Placeholders and proxies



When you want to temporarily use a substitute for a footage item, use either a placeholder or a proxy.

Placeholder
A still image of color bars used to temporarily take the place of a missing footage item. Use a placeholder when you are building a composition and want to try out ideas for a footage item that is not yet available. After Effects generates placeholders automatically, so you do not have to provide a placeholder footage item.

Proxy
Any file used to temporarily replace a footage item, but most often a lower-resolution or still version of an existing footage item used to replace the original. Often, storyboard images are used as proxies. You can use a proxy either before you have the final footage or when you have the actual footage item but you want to speed up previewing or rendering of test movies. You must have a file available to use as a proxy.

Any masks, attributes, expressions, effects, and keyframes that you apply to the layer are retained when you replace its placeholder or proxy with the final footage item.

In the Project panel, After Effects marks the footage name to indicate whether the actual footage item or its proxy is currently in use:

  • A filled box indicates that a proxy item is currently in use throughout the project. The name of the proxy appears in bold type at the top of the Project panel when the footage item is selected.

  • An empty box indicates that the footage item is in use throughout the project, though a proxy has been assigned.

  • No box indicates that no proxy is assigned to the footage item.

    Proxy items in Project panel

    A.
    Proxy assigned and in use

    B.
    Proxy assigned, but original in use

    C.
    No proxy assigned

    D.
    Proxy name

Work with placeholders and missing footage items

For best results, set the placeholder to the same size, duration, and frame rate as the actual footage.

If After Effects cannot find source footage when you open a project, the footage item appears in the Project panel labeled Missing, and the name of the missing footage appears in italics. Any composition using that item replaces it with a placeholder. You can still work with the missing item in the project, and any effects you applied to the original footage remain intact. When you replace the placeholder with the source footage, After Effects places the footage in its correct location in all the compositions that use it.

You can find footage items for which the source items are missing by typing missing in the search field in the Project panel. See Search and filter in the Timeline, Project, and Effects & Presets panels.
  • To use a placeholder, choose File > Import > Placeholder.
  • To replace the selected footage item with a placeholder, choose File > Replace Footage > Placeholder.
  • To replace a placeholder with the actual footage item, select the placeholder you want to replace in the Project panel, choose File > Replace Footage > File, and locate the actual footage.

Work with proxies for footage items

When you use a proxy, After Effects replaces the actual footage with the proxy in all compositions that use the actual footage item. When you finish working, you can switch back to the actual footage item in the project list. After Effects then replaces the proxy with the actual footage item in any composition.

When you render your composition as a movie, you may choose to use either all the actual high-resolution footage items or their proxies. You may want to use the proxies for a rendered movie if, for example, you simply want to test motion using a rough movie that renders quickly.

For best results, set a proxy so that it has the same frame aspect ratio as the actual footage item. For example, if the actual footage item is a 640x480-pixel movie, create and use a 160x120-pixel proxy. When a proxy item is imported, After Effects scales the item to the same size and duration as the actual footage. If you create a proxy with a frame aspect ratio that is different from the frame aspect ratio of the actual footage item, scaling takes longer.

 In the Project panel, do any of the following:

  • To locate and use a proxy, select a footage item, choose File > Set Proxy > File, locate and select the file you want to use as a proxy, and click Open.

  • To toggle between using the original footage and its proxy, click the proxy indicator to the left of the footage name.

  • To stop using a proxy, select the original footage item, and choose File > Set Proxy > None.

Create a proxy

Use the Create Proxy command to create a proxy from footage or compositions selected in the Project panel or the Timeline panel. This command adds the selected footage to the Render Queue panel and sets the Post-Render Action option to Set Proxy.

  1. Select a footage item or composition in the Project or Timeline panel.
  2. Choose one of the following commands:

    • File > Create Proxy > Still to create a still image proxy.

    • File > Create Proxy > Movie to create a moving image proxy.

  3. Specify a name and output destination for the proxy.
  4. In the Render Queue panel, specify render settings, and click Render.
    Note: To create a still image proxy from a movie or sequence footage item, open the footage item in the Footage panel and set as the poster frame the frame that you want to use as the proxy.

Create placeholders for output

You can create placeholder files that can be used in different compositions. For example, you can create a placeholder for an item in the render queue that will create a 24-fps movie and then drag that placeholder into a 30-fps composition. Then, when you render the 30-fps composition, After Effects first renders the placeholder at 24 fps and uses this rendered version as it renders the 30-fps composition.

 Drag the Output Module heading for a queued item from the Render Queue panel to the Project panel. After Effects creates a placeholder for output in the Project panel and sets the Post-Render Action option for the item to Import & Replace Usage.

Additional resources for working with placeholders and proxies

Andrew Kramer provides a video tutorial with tips for working with proxies, output modules, and output module templates on the Video Copilot website.

Jeff Almasol provides a script on his redefinery website that creates, sets, and unsets proxies and placeholders.

Charles Bordenave (nab) provides a script on the After Effects Scripts website with which you can create proxies for multiple selected items.