Motion Design & Animation Principles in Adobe After Effects

Learn quick and easy after effects methods to animate scenes, mastering overshoot and bounce for engaging explainer-style visuals, even if you are a beginner.

Learn how to import Illustrator graphics into After Effects, organize layers for animation, and set composition options such as 25 fps and a five-second duration.

Lock non-target layers and solo the animated layers to speed your workflow in After Effects. Create keyframes to scale from 0 to 100% and adjust anchor point for bottom-up motion.

Apply easing to keyframes in After Effects using the graph editor to control velocity, creating smooth ease in and ease out for more dynamic motion.

Learn the overshoot animation principle by creating a bounce beyond the limit and back to 100 percent, using keyframes, the graph editor, and smoothing techniques.

Discover a quick method to add overshoot in after effects using a simple expression, convert to linear key frames, and copy across layers with adjustable frequency, decay, and amplitude.

Learn how to create a bounce in After Effects using keyframes, tune energy and gravity, and compare with a bounce expression to achieve realistic overshoot on a ball.

Master expression-based bounce in After Effects CC by tweaking gravity and energy, copying expressions across layers, and sequencing positions and scales for a wall, door, windows, and canopy animation.

Enable continuously rasterize for vector layers in After Effects to keep vector graphics sharp when scaling, not just zooming, and understand the role of your graphics card.

Enable motion blur on moving layers in After Effects, then switch on composition preview to see the blur, improving realism while noting longer render times.

Review essential after effects cc shortcuts to reveal layer properties such as position, scale, rotation, anchor point, and opacity; use blank space and F2 to select layers and view keyframes.

Explore tips and tricks for using the anchor point to control position, scale, and rotation, creating single-smooth animations that feel like multiple motions and save time.

Practice emotion graphic to master motion graphics by animating provided graphics in After Effects, using the animation exercise to explore layers, anchor points, and expressions.

Use the best method to render After Effects animations by setting a one-second start delay, adjusting the work area, and exporting with H.264 presets in Adobe Media Encoder.

Master the render queue in After Effects CC by configuring best quality render settings, adjusting resolution and work area, and exporting with AVI or QuickTime—including alpha transparency options.

Create a demo motion graphics piece by merging animated compositions with a one second overlap, render with Adobe Media Encoder, and share the link for motion graphics hall of fame.

Organize Illustrator files by fixing fonts, adjusting artboard size to HDTV presets, and converting groups into individual layers for import into After Effects to animate isometric designs.

Learn to use the Adobe CC Library to import only selected assets into After Effects, add items to a library, and reuse them across projects.

Learn how After Effects handles missing footage and the 13 files missing warning, and how to replace missing clips by locating the original files and restoring layers.

Master a quick, easy After Effects CC animation using transitions, overshoot and bounce, building entrances, a moving truck, and distortion; learn a half-hour method to recreate it.

Explore practical tips to speed up animation in After Effects by importing footage, managing layers, and using a free Mr. Horse plugin to streamline keyframes and overshoots.

Set the composition duration to 20 seconds by opening composition settings and adjusting the duration. Extend layers to 20 seconds by dragging or using alt/option plus right bracket to snap.

Use the animation composer plugin to create efficient, beautiful motion graphics with 2D/3D transition presets, anchor points, and motion blur, then fine-tune timing with the transition shifter and markers.

Learn to animate a full scene in after effects cc by hiding buildings to focus on tree animation, then use anchor-point scale, animation composer with position and rotate, and overshoot.

create waves with water layers and a road in After Effects CC by animating keyframes, applying wave effects and presets, and tuning ease and graph timing for time based motion.

Organize layers and sequence the animation by prioritizing water and sky, then road, trees, and buildings for a pleasant transition; use the timeline and quarter resolution for efficient rendering.

Master out transitions by cutting off at the right time, adjusting in and out points, and aligning outputs within the composition; use overshoot, stagger, and animation composer for smooth exits.

Master nesting compositions to build a final animation with city and hot dog rigs, then animate the truck left-to-right, add rough-road up-down motion, and apply distortion.

Animate a hotdog van with random motion and a bouncing ride using after effects expressions. Separate the position axes, apply wiggle to the vertical motion, and loop tire rotation.

Master distortion motion in After Effects by using the puppet pin tool to distort a hot dog stand with anchor pins, then add life with wiggle expressions and subtle rotation.

Explore the anticipation principle by moving a layer up before it descends, and use keyframes and graph adjustments to shape motion for icons and characters.

Master anticipation with squash and stretch in After Effects CC by adjusting the anchor point, keyframes, and scale, and applying easing and graph editing for natural motion graphics.

Explore a more sophisticated squash and stretch by adding anticipation, bulge, and warp distortions to animated icons, with bend linked to vertical distortion through keyframes.

Learn how to build an inverse animation using squash and stretch by animating bend and vertical distortion, set anchor points, apply expressions, and link keyframes for opposite values.

Create a game scene animation by setting up the layout, defining motion paths, applying squash and stretch, and adding swoosh sounds plus gold visual effects.

Learn to create and edit motion paths in After Effects by animating position with keyframes, adjusting handles, and exploring spatial and temporal interpolation.

Set up a 15-second, 25 fps composition, import the game scene, create a pre composition, animate with keyframes, adjust timing with velocity, then add scale and warp effects.

Master squash and stretch in after effects by adjusting warp and distortion, setting keyframes for bend and scale, and copying and pasting keyframes to apply the animation across frames.

Add sound effects to your animation by importing audio, testing it against keyframes, and organizing sfx in a folder; then adjust pitch and duration for real-time alignment with the action.

Learn to enhance animation with visual and landing sound effects in After Effects CC, syncing beeps and glitter decomposition to specific layers for engaging motion graphics.

Master adjusting animation duration in After Effects with time stretch and time remapping to map keyframes to a new playback length, preserving motion graphics timing and audio relationships.

Master distortion and squash and stretch using a powerful, quick method, learn to add sound effects, and craft a story with easy keyframe techniques.

Import footage, set up a composition, and apply the warp effect for squash, stretch, and distortion, using four vertices to shape the cannon.

Master first action animation with anticipation through squash and stretch, keyframes, and tangent control; apply frame-by-frame adjustments, motion blur, and easing to create smooth motion and reset.

Apply the speed graph with F9 to create slow-motion delays and position animation for cannon’s recoil, then duplicate the layer to reuse timing for a ball across four-frame shifts.

Learn to tell a story with keyframes by proportionally scaling timing across layers, adjusting motion paths, and orchestrating a ball's entrance, look, and cannon shot to create a narrative sequence.

Explore how sound effects breathe life into animation using animation composer, importing and timing boom and creek sounds with keyframes, duplicating cues, and applying motion blur to layers.

Explore the follow through and overlap action principle by animating a character with lagging ears, trailing motion, and a final bounce to settle, showcasing practical effects for After Effects.

Explore follow-through animation by establishing a lag and applying overlap action to the ears, mouth, and eyes as the head leads, with a subtle arrival.

Import vector graphics, create a composition, and use a null object as the parent with print and link to group layers; the children follow the parent's transform, except opacity.

In after effects cc, learn to start an animation and create lag by distorting the main body with the slant effect.

Learn to create natural lag for ears and other body parts in After Effects by keyframing, using recompose, and fine-tuning values to keep the ear tip steady during animation.

learn to complete the lag animation in after effects cc by keyframing the mouth and eyes, adjusting slant and floor to create controlled eye and iris motion frame by frame.

Learn to remove stiffness by making a character wave with the wave warp effect in After Effects, adjusting wave type, height, width, direction, speed, pinning, and composition sizing.

Learn to create overlapping action with follow-through for a character using keyframes. Use keyframes for wave height, mouth, and eyes, refine with the graph editor, and speed up rendering.

Create an elastic follow-through animation by bending the guy from left to right with a bouncing end, driven by keyframes on position and timing, and consider adding motion blur.

Learn to animate icons with keyframes, explore staying upright or rotating around each other, and create explainer videos using expressions, links, and motion graphics effects.

Import graphics, create a solid background, blend with opacity, center all layers using the time and action safe grid, and save to prepare for animation.

Learn to animate many icons and layers in After Effects with overshoot and sequencing without plugins, using expressions, duplicating adjustments, and timing overlaps for a polished motion graphics workflow.

Rotate icons around the center while keeping them upright using a null object as the parent. Apply an inverse rotation on each icon to stay upright with the parent's motion.

Create two perfectly centered circles in After Effects using the ellipse tool and shape layer. Adjust stroke, dash settings, gaps, and caps to produce precise dotted lines and centered dots.

Complete the animation by building a balanced, coherent system that avoids keyframes or parenting, using earth rotation and expressions to drive motion, adjust speed and direction.