Elstree Film Studios - Training Courses - Adobe After Effects
Adobe After Effects allows you to create the type of sophisticated video effects previously only available to television graphic designers and film special FX producers.
This one day introduction is designed to allow those new to video post production techniques to get the most from this immensely powerful software.
The emphasis throughout this introduction is on practical exercises. These exercises will cover incorporating video with Photoshop and Illustrator graphics, video layering techniques, working with key frames, using filters for special effects and rendering your final project. You will also look at different rendering techniques and ways to optimise the finished production. Feel free to tailor the course to your exact needs if you wish.
Adobe After Effects is recognised as the essential tool for motion graphics and visual effects. It offers a fast, flexible, affordable 2D and 3D compositing and animation toolset to help you develop your creative ideas with speed and control, and deliver high-quality results for film, video, multimedia, or the Web.
Duration: 1 day.
Prerequisites: Experience of a graphics program such as Adobe Photoshop would be an advantage, but is not essential.
Location: 21st Century New Media Ltd, Elstree Film Studios, Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, WD6 1JG. [
Click here for a map]
Times: 10.00am to 4.30pm. For security reasons, further details are only provided upon booking.
Software Versions: All of our Adobe courses include lessons generic to CS3, CS4 and CS5 versions of the Adobe suite: whichever version you use is covered in detail. Our Apple training courses utilise Final Cut Studio HD (also known of as version 3 or FCS 2009).
Equipment: Our fully featured training room includes six top-of-the-range iMac computers configured to work in both Macintosh (OSX) and PC (Windows) modes, ensuring you the maximum familiarity with your chosen operating system.
Accommodation: Details of local accomodation can be found
here.
Further assistance: Our
FAQ help page contains the answers to many popular questions. Alternatively please call
0844 844 2428 to arrange to speak to our training manager.
COURSE CONTENT
Introduction
- Setting preferences
- Setting up a project and planning ahead
- Overview of all the windows
- Using the tools in the tool palette
- Working with vector versus bitmap images
Creating Compositions
- Importing and using images from Photoshop (including layers and Alpha channels)
- Importing and interpreting video clips
- Importing external files as compositions
- Understanding keyframes
- Mixing footage from different sources
- Pre-composing; Nesting compositions to create complex animations
- Using The Puppet Tool
- Using Clip Notes
Layers & Masks
- Layer properties
- Working with layers in time and space
- Adjustment layers
- Animating layer properties over time
- Understanding layer masking
- Multiple masks and their parameters
- Mask animations
- Combined masks
- Masks from text
- Animating Masks - Rotoscoping
- Layer Transfer Modes and Track Mattes
- Croma keying (green screens)
- Colour correction
- Time remapping
- 3D compositing - manipulation layers in 3D space, animating lights & cameras
- Parenting - animating layers hierarchically & synchronizing their motion
- Expressions - creating live relationships between layer properties
Animation Presets
- Text
- Backgrounds
- Simulations
- Transitions
Playback
- The RAM playback engine and its parameters
- Previewing your work
- Using markers
- Fine-tuning animations by manually and numerically altering keyframe parameters
- Understanding Rendering Order - how After Effects thinks
- Understanding and applying Filters and Effects
- Using slow motion and variable speed during a clip
- Controlling speed, acceleration and deceleration along a motion path
Output
- Safe zones, frame rates and compression
- Export and output options
- Pixel Aspect Ratio settings
- Rendering the final output (for output to video and for web playback)
- Working with DV/Mini DV/HDV
- Use of Rendering templates and efficient use of RAM
- Organising large projects
- Disk Caching
- Output to Macromedia Flash (SWF) - creating animations for Web sites
- Enhanced masking - drawing masks in the Comp window; adding Motion Blur to masks
File Format Support
- Industry standard formats
Integration
- Photoshop, Illustrator & Adobe Bridge
