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.

Price: £195.

Location: 21st Century Studios, St Albans, Hertfordshire. For security reasons, further details are only provided upon booking.

Times: 10.00am to 4.30pm.

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.

Further assistance: Our FAQ page contains the answers to many common questions. Alternatively please call 07543 403616 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

Forthcoming Courses…

Schedule your own training course

Please tell us where and when YOU would like to attend this course.
If we are able to schedule the course, we will contact you.