AE basics (pt. 1)

“AE basics pt. 1”

[ user interface deep dive, some important terminology, casual mention of keyframes ]

After Effects basics pt. 1

  1. User Interface

    1. Panels
      1. Focus indication, Resizing, (x) Close,
      2. Open “hidden” panels with Window > [panel checkboxes]
      3. Closing the Project panel will close the current project file
      4. Menus of Panels – each panel has a menu
    2. Tabs of Panels – Moving panels around, combining
    3. Workspaces – Window > Workspace (or toolbar)
      1. Workspaces are autosaved, can be Reset back to their original state
      2. Built-in workspaces VS custom workspaces
      3. Reseting a custom workspace resets it back to when it was created. You can “re-create” a workspace to change this reset state.
      4. “Standard” is a good built-in workspace to start with
    4. Preferences – After Effects > Preferences…
      1. General
        1. Beginners should enable Default Spatial Interpolation to Linear (this applies to keyframing which we’ll talk about soon.)
      2. Appearance
        1. Ensure Cycle Mask Colors is enabled
        2. Adjust Brightness to suit your taste
      3. Auto-Save
        1. Make sure auto-save is turned on! As a project becomes more and more complicated, After Effects WILL probably crash sometimes.

  2. Basic Terms

    1. PROJECTS
      1. After Effects operates on one Project at a time. They are stored in files with an .aep extension.
      2. An AE Project is like a bag of stuff: Footage Items, Folders, Compositions, and other things. Projects refer to media items, but do not contain copies of them. This means that project files tend to remain small in size even if your media is huge (much like Premiere or FCP, but not like Photoshop.)
      3. If you delete or move an imported item from disk, AE will complain that it’s Missing and ask where it is.
    2. PROJECT PANEL
      1. The contents of the Project show up in the Project panel.
      2. FOOTAGE ITEMS
        1. “Footage Item” is a general term for imports, not necessarily actual moving video footage. Anything imported into AE is a Footage Item. (There are also examples of Footage Items can be generated from within AE without importing, e.g. Solids Layers or Shape Layers.)
        2. Import source files several ways:
          1. Right-clicking empty space in the Project Panel and selecting Import
          2. Double-clicking anywhere empty in the Project Panel
          3. From the main menu, choose File > Import > File
        3. Footage Items can be opened for viewing by double-clicking on them in the Project Panel. They will open in a special panel called the Footage Panel.  It’s important to understand the difference between the “Footage Panel” and the “Comp Viewer Panel.”
        4. AE is “non-destructive” with imported files. Imported files are generally never altered.
      3. FOLDERS
        1. Folders are one way to organize the contents of complex projects.
        2. Create a new folder in the Project Panel using Right-Click, or File > New > Folder, or using the New Folder button at the bottom of the Project Panel.
        3. Drag and drop icons in the Project Panel into folders to bring order to complex AE projects
      4. COMPOSITIONS
        1. Compositions (or “Comps”) are where the magic happens. In terms of importance, they are like the sequences/edits/timelines of editing programs.
        2. A Comp has a fixed width, height, duration, and framerate. They can be created several ways. Right-clicking the Project Panel, clicking the New Comp button, and dragging a Footage Item onto the New Comp button.
        3. Comp settings can be accessed by right-clicking on the Comp in the Project Panel and selecting “Composition Settings”
        4. Double-clicking a Comp in the Project Panel will open it. A Comp will open in 2 different panels: The Timeline Panel and the Comp panel. More than one Comp can be opened at once.
        5. Comps generally comprise 1 or more Layers. They stack on top of each other vertically in the Timeline Panel, and blend together into a composite image in the Comp Viewer panel.
        6. LAYERS
          1. Dragging a Footage Item or Comp from the Project Panel into an open Comp will create a new Layer for that item. When a Comp is dragged into another Comp, this is called “Nesting,” and the interior Comp is called the “Sub-Comp” or “Nested Comp.” The outer comp is sometimes called the “Containing Comp.” No limit to how deep nesting can go.
          2. Just like in video editing software, a Layer’s beginning and end can be trimmed.
          3. Unlike editing programs, an AE Layer can contain 1 and only 1 Footage Item or Sub-Comp.
          4. Layers can be other things besides Footage Items and Comps. Cameras, Lights, Nulls, etc.
          5. Every Layer has its own set of controls. Important basic ones are:
            1. Eyeball – show/hide the layer
            2. Solo – hide all other layers (unless they’re also Solo’d)
            3. Lock – prevent changes
            4. Effects On/Off – turn all of this layer’s effects on/off
          6. Source Name vs Layer Name – column label toggle – every layer has an optional Layer Name. As soon as you name a layer, the Timeline Panel will switch to Layer Name mode.
          7. PROPERTIES – twirl the triangle thing to see them
            1. Transform – Anchor Point, Position, Scale, Rotation, Opacity. Y is inverted from typical graph x,y coordinates.
            2. Effects have Properties too
          8. EFFECTS
            1. Effects are things that can be applied to Layers to modify or process them.
            2. Effects can be applied several ways: Right-clicking a Layer, selecting a Layer and using the Effects menu at the top of the screen, or via the “Effect & Preset” panel.
            3. Once applied, Effects can be adjusted via the Effect Controls panel. This panel appears once a Layers has effects. It can be forced to appear using the Window menu.
            4. Effects can also be adjusted in the Timeline panel.
            5. Layers can have multiple Effects applied. They stack vertically in the Effects Controls and Timeline panels. They execute in top-to-bottom order.
          9. MASKING – a way to take a scissors to the Layers
            1. Masking can be done with one of several tools in the Tools panel.
            2. There’s a tool for basic shapes like squares, circles, polygons, etc.
            3. There’s a tool for arbitrary shapes that you can draw point by point. This tool can create shapes with “sharp” points or rounded points via the “RotoBezier” toggle off/on, respectively.
            4. A Layer can have multiple masks. Each successive Mask can act on the previous Mask result as an addition, subtraction, intersection, etc. This can be set in the Mask properties within a given Layer.
            5. The Mask Feather tool can be used to achieve a highly customized, variable feathering around the edge of the mask
      5. Keyframes
        1. Most properties can have “Keyframes” enabled. This means they can change over time. For example, the Scale property might change from small to big to make a layer appear to grow.
        2. The little Stopwatch icon next to a Property toggles whether keyframes are enabled or not. By default, they are off.
        3. Each Keyframe stores a value for the property. For example, for a Rotation property, a keyframe might store the value 30 degrees. Another keyframe on the same layer might store the value 63 degrees.
        4. In between the two keyframes, AE will adjust the layer’s rotation at each frame along the way so that it flows from one value to the other. This basically animates the layer’s rotation.
      6. Rendering / Exporting
        1. To render the current frame: With a Comp selected or opened, choose “Composition > Save Frame As > File…” from the main menu to create an entry in the Render Queue panel.
        2. To render the whole comp as a video: With a Comp selected or opened, choose “Composition > Add To Render Queue” from the main menu to create an entry in the Render Queue panel.
        3. Adjust the render settings for each render item:
          1. Render Settings: Basically kind of like “render quality”
          2. Output Module: What file format and compression technique to use
          3. Output To: Where to save the file
        4. Click the Render button to create your new masterpieces!