After Effects CC for Beginners - The Basics of After Effects

Welcome to video 1 of our After Effects Basics course! In this first video of our eight video series, we're going to be learning many things including:

- What is the purpose of After Effects?

- What are the main differences between After Effects and Premiere Pro?

- How do you work with the After Effects Interface?

- Where is everything located within After Effects

By the end of this video you should have a framework for the purpose of why you would use After Effects and a general road-map for the tools you're going to be learning to use in later videos.  Next up, let's go to video 2 to learn how to create and work with layers in After Effects!

Welcome to video 2 of our After Effects Beginner's course!  In this second video we will be covering the following concepts:

- How do you use layers in After Effects?

- How do layers interact with one another?

- Video, Audio, Solo, and Locking features

- What is precomposing and how do you accomplish it?

- How do you easily navigate within a hierarchy of precomps?  

And for more information on navigating layers and precomps in After Effects, check out this video here:
https://motionarray.com/tutorials/after-effects-tutorials/how-to/how-to-navigate-precomps-in-after-effects

We hope that by the end of this video you feel comfortable with each of these concepts before going on to video 3.  In our next video we're going to check out how to transform properties of your clips inside of After Effects.  See you there!

Welcome to video 3 of our After Effects Beginner's course! In this video we hope to teach you the following:

- How to make basic changes to your clips including position, scale, rotation, opacity, and anchor points.  

- How to change these properties over time as a way to create animations

- Adding keyframes in both linear and bezier formats

- Some basic keyboard shortcuts to help you manipulate your footage more effectively

We hope that you feel comfortable working with your footage by the end of this tutorial.  In our next video we're going to go over masking and adding basic shapes.  I'll see you there!

Welcome to video 4 of our After Effects Beginner's course! In this video we hope to teach you the following:

- Create a basic mask shape

- Change the mask shapes that you can draw and create

- Create free form masks using the pen tool

- Create a basic shape layer by creating a mask while not highlighting footage

- Manipulate how each mask works with the footage that's either on top or beneath it

- Create Track Mattes as a way to control footage opacity

And to take a look at how Rotoscope like we mention in the video, you can learn all about it at this video link here:
https://motionarray.com/tutorials/after-effects-tutorials/how-to/how-to-rotoscope-in-after-effects-the-basics-after-effects-tutorial

We hope that by the end of this video you feel comfortable achieving each of these tasks on your own. In our next video we're going to explore how to create and work with basic text.  

Welcome to video 5 of our After Effects Beginner's course! In this video we hope to teach you the following:

- Add basic text to your project

- Understand the character and paragraph panels to manipulate the characteristics of your text 

- Make basic changes like (but not limited to) size, font, and spacing

- Make your text stand out with some basic styling techniques

We hope that by the end of this video you feel very comfortable working with text inside of After Effects.  In the next video we're going to learn how to add and use effects and plugins.

Welcome to video 6 of our After Effects Beginner's course! In this video we hope to teach you the following:

- Add basic effects to layers

- Use basic effects to add style to your footage

- Use multiple effects in combination to achieve a basic style goal

- Animate effects to change over time using keyframes

We hope that you feel comfortable using effects by the end of this video, and that you're prepared to step into using null objects and parenting techniques in our next video.

Welcome to video 7 of our After Effects Beginner's course! In this video we hope to teach you the following:

- Know what a null object is

- Add a null object to your project

- Parent layers to null objects to be controlled

- Animate a null object with the intention of multiple layers following

- Previewing your footage in After Effects

- Adjusting preview settings to optimize how your playback is presented to you

And to take a look at adding the Wiggle Expression like we mention in the video tutorial, you can find that additional tutorial here at this link: 
https://motionarray.com/tutorials/after-effects-tutorials/how-to/how-to-create-basic-camera-shake-in-after-effects

We hope that by the end of this video you're capable of doing each of these tasks with confidence.  In our next (and final) video we explore how to export your footage and how to use the Adobe Dynamic Link function. 

Welcome to the final video of our After Effects Beginner's course! In this video we hope to teach you how to export your videos in a basic format that will allow it to be played on virtually any computer.  We also take a look at the use of Adobe's Dynamic Link to work on projects seamlessly between After Effects and Premiere Pro.  We hope that you find this last video helpful, and stick around for the big conclusion in our next and truly final video! 

Congratulations!

You've reached the end of our After Effects beginner's course! Congratulations! I hope you feel more equipped to use After Effects to edit and composite your videos! But like with any skill, I would encourage you to not stop here.  The process of learning is one that continues throughout life, regardless of skill level.  If you want to learn more with me for free, check out where I give free tutorials on After Effects, as well as other Adobe products, at https://motionarray.com/tutorials/after-effects-tutorials.  Thank you so much for taking this course with me, and I hope to see you very soon!