(upbeat music)
- Hello, and welcome to the 18th video
in this beginner's guide to Adobe After Effects.
In this tutorial, we're going to take a look
at effects and presents in After Effects.
Now, over the past few episodes, we have been looking
at how to animate manually from scratch,
create shapes, paths, and animate media we have brought in
from other programs.
Now, After Effects comes pre-installed with
a whole range of effects and presets
you can use to add a variety of dynamic effects
to your sequences at the click of a button.
In this video, I will be introducing you
to one of the mostly panels in After Effects,
the effects and presets panel,
where I will be showcasing a number of simple and easy
effects and presets you can use in your video sequences.
So, in this video, we'll be covering the following topics,
the effects and presets panel,
effect controls, and applying and managing effects.
After this video, you will get a better understanding
of how effects and presets work
so you'll feel more comfortable using them moving forward.
So, let's get into it.
So, here I am in After Effects,
and I have a project open here that I'm going to use
to demonstrate how effects and presets work.
Now, up until this point on the course,
we've been paying a lot of attention
to the timeline panel below,
the project panel over on the left,
and the composition panel in the center.
Now, I want to draw your attention to the panels
over on the right hand side of the interface.
What we want to look at in this video
is the effects and presets panel.
Now, this panel can be found on the right,
clustered with the other panels.
Now, if I click this once, it will drop down
and we can see a lot of categories here.
Now, if I accidentally double-clicked a panel,
in this instance, it will take up the whole screen.
You can avoid this by clicking once on the panel.
If this happens, you can simply double-click again
and the panel will collapse.
Now, on earlier versions of After Effects,
this may not happen, and to access your
effects and presets panel, you might have to click
and drag down to reveal the contents inside.
Now, if you cannot see the effects and presets panel
for whatever reason, come up to window, scroll down,
and make sure effects and presets is ticked.
So, if we look closely, in this panel, we can see
there is a lot of effects and presets that
After Effects comes installed with.
As After Effects has evolved over the years,
more and more effects and presets have been added.
So, what we can do here is toggle down some
of these categories, and as we do so,
we can see that there is a huge amount to choose from.
So, at this point, it may help to start
with what effects and presets are.
Now, in After Effects, there are a lot of
individual effects that can be applied to your layers,
and these can be found in this panel here.
In After Effects, it is possible to add
more than one effect to a layer.
We can actually apply multiple individual effects
to build and create a particular, unique,
and interesting overall effect.
There is no limit to how many you can apply.
Now, some of these have been carefully curated
and put together here in the panel.
These are called presets.
A preset is when two or more effects have been combined
to create an overall effect.
Now, these can help you do all sorts of things
in After Effects, from adding color effects
to your video footage, creating animated transitions,
keying yourself out from green screen, animating text,
to adding interesting animated textures.
So, let's take a look at how some of these work.
Now, if you have the project folder,
you can open up this document I have here.
With the project folder open, click into
the S2 essential practice folder,
into folder 18 effects and presets,
and open the effects and presets After Effects file,
and you will have the same document I have open here.
This is a document you could use to quickly experiment
with the effects and presets with me in this video.
Now, if you don't have the project folder
and you want to follow along with this tutorial
using this document I have prepared especially for you,
you can download this project folder for a small fee.
The download link with instructions is in the description.
The download folder comes with lots of exercise documents
you'll be using on this course
that have been carefully developed
to aid your learning experience.
The folder also comes with document resources
such as videos, graphics, and images you can use
to build your first video presentation from scratch
later on in this course.
To get the full learning experience,
I recommend you get the project folder.
Download link with instructions is in the description.
So, with the project folder open,
click into the S2 essential practice folder
into folder 18 effects and presets,
and open the effects and presets After Effects file
and you will have the same document I have open here.
So, looking in the project panel, I have a number of
compositions which I'm going to open
and apply some effects and presets to.
So, let's start with the first comp.
So, come into the project folder and double-click
on comp one, and this will open it.
So, right now, all I have here is a comp
with a solid blue layer inside.
When applying an effect or preset, you need to have
something to start with.
So, here we have a solid layer.
Now, to make a solid layer is easy.
In the timeline panel, in the area with the layer names,
you can place your mouse cursor in the gray area
under the layer name and right click,
scroll up to new, click on solid, and create
a new solid from here.
So, I click on the color box, choose an orange color,
and click okay, and here we have a new solid layer.
Easy.
So, let's apply an effect.
So, over in the effects and presets panel,
I'll toggle down the first category, animation presets.
Then, I'll come down to synthetics,
about half the way down, and I'll toggle this down,
and in here we can see the available presets.
So, to apply a preset is easy.
We can simply click and drag it from the effects and presets
panel onto the element in the composition or,
as I like to do, drag it down and release it
on the selected layer in the timeline panel.
However, make sure to pay attention to your
timeline indicator when you place it.
Wherever the time indicator is on the timeline
is where the effect will start from,
so I'll make sure my time indicator is towards
the start of the timeline, then I'll click and drag
the digital preset onto the layer like so, and release.
Upon release, we will see the effect applied to the layer
in the composition panel above.
Now, it does not matter what color the original
solid layer was, as now a completely new set of effects
have been generated and applied to this solid layer.
Now, if we press U on the keyboard
we will reveal all the keyframes applied to the layer.
Now, if you're struggling to see your keyframes,
we can place the mouse cursor carefully between
the timeline panel on the composition panel.
When the mouse cursor changes to arrows up and down,
we can click and drag up a little.
This will allow me to expand the timeline panel up
so we can see the contents more clearly.
Okay, so here we can see we have keyframes for
quite a few properties to make this effect.
So, let's see what this effect looks like.
So, I'll click just before the keyframe and press B
on the keyboard to place the starting point
of my workspace, then I'll click just after the keyframes,
and press N on the keyboard to place the end point
of my workspace.
So, I'll make sure the time indicator is inside
the work area.
In this instance, I'll click the resolution factor popup
at the bottom of the composition panel.
For this, I'll select half, and this will preview
a bit more smoothly.
Once set, I'll press space bar to activate preview,
and here we can see the effect this is having.
Okay, so I'll press space bar to stop the preview.
Now, when you apply a preset in After Effects,
we now have the option to tweak the effect controls.
When we apply an effect, the effect controls can be located
over on the left where the project panel resides.
Now, pay close attention to the top of this panel.
If at any point you need to access your files,
you can click the project tab just next to
the effect control tabs at the top.
For now though, we'll click back on the effect controls.
So, here we can see that, to create this digital effect
we have on this layer takes a lot of settings.
So, if I come into the effects controls, we can see them.
So, first I'll come up and toggle up each effect
so we can see exactly what effect has been applied.
Here we can see we have five effects in total
making up this preset.
Applied to it we have fractal noise, posterize,
glow, tritone, and mosaic.
Now, if I start from the bottom and toggle each effect off
by clicking the effects icon, and I'll start with mosaic,
we can see the appearance change in the composition panel.
So, without the mosaic effect,
we have something different here.
So, I'll make sure the time indicator is inside
the workspace area and I'll press space bar
to activate preview, and we can see what that looks like
without the mosaic effect,
and I'll press space bar again to stop the preview.
So next, I'll toggle off tritone, then I'll toggle off glow,
and then I'll toggle off posterize.
So, I'll make sure my time indicator is inside
the work area, and I'll press space bar to activate preview.
So, to create the digital effect, we started off
with something very different, and as other effects
are applied, and I'll toggle these back on one by one,
we can see the visual effect changes until we have
the digital effect of the preset,
and I'll press space bar to stop the preview.
So, in After Effects, there is typically not
one quick effect solution.
Often, to get a particular effect, you will have to
combine individual effects together to get
something you want.
This is where you will have to be creative
and experiment with effects.
Okay, so now we understand it takes individual effects
to build a preset.
Once a preset is applied, we can then tweak
the individual effect to alter the overall effect.
So, I'll make sure the timeline indicator
is inside the work area and I'll press space bar
to activate preview.
So first, I'll start with the bottom.
So, I'll toggle down the mosaic effect controls,
and here we can toggle the blocks,
and I can go from 100 to say, 20 here.
Next, I'll toggle down the tritone effect controls,
and here we can change the color,
and I'll change the green to a blue.
Next, I'll toggle down the glow effect controls,
and here we can change a number of things,
for example, the glow radius,
and I'll change that from 25 to say, 50.
Next, I'll toggle down the posterize effect controls,
and here we can change the level,
and I'll change that from two to three.
Lastly, I'll toggle down the fractal noise effect controls,
and here we can change a number of things,
for example, the contrast,
and I'll change that from 100 to 80.
So, by tweaking the individual effects,
we can alter the overall effect quite drastically.
So, I'll press space bar to stop the preview.
Now, looking in the timeline panel,
we can see the key frames generated from the effect.
Every time you apply an effect, make sure to pay
close attention to the keyframes it generates,
as you will want to manage these to control the time.
Right now, we can see the effect is spanning only
a few seconds.
If we want to expand the sequence, we can select
the end keyframes and drag them further
across the timeline, like so.
So, I'll drag the workspace area out and click into
the area and press space bar to activate preview.
Now, we may not want to use anything like this
in our projects, but the principles demonstrated here
apply to every effect and preset
you will ever use in After Effects.
Every time we apply an effect, we must always look
to the effects controls to manage the effect.
So now, I'll click back into the project panel
by carefully clicking back on the project tab at the top,
and this time, double-click on comp 2,
and here we have another comp with a solid layer.
So, let's take a quick look at another preset.
So, this time, in the animation preset,
I'll toggle down the backgrounds folder.
I'll make sure the time indicator is towards the start
of the timeline.
I'll come into the effects and presets panel
and drag the germs preset onto my layer.
Upon release, we will see the effect applied
to the solid layer.
So, I'll press U to reveal the keyframes,
and I'll press space bar to activate preview.
Now, I'll press space bar to stop the preview
and I'll come and look in the effects control panel.
So again, we can see all the individual effects it takes
to create this effect we see in the composition panel,
and we can tweak them individually.
Now, I'll press command Z on Mac, or control Z on PC,
to undo the germs preset,
and this time, I'll come to rose light and drag it
onto my layer,
and I'll press space bar to activate preview.
I'll press space bar again to stop the preview.
I'll press U to reveal the keyframes,
and then look in the effects control panel.
So again, we can see all the individual effects
it takes to create the overall effect
in the composition panel, and if we want,
we can tweak them individually.
For now, I'll press command Z on Mac or control Z on PC
to undo the rose light preset.
Back in the effects control panel, this time,
I'll come down and toggle image special effects,
but I'll drag bad TV two old onto my layer,
and if we look in the effects controls,
we can see all the individual effects it takes
to create this particular effect,
and we can tweak them individually, should we wish.
So, every time you apply a preset, make sure to look
at the keyframes applied and in the effects controls
to make tweaks and changes.
Now, I'll click back into the project panel
by carefully clicking on the tab at the top,
and this time, double-click on comp 3.
So now, instead of a solid layer, I have some video footage.
In After Effects, there are lots of effects and presets
you can add to video.
For example, this time, in the animations preset folder,
I'll toggle down image creative, and click and drag
colorize gold dip onto my layer,
and I'll press space bar to activate preview.
So here, we can see a drastic color effect applied.
So, I'll press space bar to stop the preview,
and in the effects and controls panel,
we can edit the effect and change the source opacity,
color, overall opacity, and blending mode of the effect.
Easy.
So, I'll press command Z on the Mac and control Z on the PC
to undo those effects,
and next I'll come and drag grayscale one onto my layer,
and I'll press space bar to activate preview,
and that's an easy way to apply grayscale to video.
So, I'll press space bar to stop preview again,
and in the effects controls panel,
we can tweak the settings.
So, I'll press command Z on Mac or control Z on PC
to undo those effects.
Next, in the image special effects folder,
I'll drag bag TV two old onto my layer,
and I'll press space bar to activate preview,
and we can see quite a drastic effect there.
So, I'll press space bar again to stop the preview,
and in the effects and controls panel, again,
we have lots of effects applied which we can tweak.
So, I'll press command Z on Mac or control Z on PC
to undo that effect.
Next, I'll come down to the stylize folder towards
the bottom of the effects and presets panel.
I'll toggle this down and drag CC threshold RGB
onto my layer.
I'll press space bar to activate preview
and we can see quite a drastic effect there,
and over in the effects and controls panel,
we can tweak the red, green, and blue threshold settings,
and I'll press space bar to stop the preview again
and press command Z on Mac or control Z on PC
to undo those effects.
So, this is one way to add effects and presets
to your layers.
Now, as you can see there, there are lots and lots
of effects and presets, and it can be hard to remember
where they all are.
Now, a quick tip here for you to remember,
if you know the effect you want to apply to your layer,
for example, I want to add a blur effect to the video,
if I come up into the effects and presets panel,
at the top we have a search option.
So, I'll click into the search option and type blur.
Below will show the results for
the blur effects and presets.
So, lastly, I'll come down to the blur and sharpen folder,
and drag Gaussian blur onto my layer.
In the effects controls panel, I'll tweak the blurriness
settings and push that right up to about 20,
and I'll press space bar to activate preview.
So, that's how effects and presets can be applied to video.
Now, before I end the video, there is one more thing
I need to show you.
Now, I'll click back into the project panel
and this time double-click on comp four.
So, I'll press space bar to activate preview,
and now instead of a solid layer or a video layer,
this time in the timeline panel,
I have a composition layer, and we know this because
of the comp icon present next to the layer name.
This is a simple video edit I have prepared earlier.
So, I'll press space bar to stop the preview
and now if we double-click on the composition layer,
it will open up and we can see video clips
and some picture files.
So, I'll close this and come back to the previous comp.
So, back in the effects and presets panel, I'll delete
the word blur I typed in earlier,
I'll toggle down the animation presets folder,
then toggle down the image creative folder,
and I'll drag colorize sepia onto my comp layer,
and I'll press space bar to activate preview.
So, now we have a color effect applied
to the composition layer,
with the effect controls ready to tweak them.
So, this effect is applied to the composition layer
and not the video layers themselves.
If I double-click back into the comp,
we can see that the video edit is still untouched
by the effect.
So, back into comp four, by using effects and presets
on composition layers, it's a really good way
to preserve your original content.
Easy.
So, that's a brief introduction to effects and presets,
how they work, how they can be applied,
and how they can be modified
using the effects controls panel.
Now, as a beginner, I would recommend spending
a bit more time exploring the effects and presets panel
to see what's on offer,
and play around tweaking all the effects controls
to practice and familiarize yourself with
how it works in After Effects.
Now, as we move further into the course,
we're going to be learning more about effects and presets.
We will be using more of them to animate and build
a video presentation later in the course.
Now, one of the cool things we can use effects
and presets for is to animate type.
Now, animating type in After Effects
is hugely popular with designers.
In the next video, I'll be discussing type in After Effects,
where we'll be looking at how we can use some common effects
and presets to animate type.
So, see you in the next video.
(upbeat music)