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In After Effects CS4 Essential Training, Chad Perkins teaches fundamental motion graphics design techniques from the ground up. He shows how to gather video, audio, and graphical source materials into layered compositions, make edits and adjustments, then bring it all to life with a powerful array of visual effects and animation techniques. These skills are demonstrated in a series of increasingly intricate projects, from creating a galaxy to building a fantasy battle scene. Chad also demonstrates workflows for keying and compositing, shows how to integrate with other applications, shares useful tips and secrets, and much more. Exercise files accompany the course.

Course After Effects CS4 Essential Training Author Chad Perkins SKU ISBN Release Date 2008-10-13 Duration 8.39 hrs / 136 tutorials Work files Yes Price $ 39.95 Retail price $ 69.95 Language Tags After Effects, CS4, Essential Training Required software Adobe After Effects CS4

2. Creating a Simple Project Overview of the After Effects workflow 03:46 Setting up a project 03:15 Creating graphic elements from shape presets 03:16 Creating animated text 04:22 Animating a star 02:48 Adding effects 06:24 3. Project and Importing Essentials Understanding the interface 05:01 Saving the interface layout 02:45 Understanding how After Effects projects work 03:36 Importing files 02:58 Browsing and importing with Bridge 04:49 Importing images with transparency 03:06 Using image sequences instead of video 03:38 Organizing and searching in the Project panel 03:06 4. Using Compositions and Layers What is a composition? 03:30 Adding imported items to compositions 02:47 Understanding how layers work 03:16 Managing multiple layers 05:42 Blending layers together 02:54 Aligning and distributing multiple objects 02:49 Using layer and comp markers 03:59 Creating layers from scratch in After Effects 03:57 5. Creating Animation Animating properties 06:54 Animating the wizard's face with Position 08:18 Previewing animations and portions thereof 03:32 Adjusting the anchor point of the knight's arm 03:24 Rotating the knight's arm 04:11 Adjusting animations by moving keyframes 02:01 Duplicating motions by copying keyframes 02:23 Using the Puppet tool to animate the dragon 06:01 Animating magical attacks with Scale 03:53 Creating pauses in animation 04:49 My favorite animation-related shortcuts 02:08 6. Understanding and Editing Video Understanding timecode 01:29 Learning important video concepts 04:41 Trimming or editing layers 03:56 Trimming video before adding it to a comp 02:40 Replacing edited footage 02:01 Applying video transitions between clips 03:01 Splitting layers of B-roll footage 02:17 Slowing down and speeding up video 05:46 7. The Power of Effects A showcase of effects 00:58 Applying effects 03:38 Using Glow 04:33 Creating infinite patterns and textures 06:35 Creating the dragon's fire 05:03 About the included Cycore effects collection 01:50 Using blur effects 06:23 Creating a galaxy scene from scratch 07:47 Distorting objects with effects 04:07 Creating waving wizard hair 01:36 Blowing stuff up with effects 06:15 Creating motion graphics elements from scratch 04:32 Creating and using lens flares 02:39 Creating the wizard's lightning bolts 04:17 Viewing random variations with Brainstorm 04:43 Getting help with effects 01:34 8. Color-Correcting Footage Brightening dark footage 03:48 Changing colors in footage 03:54 Colorizing black-and-white objects 05:31 9. Creating and Animating Text Creating text 03:41 Formatting text 03:38 Applying text animation presets 04:38 Animating text manually 03:56 Animating text in 3D 02:36 Applying layer styles to text 03:35 10. Creating Animated Digital Paint Using the paint tools 11:23 Animating paint strokes 03:48 Animating growing vines 10:42 11. Creating Animated Digital Drawings Creating shapes with shape layers 03:00 Modifying shape layers 04:26

Combining shapes 02:10 Creating multiple shapes instantly 08:12 Browsing shape variations with Brainstorm 03:49 12. Motion Paths Understanding spatial interpolation 01:35 Creating and adjusting motion paths 03:12 Orienting moving objects along a path 01:59 Drawing motion and timing with Motion Sketch 01:44 Pasting motion paths from Illustrator 02:17 13. Intermediate Animation About temporal interpolation 01:41 Easing keyframes 06:10 Randomizing keyframes with the Wiggler 02:47 Smoothing motion with the Smoother 02:37 Linking objects with parenting 05:28 Linking objects with expressions 03:54 Fine-tuning animation in the Graph Editor 03:19 14. Concealing with Masks and Keying Masking out portions of objects with masks 05:54 Masking objects with other objects 03:53 Masking colors with keying 04:38 15. Compositing 101 Understanding the basics of compositing 01:10 Removing the green screen background 04:30 Importing and combining the elements 03:58 Fine-tuning the composite 05:47 16. Stabilizing and Tracking Motion Stabilizing shaky footage 05:47 Tracking the motion in footage 04:30 Connecting a fireball to the tracked object 03:04 17. Working in 3D Turning 2D layers into 3D layers 03:33 Positioning layers in 3D space 04:28 Creating lights and cameras 05:28 Creating shadows 04:18 18. Using Audio The significance of audio 01:18 Using audio in After Effects 02:38 Creating audio markers 01:44 Previewing and mixing audio 02:49 Enhancing audio tracks with effects 05:17 19. Linking Audio Volume to Animation Properties Setting up the project 01:47 Creating keyframes from audio amplitude 02:03 Linking to keyframes with expressions 02:16 Modifying the expressions 04:54 20. Precomposing and Nesting Compositions When do you precompose layers? 02:42 Creating compositions from existing layers 03:46 Navigating through compositions quickly 02:32 21. Integrating with Other Adobe Applications Using After Effects and Photoshop 06:53 Using After Effects and Illustrator 02:35 Using After Effects and Flash 03:02 Using After Effects and Premiere Pro 04:08 22. Exporting to Video and Media Sending video for review with Clip Notes 06:43 Rendering high-quality video 07:22 Rendering compressed video 03:48 Outputting with an alpha channel 03:50 Rendering video for DVD and other media 03:04 Creating video for mobile phones and devices 03:30 Rendering multiple videos at once 02:01 Rendering with the Adobe Media Encoder 01:56 23. Bringing It All Together Overview of the final project 01:06 Adjusting color 07:24 Adding motion graphics 06:42 Adding a lower third 07:26 Adjusting text animation presets 04:30 24. Conclusion Goodbye 00:10