To use an After Effects template, you will need to have the template project file along with all of the video editing assets. If you don’t already have After Effects open, you can either start the program and open the template file by navigating to File>Open, or you can simply double click the project file on your computer.

When you open an After Effects template, you will typically see all of the files on the left side of the screen in a box called the project panel. In the middle you will see a large video screen called the composition panel. You will also see a timeline at the bottom of the program. The timeline is where all of the different video, audio, and graphic elements are placed when they are used to create the final video.

For a simple graphics project, you might just have a video and text layer in your compositions timeline. In a template, there will be many more elements, sometimes hundreds. Luckily for you, a good template won’t require you to navigate all of those layers. Instead, a good template will only ask you to access a few simple layers at most.

At the heart of every good After Effects template is a well-organized composition structure. For most templates, all you will need to do is access the composition that corresponds with the scene you are trying to change. For example, if you want to change the end logo, you can look for a composition called “End Logo” and manipulate the text or elements as you need them.

Every After Effects template is different, so it’s important to read any documentation that comes with your template to make the whole editing process easier to understand. All of our templates are standardized, meaning they are all customizable in a similar file structure.