Course Outline
LESSON 1 – Getting to know your 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 and answers
LESSON 2 – Creating a basic animation using After 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 and answers
LESSON 3 – Animating text
Getting started
About text layers
Creating and formatting point text
Using a text animation preset
Animating with scale keyframes
Animating using parenting
Animating imported Photoshop text
Animating text using a path animation preset
Animating type tracking
Animating text opacity
Using a text animator group
Cleaning up the path animation
Animating a nontext layer along a motion path
Adding motion blur
Review questions and answers
LESSON 4 – Working with shape layers
Getting started
Adding a shape layer
Creating custom shapes
Creating stars
Positioning layers with snapping
Incorporating video and audio layers
Applying a Cartoon effect
Adding a title bar
Using Brainstorm to experiment
Review questions and answers
LESSON 5 – Animating a multimedia presentation
Getting started
Animating the scenery using parenting
Adjusting an anchor point
Masking video using vector shapes
Keyframing a motion path
Animating additional elements
Applying an effect
Creating an animated slide show
Adding an audio track
Zooming in for a final close-up
Review questions and answers
LESSON 6 – 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
Animating the clock
Retiming the composition
Review questions and answers
LESSON 7 – 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 color
Review questions and answers
LESSON 8 – Distorting objects with the Puppet tools
Getting started
About the Puppet tools
Adding Deform pins
Defining areas of overlap
Stiffening an area
Animating pin positions
Recording animation
Review questions and answers
LESSON 9 – 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 and answers
LESSON 10 – Performing Color Correction
Getting started
Adjusting color balance
Replacing the background
Removing unwanted elements
Correcting a range of colors
Warming colors with the Photo Filter effect
Review questions and answers
LESSON 11 – Using 3D Features
Getting started
Creating 3D Text
Using 3D Views
Importing a background
Adding 3D Lights
Adding a camera
Repositioning layers
Adding a text layer
Working with Cinema 4D Lite
Review questions and answers
LESSON 12 – Working with 3D Camera Tracking
About the 3D Camera Tracker effect
Getting started
Tracking the footage
Creating a ground plane, a camera, and the initial text
Creating realistic shadows
Adding ambient light
Creating additional text elements
Locking a layer to a plane with a null object
Animating the text
Adjusting the camera’s depth of field
Rendering the composition
Review questions and answers
LESSON 13 – Advanced editing techniques
Getting started
Using Warp Stabilizer VFX
Using single-point motion tracking
Using multipoint tracking
Creating a particle simulation
Retiming playback using the Timewarp effect
Review questions and answers
LESSON 14 – Rendering and outputting
Getting started
Creating templates for the Render Queue
Exporting using the Render Queue
Rendering movies with Adobe Media Encoder
Review questions and answers