Opening and navigating nested compositions

Nested compositions are sometimes referred to as being upstream of the compositions that contain them, and the containing compositions are said to be downstream of the nested compositions that they contain. The root composition is the most downstream; the most deeply nested composition is the most upstream. A composition flow path is a chain of compositions that are related to one another by containing or being nested within one another. A composition network is the entire set of compositions that are related to one another through nesting.

After Effects provides several ways to open a nested composition (precomposition):

Double-click the composition entry in the Project panel.
Double-click a precomposition layer in the Timeline panel. Alt-double-click (Windows) or Option-double-click (Mac OS) to open the precomposition layer as a layer in the Layer panel.
To open the most recently active composition in the same composition network as the currently active composition, press Shift+Esc.
Use the Composition Navigator.
Use the Composition Mini-Flowchart.

The Composition Navigator

The Composition Navigator is a bar along the top edge of the Composition panel that shows the composition active in that viewer in relation to other compositions in the same composition network. The compositions shown are the most recently active compositions in the flow path of the currently active composition.

A.: Active (current) composition
B.: Arrow for opening Composition Mini-Flowchart
C.: Panel menu button
D.: Ellipsis

Arrows between the composition names indicate the direction in which pixel information flows for this flow path. The default is to show compositions in the Composition Navigator bar with downstream compositions on the left and upstream compositions on the right. This default is indicated by the Flow Right To Left option in the Composition panel menu. To show compositions in the other order, choose Flow Left To Right. This setting is a global preference; it applies to all compositions and to the Composition Mini-Flowchart view.

The names of downstream compositions are dim to indicate that their contents are not used or shown in the active composition.

To show or hide the Composition Navigator bar, choose Show Composition Navigator from the Composition panel menu.
To activate any composition shown in the Composition Navigator bar, click the composition name.
If the flow path is too long to show in the Composition panel, an ellipsis button appears at the left or right edge of the Composition Navigator bar. To temporarily show the entire flow path, click the ellipsis button.
To scroll through a long flow path, place the pointer over a composition button in the Composition Navigator and roll the mouse scroll wheel.

The Composition Mini-Flowchart

The Composition Mini-Flowchart is a transient control that you can use to quickly navigate within a composition network. When you open the Composition Mini-Flowchart, it shows the compositions immediately upstream and downstream of the selected composition.

A.: Indicator that composition does not flow into other compositions
B.: Flow direction
C.: Active (current) composition
D.: Upstream compositions
E.: Indicators that other compositions flow into these compositions

Colors in the Composition Mini-Flowchart are based on the label colors assigned to compositions in the Project panel. If a composition is used multiple times within one composition, the multiple instances of the nested composition appear as one entry with a number in parentheses indicating the number of instances.

To open the Composition Mini-Flowchart, do one of the following:

Tap the Shift key when a Composition, Layer, or Timeline panel is active.

Note: Do not hold the Shift key down; press it briefly. Tapping the Shift key to open the Composition Mini-Flowchart doesn’t work if the insertion point is in a search field, text field, or expression field.
Click the arrow to the right of a composition name in the Composition Navigator bar.
Choose Composition Mini-Flowchart from the Composition menu, the Composition panel menu, or the Timeline panel menu.
Click the Composition Mini-Flowchart button at the top of the Timeline panel.

As with the Composition Navigator, you can choose whether to show the flow direction from left to right or from right to left. Arrows indicate the direction of the flow. If a composition has a next to it instead of an arrow, then the composition either does not have any compositions flowing into it or it does not flow into any compositions.

Upstream compositions in the Composition Mini-Flowchart are sorted from top to bottom either alphabetically or by layer order. To switch between these sorting orders, press the S key when the Composition Mini-Flowchart is open. When sorting by layer order, a composition used multiple times is sorted according to its topmost instance in the stacking order. Downstream compositions are always sorted alphabetically.

To navigate among and select compositions in the Composition Mini-Flowchart, use the arrow keys or click the arrow or buttons on either side of a composition. To activate the selected composition, press the spacebar or Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS). To close the Composition Mini-Flowchart without taking any action, press Esc, tap Shift, or click outside the Composition Mini-Flowchart.