Hey guys, i was wondering if the CS4 files (projects) for such programs as After Effects and Premiere are backwards compatible with CS3 ?

They should be, as long as you leave that checkbox checked in the (goddamn) window that pops up about 'maximizing compatibility'. That's the first thing I do with a new version, is to open the prefs and tick the one that says 'always maximize compatibility and stop bugging me'.

If you use features that don't exist on the version you're opening it on, it will ask you if you want to open a flattened version, or try to convert the layers. If you tell it to convert, some of the layers will probably be flattened or rasterized (an example would be using smart filters then trying to open that with CS1 or CS2).

Originally Posted by glib

They should be, as long as you leave that checkbox checked in the (goddamn) window that pops up about 'maximizing compatibility'. That's the first thing I do with a new version, is to open the prefs and tick the one that says 'always maximize compatibility and stop bugging me'.

If you use features that don't exist on the version you're opening it on, it will ask you if you want to open a flattened version, or try to convert the layers. If you tell it to convert, some of the layers will probably be flattened or rasterized (an example would be using smart filters then trying to open that with CS1 or CS2).

thanks for the help !