Adobe After Effects CC 2015 Book

Setup & Introduction

Downloading the Class Files

Before You Begin: Syncing Typekit Fonts

• Syncing Typekit fonts to your Creative Cloud account

Section 1

Welcome to New York: Intro to After Effects

• The Project, Composition, & Timeline panels
• Splitting layers
• Color correction
• Previewing in real time

Welcome to New York: Fade-Ins & Working with Text

• Creating a fade-in by animating the Opacity property
• Creating & animating text
• Adjusting clip lengths in the Timeline
• Using Title Safety to ensure TV viewers can see the text
• Copying & pasting styles

Welcome to New York: Styling Text & Rendering

• Styling the main & secondary text
• Adding a cross-fade between the video & title text
• Working in the Render Queue
• Using masks to create a vignette

Section 2

Travel Slideshow: Anchor Points & Working with Images

• Resizing images to fit the Composition frame
• Setting layer in points using the In column
• Aligning still images & changing anchor points
• Adjusting animation timing

Travel Slideshow: Cross-Dissolves & Working with Logos

• Creating cross-dissolves (“fade-ups”) between layers
• Pre-composing layers
• Scaling up vector layers
• Adding a fade to black using a solid color layer
• How to find missing project files

Rotating Wedge: Null Objects & Hold Keyframes

• Scaling up multiple child layers using a Null Object
• Creating a color wedge using a shape layer
• Animating the Rotation property
• Changing text values using hold keyframes

Rotating Wedge: Alpha Mattes & Animated Colors

• Using an alpha matte to hide/show the text based on the wedge’s movement
• Bringing back the colored wedge
• Animating instantaneous color changes
• Ensuring the Logo stays in the Title Safe grid

Section 3

HBO Logo: Importing Layered Files & Adding Easing

• Flattening a layered file or individual layer on import
• Importing a layered file with all its layers intact
• Isolating the Feature & Presentation text using masks
• Creating fade-ins & fade-outs
• Adding automatic easing to slow down portions of the animation

HBO Photo Tiles: Working with Numerous Layers

• Cropping the layout & creating a grid in Photoshop
• Scaling up each tile using a null object
• Randomizing the order in which the photos animate in
• Orchestrating the exit animation so the tiles fall down in diagonal groups

HBO Movie Rating: Vector Layouts & the Graph Editor

• Using the Invert effect to swap black & white
• Using the Graph Editor to customize easing speed
• Animating vector shapes using the Trim Paths feature
• More null objects: animating the three pay television content descriptors

HBO Bumper: Putting It All Together & Adding Audio

• Sequencing multiple compositions
• Animating like an editor: overlapping shots & using blending modes
• Adding audio to a composition

Section 4

Sliding Panels: Hard Ease Fashion Reveal

• Setting Keyframe Velocity for fine-tuned ease control
• Understanding basic motion paths
• Sequencing the “stripes”
• Adding a Drop Shadow effect

Sliding Panels: More Reveals from Different Directions

• The benefits of a composition with modular parts
• Creating three more reveals
• More keyframe influence, animation sequencing, & drop shadows

Sliding Panels: Time Remapping to Match Audio

• Best practice: adding audio to a nested composition
• Time remapping the video to sync well with the audio
• Globally adjusting audio volume to ideal levels

Section 5

3D Lighting & the Wiggler

• 3D lighting
• Randomizing with “The Wiggler”

More 3D Fun: Lights, Rotation, Motion!

• More 3D rotation
• Adjusting lighting settings to stylize light
• Creating shadows

Particle Skateboards: Using 3D Cameras

• Adding a camera layer
• Viewing text with a 3D Camera

Rendering & Exporting Options

• Rendering uncompressed files
• Rendering a video with transparency
• Creating a render template
• Exporting images

Section 6

3D Cube: Background Lighting & Cropping Square Videos

• Adding 3D lighting to the background
• Using the Wiggler panel to make the light fluctuate
• Cropping the videos so they become square
• Individually preparing the pre-comps so they can be used as cube sides

3D Cube: Constructing a Seamless 3D Object

• Setting up a camera layer & its parent null object
• Building a 3D cube made of six videos
• Setting a 3D layer’s initial rotation using the Orientation property
• The Unified Camera tool

3D Cube: Animating a 3D Object

• Animating the cube as a whole: 3D rotation via null object
• Animating a null object’s child layers separately

3D Cube: Casting Light & Shadow on 3D Objects

• Lighting & shadows on 3D objects
• Adding music & adjusting keyframe timing
• Adding a lens flare effect to a solid & animating it

Bonus Material

Video Zooms: Editing Video & Using an Animation Preset

• Editing clip durations
• Sequencing layers
• Adding an Animation Preset
• Adding a fade-out
• Saving a custom Animation Preset

Video Zooms: Text Animation, Effects, & Expressions

• Creating the quote composition
• Adding a text effect & pick-whipping expressions
• Adding a text Animation Preset
• Adjusting the animation & adding a fade–in

Video Zooms: Working on the Quote Compositions

• Positioning the text & changing colors
• Pre-composing the video layers
• Adding quote comps to the pre-comps
• Using a side-by-side composition view

Video Zooms: Editing Audio & Rendering

• Adding audio
• Rendering the video

Reference Material