Course Outline

Lesson 1: Getting to Know the 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
• Optimising performance in After Effects
• Rendering and exporting your composition
• Customizing workspaces
• Controlling the brightness of the user interface
• Finding resources for using After Effects
• Checking for updates

Lesson 2: Creating a Basic Animation Using Effects and Presets

• Importing footage using Adobe Bridge
• Creating the composition
• Working with imported Illustrator layers
• Applying effects to a layer
• Applying an animation preset
• Previewing the effects
• Adding Transparency
• Rendering the composition

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
• Exporting to Adobe Flash Professional

Lesson 4: Working with Shape Layers

• Getting started
• Adding a shape layer
• Creating custom shapes
• Creating stars
• Incorporating video and audio layers
• Applying a Cartoon effect
• Adding a title bar
• Using Brainstorm to experiment

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

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

Lesson 7: Working With Masks

• About masks
• Getting started
• Creating a mask with the Pen tool
• Editing a mask
• Replacing the content of the mask
• Adding a reflection
• Creating a vignette
• Adjusting the color

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

Lesson 9: Using the Roto Brush Tool

• About rotoscoping
• Getting started
• Creating a segmentation boundary
• Fine-tuning the matte
• Creating a transition from the full clip to the foreground
• Creating the logo
• Animating text
• Adding a background image
• Adding audio

Lesson10: 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

Lesson 11: Building 3D Objects

• Getting started
• Building a 3D object
• Working with a null object
• Working with 3D text
• Creating a backdrop for 3D animation
• Nesting a 3D composition
• Adding a camera
• Completing the scene

Lesson 12: Using 3D Features

• Getting started
• Animating 3D objects
• Animating a camera
• Adjusting layer timing
• Using 3D lights
• Adding effects
• Adding motion blur
• Previewing the entire animation

Lesson 13: Advanced Editing Techniques

• Getting started
• Using motion stabilization
• Using single-point motion tracking
• Using multipoint tracking
• Creating a particle simulation
• Retiming playback using the Timewarp effect

Lesson 14: Rendering and Outputting

• Getting started
• Creating templates for output modules
• Exporting to different output media

Our outlines are a guide to the content covered on a typical course. We may change or alter the course topics to meet the objectives of a particular course.