Hello of welcome to the seventh video in this beginner's guide to Adobe After Effects
In this tutorial we are going to take a closer look at keyframes. In the
previous episode we learnt the four main animation principles you will
come to use in After Effects: Position, Scale, Rotation and opacity. We also
learnt where animation is composed down in the timeline panel. At the end of the
video I introduced you to keyframes, the little shapes that we saw under the
layers with effects applied. Now keyframes are what set the parameters
for all effects over time. Before we move on there are some more details you will
need to know about keyframes so you can be ready to create your own project. In
this video we will be taking a closer look at keyframes, learning more about
them, how they work and how they are managed over time. So in this video we
are going to be covering the following topics: Keyframes and keyframe easing.
After this video you will get a better understanding of how keyframes work so
you will feel more comfortable moving forward. so let's get into it!
So here I am in After Effects and I have a project open here demonstrating two
simple animation sequences. Here I have two simple circle animations from left
to right and as they move they also change size and opacity. Also notice that
even though they are the same animation they move differently. Now I will be
discussing this shortly but for now if we look in the timeline panel we can see
that this composition is five seconds long and we are currently in preview
mode, we can see the red line going along the timeline to the end then starting
again in repetition. Also in the timeline panel we can see the layers that make up
this composition. Here we have two circle shape layers and a background
composition. Now under each circle layer we can see some small shapes, these
shapes are what we call keyframes in After Effects.
Now these keyframes are determining the animation sequence we see above in the
visual composition panel. For now I'll press spacebar on the keyboard to stop
the preview and I'll drag the time indicator back to the start. So what are
keyframes? Well keyframes are used After Effects
as a way to set parameters for all effects over time. Notice that over on
the Left we can see that the keyframes for both these layers are adjacent to
the position, scale and opacity properties. Now in the last episode you saw I only
had one animation principle applied to each shape layer. Here we have three
animation principles applied to each layer. When animating a layer element
keyframes are set for each property individually and we see these stacked on
top of each other. For these layers we have the position keyframes, then under
this we have the scale keyframes and under this we have opacity keyframes. Now
if you want to follow along with this video you can open this document I have
prepared especially for this video. This can be found in the introduction folder
in a project folder and 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 we'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 to the S-1 introduction folder, then into
the seventh folder keyframes and open the keyframes After Effects file and you
will have the same document I have opened here. So if we look carefully we
can see that for each property a keyframe is placed to start the sequence
at the particular point in the timeline and another keyframe is placed to the
end of the sequence. A keyframe marks the point in time where you specify a value
for a particular property, at this stage it may help to think of keyframes as
journey points. Basic animations have a start point and an end point, whereas more
complex sequences will have start a middle and an end point. For example on
this blue circle layer we have the position keyframes then under this we
have the scale keyframes and under this we have opacity keyframes. Notice that
the start and end keyframes are different for each property as each
property is animated at a different time in the sequence. So if I now come to the
blue time indicator at the top of the timeline panel and slowly click and drag
from left to right starting from the first position keyframe along to the
next keyframe. We can see the blue circle moves from the left hand side of the
screen to the right. So the first keyframe is the starting point, point A, and
the second keyframe is the midpoint point B, this is how keyframes work in
After Effects. We create a keyframe with a particular value for a particular
effect at one point, then set a keyframe at another point with a different value
and After Effects fills in the gaps for us. This is called keyframe
interpolation, where After Effects creates the frames between the points so
we do not have to animate frame by frame. For example here we only have two
keyframes to get from point A to point B and After Effects fills in the gaps
between interpolating the frames in between moving the circle across. Now if
we look further along the timeline we can see there is a third keyframe. If I
continue to drag my time indicator further along we can see the blue circle
travels back to the start to point A, but in the context of the keyframes this is
the end point. Point A is the start, point B is the middle and back to point A
again is the end. So in this instance the first keyframe places the circle at
Point A and the third keyframe also places the circle at Point A. These two
keyframes have the same keyframe property applied equaling the same
position visually in the composition panel. So because the animation end
sequence is the same as the start, when we preview this and I'll drag the time
indicator to the start and press spacebar, it looks like an infinite
animation sequence. So that is the position sequence. So I'll press spacebar
to stop the preview and drag my time indicator back to the start. Now on the
same blue circle layer we also have keyframes for scale and opacity and we
can see there are more applied this time than were applied to position. So let's
take a closer look. So if we drag the time indicator from the first keyframe
to the second, we can see that when we arrive at the second keyframe we are at
the midway point between point A and point B and the size and opacity of the
circle has changed. These keyframes here are setting the properties for the scale
and opacity of the circle at this point in time. So from the start to this point
the circle gets smaller and changes opacity. Now if I continue to drag my
time indicator right to point B we can see the size and
opacity are back to that of which was at point A and we have the keyframes here
on the layer that specify that. So from the midway
point between point A and B, the circle gets larger and changes opacity back. So
between the start keyframe and middle keyframes for position, we have these
keyframes here for scale and opacity which animate in between. If I continue
to drag the time indicator right we can see that the next set of keyframes for
scale and opacity are the same as previous at the midway point between
point A and B and if we continue to move along to the end of the sequence it
appears to be back to the start. So in this instance for scale and opacity, we have
the starting keyframe, the end keyframe and the middle keyframes in between.
A start middle and end. So that's an overview of how keyframes are used and
how they can be set for various parameters to create an animation
sequence. Now up until this point we have been focusing on the blue circle. Now if
I drag my time indicator back to the start and press spacebar to preview. We
can see the red circle below is the same animation but it appears to move
differently. This red circle is animating smoothly where the blue circle in
comparison appears to move more rigidly. Now if we look in the timeline panel we
can see that the keyframes for the red circle are positioned exactly the same
as the blue. So why is it moving more smoothly? Well in After Effects we can
apply what is called easing to our keyframes. So what is easing? Well in
After Effects we can apply easing to our keyframes to apply a smooth animation
effect. If we look in the timeline panel and compare the keyframe shapes on the
blue and the red circle, we can see a difference. In this instance easing has
been applied to all the keyframes on the red circle sequence but not on the blue
circle. The default keyframes applied to the blue circle are all diamond shaped,
and we can see each keyframe on the blue circle looks the same, whereas the
keyframes on the red circle are slightly different. Now if I come into the
timeline panel and carefully click just before the first position keyframe on
the blue circle, click and drag over all the other keyframes for the
new circle animation, upon release I will select them all and they will be
highlighted in blue. Now if I carefully come over to the left at the top of the
timeline panel above the layer names we can see an icon here called the graph
editor. Now if I click thi,s where the layers once were we will now see this
visual diagram. What we are looking at here is the momentum of the blue circle
shape between each keyframe represented here by red squares. So here we have the
momentum of position, opacity and scale. Notice how straight the lines are at
each point with hard edges at each keyframe. So I'll click back on the graph
editor button to go back to my layers, this time I'll do the same but for the
red circle keyframes. If I come just under the red circle layer and carefully
click just before the first position keyframe and drag over all the other
keyframes for the red circle. Upon release I will select them all and they
will all be highlighted in blue If I come back to the graph editor button at
the top of the timeline panel above the layer name and click this, now we are
seeing a very different diagram. Instead of the rigid lines and hard corners we
saw on the blue circle sequence, we are now seeing nice smooth lines between
each keyframe. This is exactly what easing does in After Effects. In
principle easing adds smooth momentum between keyframe points, which in turn
adds smoothness to our sequences. For now I'll click back on the graph editor to
return back to the layers, drag my time indicator back to the start and press
spacebar to show a preview and we can see the effect easing has when applied
to keyframes. Now if you want to learn more about easing don't worry I'll be
going into this in more depth in a future video.
Now it's important to note that keyframes are not only used for
animation, we can also use keyframes to apply a whole multitude of effects to
video. If we now look over in the project panel we can see another composition
here called video sequence and if we double click this we will see a new
composition open. Now unlike the previous composition
this only includes video, so if I drag the time indicator over to the left and
hit spacebar to preview we can see a really simple video sequence with a
basic transition and color effect applied. If we look down in the layers
panel we can see here we have some keyframes applied to each layer and
looking over on the left hand side by the layer name we can see the control
properties for a variety of things such as, linear wipe transitions, scale and
some color effects. Notice that some of the keyframes also have easing applied,
again to apply smoothness to all the transitions. So keyframes are the basis
of how all animation and effect work in After Effects. Understanding this
principle will help you understand more complex sequences as we move further
into this course. As we progress on this course we are going to be using
keyframes lots more, expanding on the principles we have learned in this video
to create more complex and dynamic effects. As you progress in After Effects
you will learn that all video sequences created in After Effects are just a more
complex and sophisticated version of the simple animation sequences showcased in
this video. So to recap some key things to remember are: Keyframes are set for
each property separately on a layer and animation or effect sequence will always
begin with a keyframe to start and end with a keyframe to finish. Many keyframes
can be applied to a particular property to create a dynamic sequence and
keyframe easing can be added to apply smoothness in sequences. So up until now
I have introduced you to the After Effects interface and showed you some of
the crucial interface structures and how to use the. Now it's time to move on and
start to get hands-on with After Effects. In the next video we are going to move
into the essential practice section of this course. In this section we are going
to cover all the cool things After Effects can do, we are going to get
hands-on and learn by undertaking a number of exercises which later in the
next section we will use to build a project from scratch. In the next video
we are going to start with one of the most basic tasks in After Effects. In the
next video I'm going to show you how to manage video in After
Effects and how to perform simple video edits.
So see you in the next video