From the course: After Effects Guru: Mastering the Timeline

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Defining the work area

Defining the work area - After Effects Tutorial

From the course: After Effects Guru: Mastering the Timeline

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Defining the work area

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- [Instructor] The work area is a useful command in After Effects particularly if you're animating a very long timeline or something that's processor intensive. What the work area defines is what area will be previewed when you invoke the preview command. Additionally it can also be used to set a smaller area for rendering. The work area is controlled by a series of bars. You'll notice it up here. As we adjust the work area it affects what's going to be rendered. Let's drag this out. And you see we can reposition the work area by dragging in the middle or click on the end here to adjust the time. This allows you to extend or contract. Now remember this is different than the level of magnification or zoom controls here that affect how much area is displayed in the timeline. If you'd like precise control you can combine this with the numeric entry for example go to three seconds and press the B key as in beginning to set the start of the work area. Go forward, and hit the N key right…

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