Adobe After Effects

Course Outline / Curriculum:

Getting to Know the Workflow:

• Getting started

• Creating a project and importing footage

• Creating a composition and arranging layers

• Adding effects and modifying layer properties

• Animating the composition

• Previewing your work

• Optimizing performance in After Effects

• Rendering and exporting your composition

• Customizing workspaces

• Controlling the brightness of the user interface

• Finding resources for using After Effects

• Review questions

• Review answers

• 2 Creating a Basic Animation Using Effects and Presets

Getting started:

• Importing footage using Adobe Bridge

• Creating a new composition

• Working with imported Illustrator layers

• Applying effects to a layer

• Applying an animation preset

• Previewing the effects

• Adding transparency

• Rendering the composition

• Review questions

• Review answers

Animating Text:

• Getting started

• About text layers

• Installing a font using Adobe Fonts

• Creating and formatting point text

• Using a text animation preset

• Animating with scale keyframes

• Animating using parenting

• Animating imported Photoshop text

• Animating type tracking

• Animating text opacity

• Using a text animator group

• Animating a layer’s position

• Timing layer animations

• Adding motion blur

• Review questions

• Review answers

Working with Shape Layers:

• Getting started

• Creating the composition

• Adding a shape layer

• Applying a fill and stroke

• Creating a self-animating shape

• Duplicating a shape

• Creating custom shapes

• Positioning layers with snapping

• Snapping layers into position

• Animating a shape

• Animating fill color

• Creating nulls from paths

• Drawing curved shapes with the Pen tool

• Using nulls to connect points

• Previewing the composition

• Review questions

• Review answers

Animating a Multimedia Presentation:

• Getting started

• Adjusting anchor points

• Parenting layers

• Precomposing layers

• Keyframing a motion path

• Animating additional elements

• Applying an effect

• Animating precomposed layers

• Animating the background

• Adding an audio track

• Review questions

• Review answers

Animating Layers:

• Getting started

• Simulating lighting changes

• Duplicating an animation using the pick whip

• Animating movement in the scenery

• Adjusting the layers and creating a track matte

• Animating the shadows

• Adding a lens flare effect

• Adding a video animation

• Rendering the animation

• Retiming the composition

• Review questions

• Review answers

Working with Masks:

• About masks

• Getting started

• Creating a mask with the Pen tool

• Editing a mask

• Feathering the edges of a mask

• Replacing the content of the mask

• Adding a reflection

• Creating a vignette

• Adjusting the timing

• Trimming the work area

• Review questions

• Review answers

Distorting Objects with the Puppet Tools:

• Getting started

• About the Puppet tools

• Adding Position pins

• Adding Advanced and Bend pins

• Stiffening an area

• Animating pin positions

• Using the Puppet tools to animate video

• Recording animation

• Review questions

• Review answers

Using the Roto Brush Tool:

• About rotoscoping

• Getting started

• Creating a segmentation boundary

• Fine-tuning the matte

• Freezing your Roto Brush tool results

• Changing the background

• Adding animated text

• Outputting your project

• Review questions

• Review answers

Performing Color Correction:

• Getting started

• Adjusting color balance with levels

• Adjusting color with the Lumetri Color effect

• Replacing the background

• Color-correcting using Auto Levels

• Motion tracking the clouds

• Replacing the sky in the second clip

• Color grading

• Review questions

• Review answers

Creating Motion Graphics Templates:

• Getting started

• Preparing a master composition

• Setting up a template

• Adding properties to the Essential Graphics panel

• Providing image options

• Protecting the timing of a section

• Exporting the template

• Review questions

• Review answers

Using 3D Features:

• Getting started

• Creating 3D text

• Using 3D views

• Importing a background

• Adding 3D lights

• Adding a camera

• Extruding text in After Effects

• Working with Cinema 4D Lite

• Integrating the C4D layer in After Effects

• Finishing the project

• Review questions

• Review answers

Working with the 3D Camera Tracker:

• About the 3D Camera Tracker effect

• Getting started

• Tracking the footage

• Creating a ground plane, a camera, and the initial text

• Creating additional text elements

• Locking an image to a plane with a solid layer

• Tidying the composition

• Adding a final object

• Creating realistic shadows

• Adding ambient light

• Adding an effect

• Previewing the composition

• Review questions

• Review answers

Advanced Editing Techniques:

• Getting started

• Stabilizing a shot

• Using single-point motion tracking

• Using multipoint tracking

• Creating a particle simulation

• Retiming playback using the Timewarp effect

• Review questions

• Review answers

Rendering and Outputting:

• Getting started

• About rendering and output

• Exporting using the Render Queue

• Creating templates for the Render Queue

• Rendering movies with Adobe Media Encoder