Adobe After Effects Essentials VFX Training Course

Explore the After Effects interface from the home screen to the project panel, composition panel, timeline, and workspaces. Learn to open or create projects, manage panels, and use basic tools.

Create and customize compositions in After Effects by selecting presets, setting frame rate and resolution. Adjust duration and background color, manage multiple compositions, including parent and child relationships.

Navigate the After Effects timeline with precision by scrubbing the play head, previewing with the space bar, jumping via timecode, and navigating keyframes with P, J, and K.

Explore frame rates in After Effects and see how 12, 30, and 60 fps affect motion; higher fps yields smoother animation, while below 24 fps appears choppy or stop-motion.

Master zooming and navigating the composition panel and timeline in After Effects, using middle mouse scroll, fit to screen, and 100% view, then pan with spacebar and the hand tool.

Import video files into After Effects using the file menu, Ctrl+I, or double click; set exact 1920x1080, 25fps composition and organize footage and comps in the project panel.

Discover how to import Photoshop files into After Effects, choosing between footage and composition and preserving layer sizes. Reimport to set correct anchor and rotation points for all layers.

Learn to create video-like compositions from image sequences in After Effects by importing a JPEG sequence, dragging it to a composition, and adjusting playback speed with the stretch factor.

Use rulers, grids, and guides in the After Effects composition viewer to align elements with proportional and golden grids, and snap to guides within action safe and text safe frames.

Master layer stacking and duration in after effects by manipulating the top-to-bottom order, trimming with alt bracket, and using lock, mute, hide, and shy layers to manage complex compositions.

Explore the different layer types in After Effects—text, solid, light, camera, null, shapes, and adjustment layers—and their shared transform properties. See how duration and basic 3D interactions shape the composition.

Master masking in After Effects by using the pen tool to cut windows, invert masks, and refine edges with feather and expansion, then apply opacity and freeze frame.

Master track matte techniques in Adobe After Effects, using alpha matte and alpha inverted matte to reveal one layer through another for dynamic motion graphics and logo reveals.

Explore shape layers in Adobe After Effects, the vector backbone for motion graphics, with path, fill, stroke, and group-based transforms; learn parametric and bezier paths, vertex handles, and masking.

Animate a shape layer's position in a 1080p 24fps composition by using the transform and position properties, keyframes, and work area to control duration and motion.

Discover how the anchor point governs rotation and scale, and use the pan behind tool to center it, or Ctrl + double-click to center a layer.

Explore the layer scale property in After Effects, use the chain link to connect horizontal and vertical scales, animate from 0 to 100% and back, and adjust the anchor point.

Learn to animate layer opacity in After Effects by keyframing from 0 to 100, holding, then fading to 0, with timing controlled by dragging keyframes and applying ease for smoothness.

Master the layer scale property in After Effects by linking horizontal and vertical scale, adjusting the anchor point, and animating from 0 to 100% with keyframes.

Learn how to parent layers in After Effects to rotate multiple shapes around a shared anchor point, using pick whip and easy ease for smooth keyframe motion.

Explore the After Effects type tool by creating a new composition, configuring character and paragraph panels, and formatting text with font, color, stroke, kerning, tracking, and alignment.

Learn to animate text in After Effects by using text layers, animators, and range selectors to reveal characters one by one with opacity and timing.

Color grade and color correct video with Lumetri Color, adjusting midtones, vibrance, and hue for natural skin tones, then add vignette, glow, and snowfall for a cohesive final look.

Apply linear color key, color range, and key light to remove green chroma, refine the alpha channel for a clean subject, suppress spill, and composite with a background and shadow.

Learn to composite a muzzle flash by extracting gunfire from a green screen, timing it in a comp, and applying alpha channel via shift channel and color correction.

Learn to replace a laptop screen by placing a beach video with corner pin perspective, masks, and pre-composition, then color grade with exposure, gamma correction, and hue and saturation.

Package your After Effects project by using collect files to gather all external assets into a single folder, ensuring the final video exports without missing footage on another PC.

Render the project via the internal render queue to produce a video, noting file sizes and limited formats; choose best quality, full resolution, and H.264 output.

Explore how to export from After Effects using Adobe Media Encoder, selecting formats, presets, and output location, and monitor render progress to obtain the final composited video.