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Composition

Intro​

The stage to compose Layers on.

To create a Composition either:

  • Click the Button icon button in the footer of the Assets Window.
  • Drag an Asset in the Assets Window and drop it onto the Button icon button.
  • Via the Composition > New Composition menu.

To open a Composition, double click one in the Assets Window.

Presets

Use a Preset to set custom defaults (Resolution, Frame Rate etc.) for a new Composition.

It's possible to have multiple Compositions open at the same time but only one can be set as the active Composition. Use the tabs that appear at the top of the Scene Window to navigate between open Compositions.

UI​

To load a Composition's UI, drag it from the Assets Window into the Attribute Editor.

Position - Set the Composition's position. 0,0 is in the centre of the Composition.

Rotation - Set the Composition's rotation. (in degrees).

Scale - Set the Composition's scale.

Pivot - Define the pivot point for the Composition. This is useful when animating rotation and scale.

Opacity - Set the Composition's opacity.

Blend Mode - Set the Blend mode.

Deformers - A list of connected Deformers.

Filters - A list of connected Filters.

Motion Blur - Enable Motion Blur.

Preserve Frame Rate - Where a Composition is used as a Pre-Comp, checking this will maintain its Frame Rate. For example, where a 12fps Composition is a Pre-Comp within a 24fps Composition, checking Preserve FPS will ensure the Pre-Comp plays back at 12fps. With this unchecked, Cavalry will re-interpolate the Pre-Comp's frame rate to match its parents 24fps frame rate.

Composition Settings

Use these attributes to animate the Composition or affect its appearance. To adjust settings like Resolution or Frame Rate see Composition Settings.

Pre-Comp​

A Composition used as a Layer within another Composition is also known as a Pre-Comp. Several Pre-Comps can be added to another Composition as a way to create copies with a single 'source of truth' – any changes made to the original Composition will propagate through to all its Pre-Comps.

Create a Pre-Comp​

To create a Pre-Comp either:

  • Drag a Composition from the Assets Window into the Viewport or Scene Tree into another Composition.
  • Select several Layers within an existing Composition and either:
    • Right click > Pre-Compose Selection.
    • Use the Composition > Pre-Compose menu.

See Pre-Comp Overrides for a method to use Compositions as a way to create editable 'templates'.

Where a Pre-Comp already exists in a Composition, it's possible to swap its reference to a different Composition in the Assets Window. To do this either:

Set a Pre-Comp as the Active Composition

Either clicking the Open button or Option/Alt + Cmd/Ctrl + double clicking a Composition Layer's row in the Scene Window will open that Composition (making it the active Composition).

note

The only way to create a new Composition is via the Assets Window or the menus. It cannot be created via the Add Layers Window.