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After Effects Lesson 1

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381 views4 pages

After Effects Lesson 1

Uploaded by

api-329256627
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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After Effects Lesson 1

When you begin a project, often the first thing youll do is add footage to it.

1. Choose File > Import > File


2. Navigate to the lesson 1 folder, click and drag to select the all the files except
bgwtext.psd.
3. Click open
4. Now save your work. Always save regularly otherwise youll regret it in the
future. Save your work in the same folder as your assets, this makes it easier for
After Effects to access the files and use less CPU memory.

Footage items have now been added to After Effects. After Effects can import a
wide variety of files, including layered files from Photoshop and Illustrator. However
these need to be imported differently...

5. Double-click in the lower area of the project panel to open the Import File
dialog box.
6. Navigate to the lesson
ABOUT LAYERS
1 folder. Select
bgwtext.psd. Choose Layers are the components you use to build a composition. Any
Composition from the item that you add to a composition such as a still image video
file, audio file or even another composition becomes a new
Import As menu, then layer.
click open.
Using layers allows you to work with specific footage items in a
composition without affecting any other footage. For example
A new dialogue box will
you can move, rotate and create mask layers to alter one layer
open. without disturbing any other layers. You can duplicate layers and
therefore use the same footage to create different effects to the
7. In the Import Kind same video or image.
menu choose Adobes other programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator also
Composition and use layers so you can import Photoshop and Illustrator files and
work with them in their original layers.
select editable layer
styles then click ok.
The footage will now appear in the project panel.

8. Select all but the bgwtext folder and drag and drop into the timeline panel.
9. In the new composition box click ok.
10. Choose Composition from the Composition settings.
11. In the duration box enter 1:15 (this sets the time for composition/video).
12. Drag bgwtext to the bottom of the layer stack, then arrange your other layers
in the following order: dancers, gc_adobe_dance, kaleidoscope_waveforms,
pulsating_radial_waves.
13. Change the source name title to layers to make sure were thinking about
layers.

Now weve imported our layers and put them in the correct order well start
manipulating them and adjusting our compositions.

14. Select the first layer the choose Edit > Duplicate.
15. Select the duplicated layer and rename it to avoid confusion.
16. Duplicate the kaleidoscope layer twice and name one kaleidoscope_left
and one kaleidoscope_right.

Adding Motion Effects.

17. Select the dancers_with_effects layer.


18. In the Effects & Presets panel and type in radial blur.
19. Drag the effect onto the dancers_with_effects layer.
20. In the newly opened effects control panel choose Zoom from the Type menu.
21. In the composition panel move the centre point of the blur by dragging the
centre cross-hair so that it sits on the horizon line.
22. Change the amount number to 200 and hit enter.

Now were going to bring up the brightness of this layer by adjusting the exposure
colour-correction effect.

23. In the Effects & Presets panel and type in Exposure.


24. Click the triangle next to Colour Correction to expand the list of effects.
25. Drag this onto the dancers_with_effects layer.
26. For Master Exposure, enter 1.60 into the exposure section.
Next were going to alter some of our layers properties.
This is called Transforming. Were going alter the TRANSFORM
opacity and position of some of our layers. With any layer selected in
the Timeline panel, you
can display any single
Transform property by
27. Choose the kaleidoscope_left layer and then pressing a keyboard
expand the layers properties by clicking the shortcut:

triangle next to them. P displays Position


A displays Anchor
28. Change the x position of the layer to 160.
Point
29. Repeat for the kaleidoscope_right and change S displays Scale
the x position of the layer to 560. R displays Rotation
T displays Opacity
30. Choose the kaleidoscope_left layer and press T
to select the opacity. Adjust it to 30%.
31. Repeat for the kaleidoscope_right.

So far weve made a composition and added extra effects to make it more visually
interesting and complex. The next step is to add some motion effects. Were going
to do this to our text layers through working within another composition.

32. Select the project tab to display the project panel and double-click the
bgwtext composition. This will open the files up as their own composition.
33. To be able to adjust these layers youll need to make the layer editable.
Select the Title Here layer then choose Layer>Convert to Editable Text. A T will
appear next to the layer to tell you it now contains editable text.

To animate the text were going to use animation presets. These will make it a lot
easier.

34. Select the Horizontal Type Tool (T) and select the placeholder text. Rename it
to AQUO.
35. Drag the time indicator above the timeline all the way to the left or hit the
HOME key.
36. In the Effects & Presets panel and type in Bubble.
37. Select the Zoom-Bubble effect in the Transitions-Movement category and
drag it onto the AQUO text within the composition panel.
38. In the timeline panel expand the Title Here layer and then expand Effects >
Zoom-bubble to reveal the Transition Completion setting.
39. The little stopwatch lets you know that there are active keyframes in the effet.
Go to 1:00 in the timeline and change the value to 100%.

The Animation will now appear to move very suddenly and look quite robotic. To
change this we need apply something caller easing. Easing changes the speed of
the animation at the beginning and end of its movement to make it look smooth
and natural (almost like its obeying gravity).

40. Right click on the keyframe and choose Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease In.

If everything has gone according to plan you should now have a finished video with
animation effects using keyframes ready to export.

41. Now hit the RAM preview to see the whole video. Once thats done go to File
> Export > Add to Render Queue.
42. Select the Render Queue from the timeline panel.
43. From the Output to section select the export folder as the same as project.
44. Hit Render.

TA DA!

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