What Is After Effects
- creates motion graphics and visual effects
- can work with video, audio, still images, and Adobe Illustrator
- puppet tool can bend part of a 2D plane to look like it's moving
After Effects Workflow Overview
- do most of your work in the timeline
- Step 1. Bring stuff in. 2. Mess with it, change it 3. Output it
Bringing Elements Into After Effects
- to import, you go to "file", then "import", then "file"
- OR right click inside the project panel and choose "import -> file"
- OR double click in the project panel
Adding Elements To The Timeline
- assets or footage is everything you put in the panel (your "stuff")
- click and drag object from project panel to layers
Working With Layers
- can click on eye icon to remove visibility with layers
- each layer is represented by bars on the timeline
- to move the bar - click and drag bar to have a layer start and end later
Creating Animation Without Presets
- select a layer --> click stopwatch icon next to transition completion in the project panel --> click and drag property until it reaches 100% --> then move ahead in your video where you want animation to stop --> drag stopwatch back to 0%
- you can click the arrow next to a layer to show the elements of the layer
Previewing Your Work
- 2 ways to preview work
- hit spacebar to preview
- just gives you the gist --> it's not in real time --> and has no audio
- hit "0" key gives audio and in real time preview
Exporting Content As A Movie File
- Go to Composition --> "Add To Render Queue" or "Make Movie"
- Render Queue can change settings of your video
Touring The Interface
- if you press the tilde key (~) it will maximize the panel your mouse is over
- drop zones show where your floating panel will group
- you can change the layout with the workspace button
How After Effects Projects Work
- File --> Save - SAVE YOUR WORK OFTEN
- After Effects crashes often
- can set up autosave
- when importing something into After Effects, it is not embedded, it is only a link
- if link can't be found, go to "file" --> "replace file"
- difference between opening and import
- import brings object into project panel
- open opens whole project
- you can only have one project open at a time
- you can import an old project into your new one
What Is A Composition
- composition is kind of like a storage container
- film strip icon creates a new composition
- compositions are the foundation of everything you do in After Effects
- you can't output a project, only a composition
- when making a composition a layer in a different composition, it's called "nesting"
Tips For Adding Content To Compositions
- command + ? (/) adds objects perfectly centered to the top of the layers
- OR you can just drag to the viewer
- OR you can drag to the timeline
Understanding The Properties Of Video
- time code is Hours: Minutes: Seconds: Frames
- to change settings of the composition --> click the composition --> go to the fly out menu on the right side --> composition settings or command + k
- standard definition is 720 px wide and 480 px high
- when dealing with pixels on computer they are square --> when working with tv, they are not square
- frame rate is the speed at which those frames happen
- standard for standard definition is 29.97
- if you are doing something for web, you might want to have a lower frame rate
Importing an Illustrator File
- double click in file panel --> click .ai file --> import as composition
Animation Basics
- expand layer with arrow --> then arrow next to "transform"
- when you click a layer and press "r" it shows the "rotation" property only
- click stopwatch --> move in time --> change value
- works the same for position, scale, opacity, etc.
Animation Opacity
- command + plus to zoom in
- open layer setting with arrow --> then transform arrow
- OR click layer and click:
- "a" for anchor point
- "p" for position
- "s" for scale
- "r" for rotation
- and "t" for opacity
- some people refer to them as TRAPS
- click stopwatch --> change to 0% --> move in time --> change to 100%
- can grab key frame and drag on timeline to slow down animation
Understanding Anchor Points
- most transformations take place around anchor points
- solo button allows you to see only that layer
- toggle transparency gets rid of checkerboard background
- pan behind tool - then you can move the anchor point
- press "v" for the move tool
- if you click "v" and then hold down "y" you can move the anchor point and when you let go of "y" it goes back to the move tool
Animating Position
- open layer, click "p" for position
- x position - left and right
- y position - up and down
- start with the end, then go back
Animating Rotation
- click layer --> press "r" for rotation
- if you press shift + p - position will be added to rotation
- the first number under rotation is how many full rotations the object would do
Animating Scale
- click layer --> press "s" for scale
- chain link means that the proportions are constrained
- stopwatch --> move in time --> change value
Copying and Pasting Key Frames
- select the layer and press u", which will show all of the key frames for this layer
- click and drag marque to select multiple key frames
- click command + c --> them move in time and press command + v
- can copy and paste all of those again
Animation Shortcuts
- press "home" key to jump to first frame of animation
- press "end" key to jump to last frame
- press "fn" on a laptop to find those keys
- if you press "page down" and "page up" it will advance you one frame at a time
- add shift to the page up and it will advance 10 frames a time
- if you press "u + u" really fast it will show not only key frames but all of the properties changes from the default
- if you press "k" it will jump to the next visible key frame
- "j" is the previous key frame
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