School of Motion Courses

Beyond the Basics of After Effects - Intermediate Skills - Adobe MAX 2020 Presentation

Intermediate After Effects techniques demonstrated through a motion-design workflow, from storyboarding and cross-app preparation to graph-editor keyframes, master properties, and GPU effects.

• YouTube
• 26 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Advanced Shape Layer Techniques in After Effects - With Alex Deaton

Build single-layer shape precomps in After Effects using groups, merge paths, and path expressions to replace cluttered alpha mattes and precomps.

• YouTube
• 23 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

MoGraph Unboxing - After Effects and Cinema 4D Project Files from the Short Film, "Bumble"

Unbox the Bumble short film’s Cinema 4D and After Effects files to uncover advanced motion-design techniques, stylized 3D looks, and hand-animated effects.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 9 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Joystick and Slider Style Workflow in Cinema 4D

Build Cinema 4D joystick and slider controls for interpolating facial poses and animating eyebrow and mouth shapes.

• YouTube
• 40 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

How to Use Spring Objects and Dynamic Controllers in Cinema 4D

Build a dynamic bobblehead rig in Cinema 4D using connectors, spring objects, collision tags, and controllers to create springy character movement.

• YouTube
• 45 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Working with Artboards in Photoshop and Illustrator

Use multiple artboards in Illustrator and Photoshop to organize animation frames and export them from a single document.

• YouTube
• 35 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Using Symbols in Adobe Animate

Use Adobe Animate symbols, looping, and frame picking to reuse artwork, build a head rig, and streamline traditional animation cleanup.

• YouTube
• 31 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Creatively Using Text Animators in After Effects

Explore After Effects text animators as procedural effectors for vector shapes, creating tapered strokes, path arrows, abstract dot patterns, and rotating 3D designs.

• YouTube
• 31 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Adobe Illustrator Tips for Motion Designers

Build motion-ready vector artwork in Illustrator using flexible paths, layers, masks, shading, and halftones.

• YouTube
• 51 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Working With Cameras in After Effects

Learn to use one- and two-node cameras, depth of field, and camera movement in Adobe After Effects for motion graphics.

• YouTube
• 23 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Creating Multi-Screen Projects in After Effects

Learn to set up After Effects projects for synchronized multi-screen motion graphics, including unusual screen shapes, varying resolutions, previews, and delivery files.

• YouTube
• 26 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Making Giants - The Details

Refine a Cinema 4D scene with added environmental details, improved composition, lighting, depth of field, and render settings.

• YouTube
• 41 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Making Giants - Compositing

Learn to composite multipass 3D renders in Nuke by balancing render passes, color, contrast, masks, and reference imagery.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 11 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Making Giants - Sound Design

Build a short film’s emotional impact through sound design, voiceover, music, effects, and a final mix in Premiere Pro.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 8 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Making Giants - Compositing

Finish a Giants scene in After Effects by matching a camera move and animating floating particles to heighten a flower transformation.

• YouTube
• 1 hour
• Self-Paced
• Free Video