Hey guys! Ready to dive into the awesome world of motion graphics and visual effects? This comprehensive After Effects course in English is designed to take you from beginner to pro, no matter your current skill level. We'll cover everything you need to know to create stunning animations, dynamic text effects, and mind-blowing visual masterpieces. So, buckle up and let's get started!

Why Learn After Effects?

After Effects is the industry-standard software for motion graphics, visual effects, and compositing. Whether you're a video editor, graphic designer, web developer, or just a creative enthusiast, knowing After Effects can seriously boost your skills and open up a world of possibilities. Imagine creating captivating intros for your YouTube channel, designing eye-catching animated ads, or adding professional-grade visual effects to your films. The possibilities are endless!

What You'll Learn

This full course covers a wide range of topics, including:

• Interface and Workflow: Getting comfortable with the After Effects interface and learning how to navigate efficiently.
• Basic Animation Techniques: Mastering keyframes, easing, and motion paths to bring your ideas to life.
• Text Animation: Creating dynamic and engaging text effects to grab your audience's attention.
• Shape Layers and Masks: Using shape layers and masks to create complex graphics and animations.
• Visual Effects: Adding special effects like glows, shadows, and distortions to enhance your visuals.
• Compositing: Combining different elements together to create seamless and realistic scenes.
• Tracking and Stabilization: Stabilizing shaky footage and tracking motion to add elements that follow along.
• Expressions: Using expressions to automate tasks and create more complex animations.
• Rendering and Exporting: Optimizing your projects for different platforms and delivering high-quality videos.

Who This Course Is For

• Beginners who want to learn After Effects from scratch.
• Video editors who want to add motion graphics and visual effects to their projects.
• Graphic designers who want to create animated designs for web and social media.
• Web developers who want to create engaging animations for their websites.
• Anyone who wants to unleash their creativity and create stunning visual content.

Getting Started with After Effects

Before we jump into the nitty-gritty, let's talk about the basics. After Effects can seem intimidating at first, but don't worry, we'll break it down step by step.

Understanding the Interface

The After Effects interface is divided into several panels, each serving a specific purpose. Here's a quick overview:

• Project Panel: This is where you import and organize your footage, images, and other assets. Think of it as your media library for each project.
• Composition Panel: This is where you preview and work on your compositions. It's like the stage where your animations come to life.
• Timeline Panel: This is where you control the timing and properties of your layers. It's the heart of your animation workflow.
• Effects & Presets Panel: This is where you find and apply various effects to your layers. It's like a toolbox full of creative possibilities.
• Tools Panel: This is where you select different tools for creating and manipulating layers, such as the selection tool, pen tool, and text tool.

Familiarizing yourself with these panels is the first step to mastering After Effects. Take some time to explore the interface and get a feel for where everything is located.

Creating Your First Composition

A composition is the foundation of every After Effects project. It's where you bring together your footage, images, and other elements to create your animation.

To create a new composition, go to Composition > New Composition. This will open the Composition Settings dialog box, where you can specify the dimensions, frame rate, and duration of your composition.

• Composition Name: Give your composition a descriptive name, such as "Intro Animation" or "Text Reveal."
• Preset: Choose a preset that matches your desired output format, such as HD 1080p or 4K UHD.
• Width and Height: Specify the dimensions of your composition in pixels. For HD 1080p, the dimensions are 1920x1080.
• Frame Rate: Choose a frame rate that matches your footage or desired animation style. Common frame rates include 24fps, 25fps, and 30fps.
• Duration: Specify the duration of your composition in seconds and frames. For example, 10 seconds would be 10:00.
• Background Color: Choose a background color for your composition. You can change this later if needed.

Once you've configured your composition settings, click OK to create your new composition. You'll now see an empty composition in the Composition Panel, ready for you to add your elements.

Importing Footage and Images

Now that you have a composition, it's time to import your footage and images. You can do this by going to File > Import > File or by simply dragging and dropping files from your computer into the Project Panel.

After Effects supports a wide range of file formats, including:

• Video: MP4, MOV, AVI, WMV
• Images: JPG, PNG, PSD, TIFF
• Audio: MP3, WAV, AIFF

Once you've imported your files, you can drag them from the Project Panel into the Timeline Panel to add them to your composition. Each file will become a separate layer in your timeline.

Basic Animation Techniques: Keyframes and Properties

Animation in After Effects revolves around keyframes. Keyframes mark specific points in time where you define the properties of a layer, such as its position, scale, rotation, and opacity. After Effects then interpolates between these keyframes to create the animation.

To add a keyframe, select a layer in the Timeline Panel and click the stopwatch icon next to the property you want to animate. This will create an initial keyframe at the current time.

Move the playhead to a different point in time and adjust the property again. This will create a second keyframe. After Effects will automatically create the animation between these two keyframes.

• Position: Controls the X and Y coordinates of a layer.
• Scale: Controls the size of a layer.
• Rotation: Controls the angle of a layer.
• Opacity: Controls the visibility of a layer.

Experiment with different properties and keyframes to create basic animations. For example, you can animate the position of a layer to make it move across the screen, or animate the scale of a layer to make it zoom in or out.

Easing: Making Your Animations Smooth

By default, After Effects creates linear animations, which means the motion is constant between keyframes. This can look robotic and unnatural. To make your animations smoother and more appealing, you can use easing.

Easing adds acceleration and deceleration to your animations, making them look more organic and fluid. After Effects offers several easing options, including:

• Easy Ease: Adds a moderate amount of easing to both the beginning and end of the animation.
• Easy Ease In: Adds easing to the end of the animation, making it slow down as it approaches the final keyframe.
• Easy Ease Out: Adds easing to the beginning of the animation, making it speed up as it leaves the initial keyframe.

To apply easing to a keyframe, select the keyframe in the Timeline Panel, right-click, and choose Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease, Easy Ease In, or Easy Ease Out.

You can also use the Graph Editor to fine-tune the easing curves and create custom animation profiles. The Graph Editor allows you to visualize and manipulate the speed and timing of your animations with precision.

Mastering Text Animation

Text animation is a powerful way to create engaging and informative content. After Effects offers a wide range of tools and techniques for animating text, from simple reveals to complex kinetic typography.

Creating Text Layers

To create a text layer, select the Type Tool (T) from the Tools Panel and click anywhere in the Composition Panel. This will create a new text layer in the Timeline Panel, and you can start typing your text.

You can customize the appearance of your text using the Character Panel, which allows you to change the font, size, color, and other properties. After Effects supports a wide range of fonts, including both system fonts and Adobe Fonts.

Animating Text Properties

Like other layers, text layers have animatable properties such as position, scale, rotation, and opacity. You can animate these properties to create basic text animations.

However, After Effects also offers special text animators that allow you to animate individual characters, words, or lines of text. These animators provide a more granular level of control over your text animations.

To add a text animator, select the text layer in the Timeline Panel, click the Animate menu, and choose the animator you want to use. Some popular text animators include:

• Position: Animates the position of individual characters, words, or lines.
• Scale: Animates the scale of individual characters, words, or lines.
• Rotation: Animates the rotation of individual characters, words, or lines.
• Opacity: Animates the opacity of individual characters, words, or lines.
• Skew: Distorts the shape of individual characters, words, or lines.

Each text animator has its own set of properties that you can animate using keyframes. Experiment with different animators and properties to create unique and eye-catching text animations.

Using Text Presets

After Effects comes with a library of pre-built text animation presets that you can use to quickly create professional-looking text effects. These presets can save you time and effort, and they can also serve as a starting point for creating your own custom animations.

To apply a text preset, select the text layer in the Timeline Panel, go to the Effects & Presets Panel, and search for "text animation." You'll find a variety of presets organized into categories such as "Blurs," "Fades," and "Typewriters."

Double-click a preset to apply it to your text layer. You can then customize the preset by adjusting the keyframes and properties in the Timeline Panel.

Working with Shape Layers and Masks

Shape layers and masks are essential tools for creating complex graphics and animations in After Effects. Shape layers allow you to create vector-based shapes, while masks allow you to reveal or hide portions of a layer.

Creating Shape Layers

To create a shape layer, select the Pen Tool (G) or one of the shape tools (Rectangle Tool, Ellipse Tool, etc.) from the Tools Panel. Then, click and drag in the Composition Panel to draw your shape.

After Effects will automatically create a new shape layer in the Timeline Panel. You can customize the appearance of your shape using the Shape Layer properties, such as fill color, stroke color, and stroke width.

Shape layers are vector-based, which means they can be scaled and transformed without losing quality. This makes them ideal for creating logos, icons, and other graphics that need to be resized frequently.

Using Masks

A mask is a path that defines which portions of a layer are visible and which are hidden. You can use masks to create interesting visual effects, such as revealing a portion of an image or isolating a specific area of a video.

To create a mask, select a layer in the Timeline Panel and then use the Pen Tool (G) or one of the shape tools to draw a path around the area you want to reveal or hide.

After Effects will automatically create a mask on the selected layer. You can adjust the position, shape, and size of the mask using the Mask Path property in the Timeline Panel.

• Add: Reveals the area inside the mask and hides the area outside the mask.
• Subtract: Hides the area inside the mask and reveals the area outside the mask.
• Intersect: Reveals only the area where the mask overlaps with the layer.
• Difference: Reveals the area where the mask does not overlap with the layer.

Animating Shape Layers and Masks

You can animate the properties of shape layers and masks to create dynamic and engaging animations. For example, you can animate the Mask Path property to make a mask change shape over time, or you can animate the position of a shape layer to make it move across the screen.

Experiment with different animation techniques to create unique and visually appealing animations using shape layers and masks.

Conclusion

Alright, folks! You've made it through the basics of After Effects. Remember, practice makes perfect. The more you experiment and play around with the software, the better you'll become. Don't be afraid to try new things and push your creative boundaries. With dedication and practice, you'll be creating stunning motion graphics and visual effects in no time! Keep creating!