Creative Cloud Libraries in After Effects

Creative Cloud Libraries makes your assets available to you anywhere. Create images, colors, text styles, color looks, and more in Photoshop, Illustrator, and mobile apps like Adobe Shape, and then easily access them across other desktop and mobile apps for a seamless creative workflow.

To learn more, see Creative Cloud Libraries.

In After Effects, Creative Cloud Libraries are available from within the Libraries panel and the Start screen. The Libraries panel is visible in the Default workspace, Standard workspace, and All Panel workspace. It's docked on the right side of the workspace.

To open the Libraries panel, select either:

• Window > Workspace > Libraries
• File > Import OR
• Window > Libraries

You can use the creative assets in After Effects in many different ways:

• You can drag graphics assets from the Libraries panel to the Project panel to import them into your project.
• Vector assets in your library created with mobile apps like Capture can be imported into After Effects and converted into shape layers for high-quality vector animations.
• Text layer graphics added to your library from Photoshop can be imported into After Effects and converted to editable text layers with live layer styles.

Location of Library assets

Library assets imported into After Effects are copied to your user folder at the following locations: 

• macOS: Users/<user_name>/Documents/Adobe/After Effects CC 2015/User Libraries/
• Windows: C:\Users\<user_name>\Documents\Adobe\After Effects CC 2015\User Libraries\

Accessing Creative Cloud Libraries

Whatever you save in the Libraries panel becomes available for use across After Effects projects that you're working on.

Libraries are synced to Creative Cloud. Your library becomes available on any computer that you are signed into using your Creative Cloud with your Adobe ID.

Whatever you save in the Libraries panel becomes automatically available across desktop and mobile apps that support Creative Cloud Libraries.

For example, you can access Libraries from desktop apps such as Adobe Premiere Pro or Photoshop, and mobile apps such as Adobe Capture.

To learn more about how to access Creative Cloud Libraries, see Access your assets anywhere.

Add a Creative Cloud library

You can create any number of libraries to organize your assets. The libraries that you create are displayed in the Libraries panel in After Effects.  

Read more about adding assets to Creative Cloud Libraries.

Add assets to a Creative Cloud Library

To add assets to a Creative Cloud Library, follow any of the options mentioned:

Option 1:

Option 2:

In After Effects, select File > Save As or File > Save and save the files in the Creative Cloud Files directory.

You can store all your assets in the Create Cloud Library directory, synced with your Creative Cloud account. The Creative Cloud desktop app creates the directory by default.

Option 3:

To open the Creative Cloud Files directory from the Creative Cloud desktop app, do one of the following, depending on your version of the app:

For more information, see adding assets to Creative Cloud Libraries.

You can also add assets directly to the Creative Cloud Assets page. To add assets:

Once uploaded, the files are synced with your Creative Cloud account, and you can access them from anywhere.

Use assets in a library

Graphic Assets

Graphics assets can be imported into your After Effects project, like any other asset you would import from your local disks. To import graphics assets into your project, do either of the following:

• Right-click a graphic asset and choose Import.

OR

• Select a graphic asset in the Libraries panel, and drag it to the Project panel.

Vector graphics in your library that were created with Illustrator or Shape can be imported into After Effects. After adding them to a composition, these graphics can then be converted into shape layers for high-quality vector animations.

Photoshop text layer graphics added to your library can be imported into After Effects, and can be converted to editable text layers with live layer styles.

Changing the Drag Import Multiple Items As setting in Preferences > Import affects how PSD and AI assets are imported from a library.

For more information, see Access from Photoshop and Illustrator.

Looks

Looks are color presets created and added to the Creative Cloud library using Adobe Premiere Pro (CC 2015 and later versions). Looks combine color and light information from a live image captured by your mobile device camera or a photograph in your device.

Looks, stored in .look files, can then be applied to a layer in After Effects. Looks are an easy way to enhance your project by modifying the image's color or to apply color grading, usually done using another application like SpeedGrade or the color panel in Premiere Pro.

Looks from the Libraries panel are read using the Apply Color LUT effect, the same as LUT files from other sources.

To apply a look from the Libraries panel, do any of the following:

• Select a layer in the composition, right-click on a look in the Libraries panel, and choose Apply Look.
• Drag a look from the Libraries panel onto a layer in the Composition, Layer, Effect Controls, or Timeline panels.
• Drag a look from the Libraries panel onto the title row of an existing Apply Color LUT effect on a layer in the Timeline or Effect Controls panels.
  
  After Effects will add the Apply Color LUT effect to the target layer and apply the look.
  
  If the Apply Color LUT effect is already present on a layer, applying a look from the Libraries panel reuses the existing instance of the effect. You can use this approach to try out different looks on the same layer.

Add assets from Adobe Stock

Adobe Stock is a service that sells millions of high-quality, royalty-free photos, illustrations, and videos (including HD and 4K videos).

You can start a search of Adobe Stock assets from within After Effects:

The search results for video assets display the licensing status, duration, and format information. You can filter your search results and preview the assets. Select Results From Adobe Stock to limit search results to photos, illustrations, vectors, or videos. You can choose 4K or HD versions when you purchase or try a preview of a 4K video via the Libraries panel.

Once you locate an asset you want to use, you can purchase a license immediately and add the asset to your library, which will appear in the Libraries panel within After Effects. Or, you can add an unlicensed preview (watermarked) version of the asset to your library. To license a Stock asset from the Project panel, select a watermarked preview asset in the Project panel, and choose File > License or select the shopping cart button to the left of an unlicensed footage item.

If you add a preview version of an asset to your library, you can license it later. To license the asset, click/right-click it, and from the context menu select "License this image".

Adobe Stock still image preview assets are automatically replaced with the full-resolution, non-watermarked version when you purchase a license.

Add assets from Essential Graphics panel

You can share Motion Graphics templates through Creative Cloud libraries. Ensure that you have the latest version of CC Desktop application installed on your computer.

You can check for available updates in the CC Desktop application. All the Motion Graphics templates are displayed as updates in the CC Desktop application. 

You can check for updates manually by following these steps:

Share libraries with Creative Cloud users

You can share your libraries with other Creative Cloud users to view, edit, or use the contents of a shared library. The users of your library assets are informed whenever a read-only asset is changed in the library. 

Share a library: There are two ways you can share your libraries with other users:

Option 1:

In the Libraries panel, select the pop-up menu on the panel tab, and choose Collaborate.

Option 2:

Follow these steps to join a shared library:

For more information, see Sharing and collaborating Creative Cloud Libraries.