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Adobe After Effects Level 1

After Effects Classes in New York City

Adobe After Effects is a powerful tool for animation and video post-production. It can be used to create stand-alone videos, animations, special effects, animated titles, and much more. Use it to create compelling video content for broadcast TV and web.

Create Motion Graphics & Animations

This After Effects training will take you from the basics of After Effects such as understanding the workspace and basic animation techniques, all the way through to advanced animation techniques, motion tracking, and particle effects.

Motion Graphics Certificate Program

Take our After Effects Level 2, Premiere Bootcamp, and Motion Graphics Portfolio Development courses along with this course and earn a Certificate in Motion Graphics.

Prior experience with Adobe Photoshop is recommended.

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  • Small Classes
  • Computer Provided
  • Book included
  • Free Retake

Register for a Class

  • $975
  • 18 Hours
  • Mac or PC
  • 594 Broadway, NYC or live online

Corporate training available

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What You’ll Learn

  • Create animations using graphics, text, and photos
  • Become familiar with the interface, timeline, and layers
  • Use video footage to create a movie title sequence
  • Create TV content and ads using real-world graphics
  • Sync and edit animations to audio
  • Create dynamic transitions
  • Learn animation principles to create fluid, realistic animations
  • Build 3D objects incorporating video clips
  • Add lighting and shadows using 3D properties and effects
  • Render your projects into manageable file sizes
View full syllabus

Adobe After Effects Level 1 Class Syllabus

What You’ll Learn

Section 1
Intro to After Effects

Topics

  • The Project, Composition, & Timeline panels
  • Splitting layers
  • Color correction
  • Previewing in real time
Fade-Ins & Working with Text

Topics

  • 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
Styling Text & Rendering

Topics

  • 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
Anchor Points & Working with Images

Topics

  • Resizing images to fit the Composition frame
  • Setting layer in points using the In column
  • Aligning still images & changing anchor points
  • Adjusting animation timing
Cross-Dissolves & Working with Logos

Topics

  • 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
Null Objects & Hold Keyframes

Topics

  • 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
Alpha Mattes & Animated Colors

Topics

  • 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
Importing Layered Files & Adding Easing

Topics

  • 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
Working with Numerous Layers

Topics

  • 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
Vector Layouts & the Graph Editor

Topics

  • 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
Putting It All Together & Adding Audio

Topics

  • Sequencing multiple compositions
  • Animating like an editor: overlapping shots & using blending modes
  • Adding audio to a composition
Section 4
Hard Ease Fashion Reveal

Topics

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

Topics

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

Topics

  • 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

Topics

  • 3D lighting
  • Randomizing with “The Wiggler”
More 3D Fun: Lights, Rotation, Motion!

Topics

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

Topics

  • Adding a camera layer
  • Viewing text with a 3D Camera
Rendering & Exporting Options

Topics

  • Rendering uncompressed files
  • Rendering a video with transparency
  • Creating a render template
  • Exporting images
Section 6
Background Lighting & Cropping Square Videos

Topics

  • 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
Constructing a Seamless 3D Object

Topics

  • 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
Animating a 3D Object

Topics

  • Animating the cube as a whole: 3D rotation via null object
  • Animating a null object’s child layers separately
Casting Light & Shadow on 3D Objects

Topics

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

  • Learn to animate graphics, text and photos.

  • Create dynamic transitions and sync to music.

  • Create a movie title sequence.

  • Learn how to build 3D objects incorporating video clips.

  • Animate and edit real-world graphics.

NYC’s Best After Effects Courses

This After Effects course will have you using professional techniques as you create animations, titles, 3D objects, and much more. Learn these skills with hands-on, step-by-step exercises in small classes led by a leading motion graphics instructor. 

  • “This is a great intensive course to get you started with After Effects. I highly recommend it to anyone who is serious about learning this. I would definitely take more classes at Noble Desktop.”

    Rose Mattrey

    Graphic Designer, AAA Western & Central NY

    Rose learned animation and video post-production in the After Effects Level 1 class.

  • “The demos bring a daunting textbook to life and break everything down to manageable steps.”

    Don Jolovich

    Sr. Photo Editor, ESPN

  • “This was a wonderful class and having a live instructor made a huge difference in the class experience. Our instructor, Kalika, was amazing and set the lessons up so that we gradually built towards the final lesson making incredible progress along the way. She also allowed us all to work at our own pace during the lessons so that everyone was able to develop at a pace comfortable to them while still seeing a marked improvement. I highly recommend this class and eagerly look forward to the next.”

    Robert Byrnes

    Art Director/Animator, Reuters/i24

  • “After taking the After Effects class at Noble Desktop, I was able to create an animation immediately following completion of the course material - now I have the tools to continue using After Effects in my personal projects and beyond.”

    Blake Drummond

    Founder, Diagonal Media

    Attended the comprehensive After Effects CC Level 1 course

  • “Kalika was an excellent instructor. Her enthusiasm and passion for After Effects was contagious. She was patient, smart, and funny. She brought a much needed lightness and humor to a difficult subject. When I began to feel overwhelmed, Kalika was hands-on with helping me. She was genuinely interested in teaching us what we wanted to know. We followed the instruction booklet but it was not forced upon us—we went at our own pace and was able to spend the last class practicing our own project ideas. I left my three-day Noble Desktop experience feeling inspired and excited to continue my After Effects learning journey. I intend on using my new knowledge to make personal art as well as enhance my day-job work as a graphic designer in higher education. I cannot speak highly enough of Kalika. She was truly a pleasure.”

    Lisa Festa

    Graphic Designer, Princeton University

  • “I had been trying to learn After Effects on my own for a while, but it wasn’t until I decided to take the course through Noble Desktop that things really started to make sense for me. Now I feel that I have a solid foundation and am more excited than before about learning After Effects.”

    Eric Vasquez

    Art Director / Graphic Designer / Illustrator

See our 2,524 testimonials
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Learn Through Real-World Projects

In this After Effects class you’ll learn through projects. First by watching a short demo, then by actually practicing on animations and motion graphics including ads, title sequences, and logos. Our instructor and course developer has created numerous projects specifically for these classes that draw on her many years of experience to teach you practical, professional skills.

After Effects project taught during class

Custom After Effects Workbook

You get a custom workbook with step-by-step exercises that will guide you through creating 9 different projects. These include real-world animations such as a dynamic fashion ad, movie title sequence, and a HBO feature presentation intro. Our After Effects training materials are used by universities and schools worldwide. 

Every After Effects class comes with a custom workbook

Industry Expert Instructor

This course is taught by Kalika Kharkar Sharma, an industry-experienced instructor who has produced animations for a wide range of clientele including CNBC, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network. Kalika brings years of experience teaching motion graphics and traditional and digital character animation at renowned art schools including NYU, Pratt Institute and Rhode Island School of Design.

Students learning After Effects from professional instructor

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Learn After Effects for Animations, Video Post-Production, and Visual Effects

Adobe After Effects
  • Use After Effects, the industry-standard program for motion graphics and animations, to create sophisticated animations and graphics, beyond the scope of a basic editing program.
  • Create title sequences for films.
  • Create sophisticated animated GIFs for emails.
  • Create Motion Graphics or Animations based on any or all of the following: layered Illustrator or Photoshop files, photos, JPG and PNG files, video clips, and/or audio.
  • For social media marketing–motion graphics in a Facebook feed, an animated Snapchat.
Motion Graphics & Animation
  • Motion graphics is the combination of graphic design and movement. It takes cues from character animation, typography, layout, video editing, illustration and sound design. After Effects is the industry-standard software for motion graphics.
  • Animation means to “give life to.” Ordinary still images such as photos, text and illustrations, can be “brought to life” through animation. You can use Premiere for basic animation or After Effects for more complex animations.
Keyframes
  • In digital animation and video editing, a keyframe refers to a marker on a timeline that indicates the beginning or end of a transition.
  • Each keyframe has a value which has to do with specific attributes or properties.
  • You can have keyframes for Position, Scale, Opacity, Rotation, and Effects.
  • To create animation, there needs to be a minimum of 2 keyframes of unequal value on one property or attribute.

After Effects Training Resources