Learn Title Safe and Action Safe tutorials in After Effects

In the world of video production, accuracy and attention to detail are crucial to creating compelling content. One aspect that is often overlooked is the placement of text and graphics within the frame. When it comes to designing headers, bottom thirds, and other on-screen elements, it’s important to consider the concept of a “safe After Effects header”.

This concept ensures that your visual frames look perfect on a variety of display devices, ensuring optimal viewing for your audience.

By using a set of guidelines or boundaries within which you can place text and graphics, you don’t have to worry about them being cropped on different screens. These guidelines originated in the analog television era, when overscan – cropping the edges of a video frame on older TV sets – was a common phenomenon. Although overscan is less common in digital displays today, it is still important to consider different screen sizes and aspect ratios.

What is Title Safe After Effects?

After Effects provides two rectangular borders for representing the header area:

• header area: This is the inner rectangle, often indicated by a dotted line. It represents the area where important text or graphics should be placed;
• action area: This is an outer rectangle that is larger than the header area. It indicates the area where less important elements can be placed.

Enabling header guides in After Effects is easy. You can go to the “View” menu and select the “Secure Title/Action”. This action displays rectangular borders, making it easier to accurately align text and graphics. After Effects also provides alignment tools such as grids, rulers, and snap guides to help you place items precisely within these areas.

How do I enable title action safe in After Effects?

To enable header/action guides in After Effects, follow these steps:

1. Start After Effects and open your project;

2. Make sure that the composition you want to work with is selected in the Project panel;

3. In the menu bar at the top of the screen, navigate to the View menu;

4. From the View menu, choose “Title/Action Safe” (or use Ctrl+Shift+”; ” in Windows or Command+Shift+”; ” in Mac);

5. Once “Title/Action Safe” is selected, rectangular borders representing the Title and Action zones will appear in the composition viewer;

6. The inner rectangle is a header area, indicating where critical text or graphics should be placed to ensure that they are fully visible on different screens;

7. The outer rectangle is an action area that allows you to place less important elements that may be partially cropped out on some screens without compromising the main information.

8. By enabling header/action guides, you can precisely align text and graphics within selected areas, ensuring that they are visible and free from interference on various display devices.

It is worth noting that these zones are a visual reference in After Effects and will not appear in the final video rendering. They are intended to help you in the design process to achieve optimal element placement.

Don’t forget to turn off the Title/Action Safe option if you no longer need the guides or if you want to preview your composition without borders.

That’s it! You’ve successfully enabled the Title/Action guides in After Effects and can now create and place text and graphics with confidence, knowing that they will be visible in the right areas on the various screens.

How do I set safe margins in After Effects?

Setting safe margins in After Effects lets you define custom margins in the composition viewer to ensure that important content remains within the selected safe area. To set safe margins in After Effects, follow these steps:

1. Start After Effects and open your project;

2. Select the composition you want to work with in the project pane;

3. In the menu bar at the top of the screen, go to the Composition menu;

4. From the Composition menu, choose Composition Settings (or use Ctrl+K on Windows or Command+K on Mac);

5. The Composition Settings dialog box appears. Here you can configure various composition settings, including safety margins;

6. In the Composition Settings dialog box, find the “Safe Fields” section.

By default, safe fields are set to None. To enable safe fields, click the drop-down menu next to “None” and choose one of the following options:

• “Header Safe” sets safe fields based on the standard header safe area;
• “Action Safe” sets the safe fields based on the standard safe action area;
• “Custom” allows you to set your own safe fields;
• If you select the “Custom” option, you will see input fields to customize the top, bottom, left, and right fields. Enter the desired values for the custom safe fields.

When you set up the safe fields, the composition viewer will display a preview showing the boundaries of the safe area.

After setting the desired safety margins, click OK to apply the changes and close the Composition Settings dialog box.

Conclusions

After Effects title safe is an indispensable tool for video producers and motion graphics designers. It ensures that your titles, bottom thirds and other on-screen elements remain fully visible and unobstructed, regardless of display device or format. Maintaining safe areas for titles and action ensures that your message is effectively communicated to viewers, providing them with an optimal viewing experience.

So the next time you’re working on a project in After Effects, be sure to take advantage of title safe features and create content that will shine on any screen!