As we go over After Effects (abbreviated as AE for short) in class, I will add to this post some of the concepts and resources and tutorials we cover. Please feel free to add comments with links to resources you find helpful and you can also ask questions.
AE Interface
The interface for AE can be intimidating at first. We will go over it in class, but it really helps to practice on your own and get to know it.
Interface Terms
- Panel: an area of the AE interface that supports a specific functionality.
- Project Panel: This is where you can put in source content, also known as assets, (images, video, sounds) that you can use in creating your composition. You can add things here by dragging the file into the panel. NOTE: you can use Illustrator and Photoshop files.
- Composition Panel: This is like the Canvas in Photoshop or the Artboard in Illustrator. It’s where you see what your animation will look like. You can also make some adjustments to items directly in this panel.
- Timeline Panel: This is where you arrange and control when objects appear in your animation and the timing of the animations. The timeline is like Audacity in that it visually represents the time something is on screen, and it is also like the layers in photoshop or Illustrator because items are visually stacked in layers. One new thing is that many of the controls for your animation are done right in the Timeline.
- Keyframe: This is a marker that sets when a specific part of an animation starts (or ends for the previous keyframe). In order to animate objects you can set keyframes and change properties at each keyframe.
- Properties: shapes and objects have properties that you can animate in After Effects. The four basic properties are:
- Position: Allows you to animate the position of a layer in the composition.
- Scale: Enables you to animate the size of a layer, making it larger or smaller.
- Rotation: Allows you to animate the rotation of a layer, giving it a spinning or turning effect.
- Opacity: Enables you to animate the transparency of a layer, making it fade in or out.
- Transform: This is the name for the areas in a layer where you can transform the properties (listed above and more). Note that there is a transform area for each individual shape and a transform area for an entire layer (that could have multiple shapes).
Tutorials
Get to know the After Effects interface
LINK: https://creativecloud.adobe.com/cc/learn/after-effects/web/aftereffects-workflow-terminology
This tutorial video walks through the After Effects interface and explains the main concepts. The first part is very general and what you should focus on. It also shows a workflow for adding video files to your project. This is in the later part of the video and is a workflow you don’t have to do in our class, but may be interested in.
We went over the first few minutes in class on 10.12.23
Create Shape Layers
LINK: https://creativecloud.adobe.com/learn/after-effects/web/create-shape-layers
Sample Files: https://learndownload.adobe.com/pub/learn/aftereffects/create-shape-layers.zip
This shows how to draw shapes in layers. Very important for the animations we are going to do.
We went over this in class on 10.12.23
Animate Shape Layers
LINK: https://creativecloud.adobe.com/learn/after-effects/web/animate-shape-layers
Sample Files: https://learndownload.adobe.com/pub/learn/aftereffects/animate-shape-layers.zip
This shows how to animate objects in a shape layer. In after effects there is a way to animate an entire layer (which may have multiple shapes in it) and also animate an individual shape inside of the layer. This tutorial shows both styles.
We went over this in class on 10/17
Add Animation Properties to Shape Layers
LINK: https://creativecloud.adobe.com/learn/after-effects/web/add-animation-to-shape-layers
Sample Files: https://learndownload.adobe.com/pub/learn/aftereffects/add-animation-to-shape-layers.zip
This shows how to animate using path option Wiggle Transform. This is a different way to animate than setting keyframes adjusting properties. It add a kind of automated animation to everything on a layer. The tutorial also shows how to solo and lock layers. Solo is when you just see that layer and lock is how you prevent yourself from accidentally selecting and transforming a layer.
We went over this in class on 10/17 and 10/19
Animate an object to follow along a path
LINK: https://creativecloud.adobe.com/cc/learn/after-effects/web/animate-along-path
Sample Files: https://learndownload.adobe.com/pub/learn/aftereffects/animate-along-path.zip
In this tutorial you learn one way to animate an object along a path. You will draw a path using the pen tool, and then use that path as a way to control the position of an object (a car).
We went over this in class on 10/19
