Edit footage in its original application

You can open and edit a footage item in the application in which it was created, directly from an After Effects project. The original application must be installed on the computer that you are using, which must have enough available RAM for it to run. When you edit and save changes to the footage in the original application, the changes are applied to all instances of the footage when After Effects becomes the active application.

Note: If you’re editing footage that has an alpha channel, make sure that you’re viewing and editing all of the channels, including the alpha channel, in the other application. Otherwise, changes you make may not be applied to the alpha channel, and it may become misaligned with the color channels.

When you edit a still-image sequence selected in the Timeline or Composition panel, the individual image that is currently displayed opens. When you edit a still-image sequence selected in the Project panel, the first image in the sequence opens.

  1. In the Project panel, Composition panel, or Timeline panel, select the footage item or a layer that uses the footage item as its source. If you selected a still-image sequence from the Composition or Timeline panel, move the current-time indicator to the frame displaying the still image you want to edit.
  2. Choose Edit > Edit Original.
  3. Edit the footage in its original application, and save the changes.