Hello there, welcome to this video! Let's see in a short time everything
you need to know to start using Adobe After Effects CC Release 2018.
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to this software!
Adobe After Effects is a professional video editing software used to
create your own projects and apply special effects, corrections and
text, in a more advanced level in respect to Premiere Pro. As all the
other Creative Cloud products, After Effects is under a subscription plan.
Make sure to check our link in the video description to discover and
learn more about the other main Adobe Creative Cloud products!
When you open After Effects, its main interface opens with the Start
dialog box. This is divided in two: under Learn you can find several
tutorial videos, in order to get hints and tips; and under Work you can
start working on your own project.
On the left, use Recent to choose from the list of your recent projects,
and use CC Files to start from your own files stored online.
More at the bottom, use New Project... to start from a new project; and
Open Project... to browse for an existing one you are looking for.
You also have Team Projects inside After Effects, but we won't see these
in this basic tutorial.
To take a look at all the basic features inside After Effects, let's just
start from a new project.
The main interface is made by several windows, grouping different features
all together, and placed according to the kind of workspace or tab you
choose at the top. In this video, we will just use the Default workspace,
which has the main Preview on the center; several useful windows on the
extreme sides; and the project Timeline below, where you create and edit
the content of your project. In case you miss any other window, just go
to Window, and then choose the interested window from the list.
Now, let's understand what is an After Effects project. A project is made
by several Compositions, which are independent and customized videos made,
each with pieces of edited media, called footages or clips, which can be
videos, audio files and pictures. In this beginner tutorial, we will see
how to work with a single Composition for simplicity.
To start editing, you need to import your media first. To do so, just
drag and drop these from any computer folder to the project timeline.
Hold CTRL down and select multiple files to import all of them together.
All the imported files are listed under the Project window on the left,
complete with their file name, format and size. These are indeed simple
links, which means that, if any of these files is moved or deleted, this
will become unavailable and will get its name in italic. If you just moved
the file, you can reopen the broken link by right-clicking on the missing
media and going to Replace Footage..., File..., and then browsing for it.
At this point, you need a new Composition to collect and edit your media.
If you go to New Composition, you will fix all of its settings before
creating it. Choose a Name at the top, and then a ready template to use
under Preset. If you choose a Custom preset, you can manually set the size
of the Composition video under Width and Height, and the number of frames
per second under Frame Rate. At the bottom, under Duration, choose the
maximum length for such Composition, and then click on OK to open it on
the project Timeline below. This new Composition will be also listed under
the Project window, with a frame icon on its left. You can adjust its
settings again by right-clicking on it, and going to Composition
Settings....
When you get the Composition on the timeline, you can import your media
by clicking and dragging these from the Project window. These clips will
be shown as several rows called Layers, described with their name on the
left and with a colored rectangle fixing placement and length.
You can also import other Compositions inside the same Composition open
on the timeline. These are shown and treated as standard footages.
Now, let's see how to check your own media and Compositions with the
Preview window on the center.
From the Project window, double-click on one media to open and show it on
the Preview. In case of videos and audio files, you can playback quickly
by using the Space bar key.
If you double-click on a Composition, all of its content will be
described on the project Timeline below, and the Preview window will show
what the Composition looks like exactly where the blue playhead is placed.
You can click and drag it to check your Composition frame after frame,
or use the Space bar key to playback in real time.
Pay attention to the rendering bar, which is the thin green line you see.
This shows all the regions where the preview has been rendered and shown
correctly and fluid.
The visibility between several overlapping media is fixed by the layers
order you have on the left: if one layer is placed on a higher position
in respect to another, this will be shown in front of it on the Preview.
You can change the position of each layer by clicking and dragging it up
or down.
To check the Preview more carefully, you can zoom in and out by using
the mouse wheel, and pan by holding the Space bar key and clicking and
dragging around.
Let's see how to modify the Composition content by using the timeline.
To zoom in and out on the timeline, just use your mouse wheel while
holding ALT down.
To move a footage in time, just click and drag it. Consider that this
resets the rendering bar every time.
To adjust the duration of a footage just approach its edges, and click and
drag. You can do this freely with pictures and photos, but in case of
videos and audio clips you will cut part of their content.
If you want to adjust the clip duration without cutting its content, you
have to act on its speed rate. If you right-click on the clip, and go to
Time, Time Stretch..., you can change the Stretch Factor to change the
speed rate used to playback the clip: if this is lower than 100%, the
clip will be played faster, and so it will be shorter in time; if this is
higher than 100%, the clip will last longer, with a lower speed rate.
You can cut, copy and paste a selected layer by using the Edit tab. You
can cut a layer to remove it quickly.
If you make any mistake, you can undo your latest actions by using CTRL+Z.
On the extreme left, you can manage all the layers inside the Composition
on the timeline, through several options available.
To rename a layer just right-click on it, and go to Rename.
Use the eye icon to hide or show the content inside a visual layer; use
the speaker icon to mute or unmute an audio layer; enable the Solo button
to disable all the other visual or audio layers except the interested one.
The Lock button is used to lock any visual or audio layer, in order to
deny any possible modification on these, until you unlock them.
Moreover, you have a grey arrow next to each layer. If you click on it,
you will get the whole list of the footage properties, which can change
depending on the kind of clip. Picture and photos have the Transform
section, collecting the basic properties for the clip appearance: use
Position to adjust the clip placement; use Scale for the clip size; and
use Rotation for its inclination around a center called Anchor Point.
Also use Opacity to set the transparency level for such clip.
To fix each of these properties, you can either click and drag on these,
or click once to type the value directly. Make sure to get the blue
playhead on the clip, or you won't see any modification from the Preview.
To move, scale and rotate the clip quickly, you can also select the layer
with the Selection Tool, and use the Preview window directly, by acting
on the contour you see. Click and drag the contours to place the clip;
drag the nodes to scale it; and use the Rotation Tool to rotate the clip.
To reset the clip properties and come back to the original setup, just
click on Reset next to Transform.
Audio clips have the Audio section, in order to manage the volume
with Audio Levels, measured in deciBels, and take a look at the sound
Waveform and more detail.
Video footages, with video frames and audio, have both the Transform and
the Audio sections, with the same properties seen.
Inside After Effects you can also apply outstanding visual and audio
effects, all collected inside the Effects & Presets window. Just choose
your favorite one, and drag and drop it on the interested clip.
All the effects are listed from top to bottom as clip properties under the
Effects section, but you can use the Effects Control window for a complete
list of properties in detail. Check the Preview while adjusting the effect,
and use Reset to reset all the effect properties, and the fx button to
enable or disable the effect to check the possible differences.
You can also add text and titles inside your Composition by using the
Type Tools in the top left corner.
Enable the Type Tool, and click and drag on the Preview to create a text
box area, used to contain and delimit your text. Then, just type inside.
You will type horizontally or vertically depending on the Horizontal
or the Vertical Type Tool chosen. In case you can't see your whole text
content, make sure to enlarge the text box enough.
To edit the text properties, just select pieces of it, and use the
Character window to adjust the font family, size, color, style and
distribution as you like.
Moreover, you can also move, scale and rotate text by using the Selection
and the Rotation Tools as seen for visual layers.
The piece of text will be added inside your Composition as a new red layer
called Text Layer, whose duration can be fixed as you like most, getting
the same Transform properties seen for the visual clips.
Let's see how to save and export your work.
To save your project, just go to File, and then to Save As twice. Then set
the project name and its destination. This .aep file saves the whole
project as it is, including all of its Composition structures, and its
clip properties and effects applied.
Whereas, to export any video you have to render it by using the Render
Queue window. If you don't have it, you can reopen it from the Window tab.
The Render Queue lists all the Compositions you want to render. In fact,
each Composition is indeed an independent video with its own footages.
To add a Composition in the queue, just select the Composition, and then
go to the Composition tab on top, and then to Add to Render Queue.
Here, under Render Settings, click on Best Settings to fix the Quality
level. Both the Size and the frame rate are fixed by the original
Composition Settings, but you can customize the frame rate under Frame
Rate if you need.
More at the bottom, under Output Module, click on Lossless to choose the
video format to use, the color code and depth, and eventually Resize or
Crop the video if you need. At the bottom, fix the sample rate to be used
for the audio output.
Under Output To, fix the video name and where to save it. Once defined,
the Composition will get the status 'Queued', and you can start exporting
by using the Render button on the right. The rendering process will
proceed from the top 'Queued' Composition to the bottom one in order.
Each Composition will be rendered within its Work Area region, which is
placed right under the timeline. You can move and edit this region as seen
for the clips, and this will set the only part of the Composition that
must be rendered.
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