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VDCI

After Effects in a Day

via VDCI

Overview

Get familiar with the Adobe After Effects interface, timeline, and layer animation in this focused training course. You'll build the skills to create GIFs, animate logos, and bring in layered files from Illustrator and Photoshop.

Syllabus

Section 1

Intro to After Effects

  • The Project, Composition, & Timeline panels
  • Importing a Layered File with all its Layers Intact
  • Using Title Safety to ensure TV viewers can see the text

Working with Keyframes

  • Animating in the Class Names
  • Previewing in real time
  • Adding Easing
  • Sliding Over the Entire Class List
  • Animating the Icons
  • Animating the “In a Day” Title
  • Adding Motion Blur
  • Trimming Off Extra Time

Outputting to GIF

  • Exporting from After Effects
  • Making the Animated GIF in Photoshop
  • Reducing the Number of Frames

Section 2

Noble Logo Animation: Anchor Points & Animating with Overshoot

  • Converting an Illustrator file from CMYK to RGB
  • Animating the black square to overshoot its final size
  • Changing where the rectangles scale from by moving layer anchor points
  • Setting layer in points using the In column
  • Keeping vector layers sharp as they scale up

Noble Logo: Masking Layers & Parenting

  • Pre-composing layers
  • Hiding the letters before they animate using masks
  • Moving the entire logo away from the rising letters using parenting

Noble Logo: Rotation, Fade-Outs, & Rendering

  • Adding anticipation keyframes before a major animation
  • Animating the Rotation property
  • Adding a fade to white using a solid color layer
  • How to find missing project files

Optional Bonus: Preparing an Illustrator File for Animation

  • Resizing artboards & vector graphics
  • Setting up layers to individually animate elements in After Effects

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