Killer Tip: CS4 to CS3

Posted on 06. Jul, 2009 by Jerzy Drozda Jr in After Effects

While rebuilding the DNA Chain project file from CS4 to CS3 I discovered that there are some things that make it easier. Interested?

I was asked to convert the DNA Chain tutorial from CS4 to CS3 and I decided to do it since I had a few minutes. While doing so I started to try out a few things that I hoped would make it easier. Some of them did work, some of them didn’t.

As a side note I am working on a ready-to-use solution for this problem that will allow you to simply import your CS4 projects to CS3 or even earlier versions of After Effects. But until that day comes all you can do is follow the tips in this tutorial.

The trick is that you can copy-and-paste some elements from CS4 to CS3. It’s easier with After Effects’ native plugins like Fast Blur or Ramp, but it also works with 3rd party plugins as well to some extent. The main limitation I’ve stumbled upon is that you have to copy each section (or Group) of parameters separately. The easiest way to do this is to select a layer, press UU to reveal all modified properties and then copy paste them in groups. For example: Trapcode Form has several groups like Particles, Layer Maps, Visibility and so on and so on. You have to copy each group on it’s own. That also goes for the sub-groups.

It’s not perfect, but it sure speeds up the whole process quite a bit. I hope you’ll find this useful. If you have any other tips on converting projects from CS4 to CS3 or if you discover any “rules” about copy-pasting feel free to leave a comment.
Happy AfterEffecting.

Tags: tips, Tutorials

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27 Responses to “Killer Tip: CS4 to CS3”

James Wicks

07. Jul, 2009

1st one to comment!
Maltaannon rocks!!!
Excellent tut.

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Jonathan Clegg

07. Jul, 2009

second that, very helpful indeed, cheers maltaanon

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Yenaphe.info » Quickie: Killer tip to go move project CS4 to CS3 (Maltaannon inside)

07. Jul, 2009

[...] My good friend Maltaannon just released a quick tutorial on how to smooth things when recreating a CS4 project inside CS3. Go check it here right now. [...]

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Vinnie

07. Jul, 2009

Awesome tips Jerzy!! Thanks a million!

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Sébastien

09. Jul, 2009

Can’t wait for your ready 2 use solution !

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JORGE JFX

11. Jul, 2009

muy weno..gracias….

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22 Killer After Effects Tutorials from Elsewhere | MisrIT Reader

12. Jul, 2009

[...] Visit Tutorial [...]

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David W.

13. Jul, 2009

Wow! Thank you such Jerzy, sir! This could have saved me a LOT of time a while ago.

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xponential

16. Jul, 2009

I just discovered that if you select all your elements in the project pannel in cs4 and drag them in the pannel in cs3 , even if the icon of the mouse is the circle with a bar , some item will be imported like .jpgs and .ai but not comps :(

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- Jerzy Drozda Jr
  
  16. Jul, 2009
  
  Yeah. Bummer. God tip though. Thanks.
  
  Reply to this comment
Maltaannon « CYRIL GALLINE

17. Jul, 2009

[...] Visit Tutorial « VideoCopilot [...]

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Mike

17. Jul, 2009

Nice tip, still love to see you do your thang!!! Maltaannon kicks major A$$ and I LOVE and need the light wrap plug!!! so keep me in mind for future contests@!@
Mike
AKA Phantommxr

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Mike

17. Jul, 2009

SMOKES!!!!!! you need to make a tut for a virtual smoke with the embers burning and smoke , paper burning, sorta first person look…lol

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DANIEL

20. Jul, 2009

you guys are doing a great job?
pls how can i get complete toturial on AE

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Louis Vuitton Handbags and Wallets

20. Jul, 2009

Keep working, great job, I love it!

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nic

05. Oct, 2009

Not really practical with big projects sadly. Major design flaw Adobe. Look forward to your more finite solution you’ve alluded to.

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wuzhixiang

14. Oct, 2009

very nice!!!

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Иван Иванов

17. Oct, 2009

Да уж По моему мнению в этом посте нет никакой логики :)

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madebao

18. Oct, 2009

hen bu cuo

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dfd

18. Oct, 2009

very nice!!!

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warez ddl

19. Oct, 2009

I was 35yo when this short piece was written (living in ATX, didn’t go to SXSWi)

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sanju

22. Nov, 2009

i think its helpful,,, thanks

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Геннадий Новиков

24. Dec, 2009

Да уж… Жизнь – как вождение велосипеда. Чтобы не упасть, ты должен двигаться.

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Leonard

28. Feb, 2010

you can actually convert CS4 to CS3 by manipulating the xml file.
start by export CS4 to xml than modified it with notepad.
this also works when you want to export from AE to Flash.
cheers

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Ant

04. Mar, 2010

Not very useful, who need to downgrade CS4 project to CS3?.. maybe only tutorial guys.

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Csaba

27. Jul, 2010

You might get away with this a bit more easily, if you replace the header of the CS4 file with that of the CS3 file. This way all layers and effects remain intact. However,it works only with osx .

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