{"id":2166,"date":"2018-02-06T21:51:13","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T21:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx1\/?page_id=2166"},"modified":"2018-02-07T00:50:30","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T00:50:30","slug":"ae-basics-pt1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx1\/topics\/ae-basics-pt1\/","title":{"rendered":"AE basics (pt. 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAE basics pt. 1\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

[ user interface deep dive, some important terminology, casual mention of keyframes ]<\/strong><\/p>\n

After Effects basics pt. 1<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. \n

    User Interface<\/h3>\n
      \n
    1. Panels<\/strong>\n
        \n
      1. Focus indication, Resizing, (x) Close,<\/li>\n
      2. Open “hidden” panels with Window > [panel checkboxes]<\/li>\n
      3. Closing the Project panel will close the current project file<\/li>\n
      4. Menus of Panels – each panel has a menu<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
      5. Tabs of Panels<\/strong> – Moving panels around, combining<\/li>\n
      6. Workspaces<\/strong> – Window > Workspace (or toolbar)\n
          \n
        1. Workspaces are autosaved, can be Reset back to their original state<\/li>\n
        2. Built-in workspaces VS custom workspaces<\/li>\n
        3. Reseting a custom workspace resets it back to when it was created. You can “re-create” a workspace to change this reset state.<\/li>\n
        4. “Standard” is a good built-in workspace to start with<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
        5. Preferences<\/strong>\u00a0– After Effects > Preferences…\n
            \n
          1. General\n
              \n
            1. Beginners should enable Default Spatial Interpolation to Linear<\/strong> (this applies to keyframing which we’ll talk about soon.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
            2. Appearance\n
                \n
              1. Ensure Cycle Mask Colors<\/strong> is enabled<\/li>\n
              2. Adjust Brightness<\/strong> to suit your taste<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
              3. Auto-Save\n
                  \n
                1. Make sure auto-save is turned on!<\/strong> As a project becomes more and more complicated, After Effects WILL probably crash sometimes.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                2. \n

                  Basic Terms<\/h3>\n
                    \n
                  1. PROJECTS<\/strong>\n
                      \n
                    1. After Effects operates on one\u00a0Project at a time. They are stored in files with an .aep<\/strong> extension.<\/li>\n
                    2. An AE Project is like a bag of stuff: Footage Items, Folders, Compositions, and other things. Projects refer<\/strong> to media items, but do not<\/strong> 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<\/em> like Photoshop.)<\/li>\n
                    3. If you delete or move an imported item from disk, AE will complain that it’s Missing<\/strong> and ask where it is.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                    4. PROJECT PANEL<\/strong>\n
                        \n
                      1. The contents of the Project show up in the Project panel.<\/li>\n
                      2. FOOTAGE ITEMS<\/strong>\n
                          \n
                        1. “Footage Item”<\/strong> is a general term for imports, not necessarily actual moving video footage. Anything imported into AE is a Footage Item.<\/strong> (There are also examples of Footage Items can be generated from within AE without importing,<\/em> e.g. Solids Layers <\/strong>or\u00a0Shape Layers.<\/strong>)<\/li>\n
                        2. Import<\/strong> source files several ways:\n
                            \n
                          1. Right-clicking empty space in the Project Panel and selecting Import<\/li>\n
                          2. Double-clicking anywhere empty in the Project Panel<\/li>\n
                          3. From the main menu, choose File > Import > File<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                          4. 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>It’s important to understand the difference between the “Footage Panel” and the “Comp Viewer Panel.”<\/strong><\/li>\n
                          5. AE is “non-destructive”<\/strong> with imported files. Imported files are generally never altered.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                          6. FOLDERS<\/strong>\n
                              \n
                            1. Folders are one way to organize the contents of\u00a0complex projects.<\/li>\n
                            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.<\/li>\n
                            3. Drag and drop icons in the Project Panel into folders to bring order to complex AE projects<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                            4. COMPOSITIONS<\/strong>\n
                                \n
                              1. Compositions (or “Comps”) are where the magic happens. In terms of importance, they are like the sequences\/edits\/timelines of editing programs.<\/li>\n
                              2. A Comp has a fixed\u00a0width, 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.<\/li>\n
                              3. Comp settings can be accessed by right-clicking on the Comp in the Project Panel and selecting “Composition Settings”<\/li>\n
                              4. Double-clicking a Comp in the Project Panel will open\u00a0it. A Comp will open in 2 different panels: The Timeline Panel and the Comp panel. More than one Comp can be opened at once.<\/li>\n
                              5. Comps generally comprise 1 or more Layers.<\/strong>\u00a0They stack on top of each other vertically in the Timeline Panel, and blend together into a composite image in the Comp Viewer panel.<\/li>\n
                              6. LAYERS<\/strong>\n
                                  \n
                                1. Dragging a Footage Item or Comp from the Project Panel into an open Comp will create a new Layer\u00a0for that item. When a Comp is dragged into another Comp, this is called “Nesting,”<\/strong> and the interior Comp is called the “Sub-Comp”<\/strong> or “Nested Comp.”<\/strong>\u00a0The outer comp is sometimes called the “Containing Comp.”<\/strong> No limit to how deep nesting can go.<\/li>\n
                                2. Just like in video editing software, a Layer’s beginning and end can be trimmed.<\/li>\n
                                3. Unlike editing programs, an AE Layer can contain 1 and only 1<\/strong> Footage Item or Sub-Comp.<\/li>\n
                                4. Layers can be other things besides Footage Items and Comps. Cameras, Lights, Nulls, etc.<\/li>\n
                                5. Every Layer has its own set of controls. Important basic ones are:\n
                                    \n
                                  1. Eyeball – show\/hide the layer<\/li>\n
                                  2. Solo – hide all other layers (unless they’re also Solo’d)<\/li>\n
                                  3. Lock – prevent changes<\/li>\n
                                  4. Effects On\/Off – turn all of this layer’s effects on\/off<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                                  5. Source Name vs Layer Name<\/strong> – 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.<\/li>\n
                                  6. PROPERTIES<\/strong> – twirl the triangle thing to see them\n
                                      \n
                                    1. Transform – Anchor Point, Position, Scale, Rotation, Opacity. Y is inverted from typical graph x,y coordinates.<\/li>\n
                                    2. Effects have Properties too<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                                    3. EFFECTS<\/strong>\n
                                        \n
                                      1. Effects<\/strong> are things that can be applied to Layers to modify or process them.<\/li>\n
                                      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.<\/span><\/li>\n
                                      3. Once applied, Effects can be adjusted via the Effect Controls panel.<\/strong> This panel appears once a Layers has effects. It can be forced to appear using the Window menu.<\/li>\n
                                      4. Effects can also be adjusted in the Timeline panel.<\/li>\n
                                      5. Layers can have multiple Effects applied. They stack vertically in the Effects Controls and Timeline panels. They execute in top-to-bottom order.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                                      6. MASKING<\/strong> – a way to take a scissors to the Layers\n
                                          \n
                                        1. Masking can be done with one of several tools in the Tools panel.<\/li>\n
                                        2. There’s a tool for basic shapes like squares, circles, polygons, etc.<\/li>\n
                                        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.<\/li>\n
                                        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\u00a0within a given Layer.<\/li>\n
                                        5. The Mask Feather tool can be used to achieve a highly customized, variable feathering around the edge of the mask<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                                        6. Keyframes<\/strong>\n
                                            \n
                                          1. Most properties can have “Keyframes”<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n
                                          2. The little Stopwatch icon next to a Property toggles whether keyframes are enabled or not. By default, they are off.<\/li>\n
                                          3. Each Keyframe stores a value for the property. For example, for a Rotation<\/strong> property, a keyframe might store the value 30\u00a0degrees.<\/strong> Another keyframe on the same layer might store the value 63 degrees.<\/strong><\/li>\n
                                          4. In between the two keyframes,<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                                          5. Rendering \/ Exporting\n
                                              \n
                                            1. To render the current frame:<\/strong> With a Comp selected or opened, choose “Composition > Save Frame As > File…”<\/strong> from the main menu to create an entry in the Render Queue panel.<\/li>\n
                                            2. To render the whole comp as a video:<\/strong> With a Comp selected or opened, choose “Composition > Add To Render Queue”<\/strong> from the main menu to create an entry in the Render Queue panel.<\/li>\n
                                            3. Adjust the render settings for each render item:\n
                                                \n
                                              1. Render Settings:<\/strong> Basically kind of like “render quality”<\/li>\n
                                              2. Output Module:<\/strong> What file format and compression technique to use<\/li>\n
                                              3. Output To:<\/strong>\u00a0Where to save the file<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                                              4. Click the\u00a0Render button<\/strong> to create your new masterpieces!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                                                \u201cAE basics pt. 1\u201d [ user interface deep dive, some important terminology, casual mention of keyframes ] After Effects basics pt. 1 User Interface Panels Focus indication, Resizing, (x) Close, Open “hidden” panels with Window > [panel checkboxes] Closing the Project panel will close the current project file Menus of Panels – each panel has … <\/p>\n

                                                Continue reading “AE basics (pt. 1)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1278,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2166","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2166"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2177,"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2166\/revisions\/2177"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}