How to do that one thing in After Effects

Welcome to this course where we’ll explore how do I do that with After Effects? This class is designed for those of you that have a basic familiarity with After Effects but want to learn how to get things done. It’s particularly well-suited for those of you who occasionally need After Effects like video editors or graphic designers. We’re going to focus on core tasks as well as some really advanced techniques, but break them down so they’re easy to learn. Most of the lessons in this class are designed to be self-contained. We will start the class off with a quick primer on importing footage, setting up a project and exporting, but after that most of the lessons are independent or build upon each other in just a small amount. This is going to allow you to navigate through the course and choose the topics that are of most interest to you. So, what exactly are you going to learn? We’ll start by giving you the essentials of setting up a project and bringing in your assets. Then we’ll move on to fixing common problems with footage. This’ll include the ability to remove shake, flicker, as well as deal with exposure issues, color correction. We’ll then move on to timing of shots so that they fit your needs. This can include slowing down or speeding up a shot, or even doing a variable speed effect. We’ll then take a look at working with photographs, how to import them, what file formats work, as well as how to work with things like 3D photos and the ability to actually bring in a time-lapse sequence. Then we’ll explore the essentials of working with text, adding text using After Effects, animating it, as well as bringing in text from a Photoshop file. Finally, we’ll take a look at some essential compositing skills. These include the ability to use green screen as well as to rotoscope or track an object so you can add elements into the scene. This course is designed for those of you that need to get things done quickly. As such, we’re going to focus on the core techniques with not a lot of backstory or side information. It’s really designed to be just what you need to get the job done. My name’s Rich Harrington. I’ve been using After Effects for many years, pretty much since the beginning, and I also work as a video editor. I’m going to share with you things that are useful so that you can get results from After Effects and add it to your toolbox so that you’re much happier with the end result from your productions.