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Adobe After Effects is a powerful application used to create motion graphics and visual effects for film and video. After Effects is used in a variety of contexts, including broadcast graphics, music videos, feature films, video rotoscoping, corporate presentations, and conferences. In this 6-lesson course, you’ll learn how to use After Effects to create sophisticated motion graphics—using text and object animations, compositing videos and images, and adding audio and effects. You’ll learn how to set keyframes on a timeline and work with tranform properties, motion paths, masks, and effects, developing a solid foundation in this increasingly popular and versatile program.

LESSON 1 Intro to After Effects Lesson One begins by familiarizing you with the many facets of the AE interface. After an introductory training to some real-world AE applications, you'll dive right into using the basic features of the program. First you'll learn how to create, copy, and nudge keyframes in order to develop your first composition on a timeline. Then you'll learn the purpose of the five transform properties (Anchor Point, Position, Scale, Rotation, and Opacity) and explore how to work with multiple layers. In the first project, you'll create a motion control move working from a Photoshop file and create an animation working from a layered vector file.

LESSON 2 Motion Paths and Interpolation Lesson Two explores how to customize motion paths in AE to create realistic-looking animations. By delving further into keyframe interpolation, you will learn to use easing and velocity to gain control over motion in your animations. You will also learn how to paste motion paths from Illustrator into AE and zoom in and out of AE windows to get a better view of your intricate keyframing handiwork. In the training exercise, you'll take on a classic animation challenge: animating a bouncing ball using linear and Bezier keyframes and scaling to achieve a convincing-looking action.

LESSON 3 Text Animation After Effects allows you to manipulate text with considerable control and finesse, which explains why it's a favorite for television and film titling. In Lesson Three, you will learn to use AE's text tool along with text animation techniques such as motion blur and AE text effects presets. You will learn to import text from Illustrator and utilize a Photoshop file as a background. For the project, you'll demonstrate your new skills by creating a 15-second preview for three upcoming TV shows.

LESSON 4 Masks and Effects If you're familiar with nonlinear editing, you'll have heard about After Effects' power as a compositing tool. In AE, you can combine video files, stills, and Photoshop and Illustrator art, (and more) into a single animation. Lesson Four shows you how. You'll learn to use layer masks to full advantage, creating custom shapes, and pasting them from Photoshop and Illustrator, while using Alpha Channels to manage transparency. You'll also become familiar with such widely-used effects as stroke, scribble, and smear. In the exercise, you'll get the chance to try out rotoscoping on your own.

LESSON 5 Blending Modes, Time Manipulation, and Painting This lesson will focus on blending modes, time manipulation, and painting. You will learn how to to add original content or remove unwanted elements from your movies and beautify footage shot in less than ideal lighting conditions. You'll explore how to apply toning and blurring to your images or adjust their saturation and luminosity. You will also learn how to speed up and slow down time with time remapping. In the exercise, you'll create a movie in which Sesame Street puppets are seamlessly composited onto an animated background.

LESSON 6 Video, Audio, and Layers After Effects projects can range from very simple to quite complex. In this training lesson you'll be introduced to keyframe assistants and various other palettes and tools that will make your make your projects easier and more efficient. You'll see how AE fits into video production workflow and learn how to organize your files for output. Finally, you'll learn how to utilize sound to support an action and create an original final project that integrates audio into an animation.