

Cheers,

Paul

[John Ratard]

"I don't understand your explanation as to why you would rather not save a project under a dedicated name."

After video editing since 1990 I have learned that it pays to be consistent when setting up a project and related files.  Otherwise, speed and file location is both slow and confused.

The difference between P.Pro CC and After Effects CC for project preparation at the start is not consistent. This includes the choice to save or not save a named project at the beginning. To then have to remove an After Effects temporary project after use wastes time.  The whole process for consistency begins with assembling a specialized fast PC with number and type of drives for programs, projects, source, export, cache etc. including CUDA, and removing unused programs and files.

[Mylenium]

You save it.

Mylenium