Hello, welcome to this video tutorial! In a short time we will get a
general overview on all the features you need to know to start using
Adobe After Effects CC Release 2019!
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Adobe After Effects is one of the most advanced video editing products,
enhancing videos with outstanding visual and audio effects, text and
professional post-processing features. As other Creative Cloud products,
this is available just under a subscription plan.
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When opening After Effects, the Home Screen page shows up, divided in
several sections on the left. Under Home, you can get your first tutorial
on how to use After Effects and more information about it if you need. As
you work with After Effects, this page also shows your most recent
projects made at the bottom, under Recent.
Under Learn you can find several video tutorials dedicated to specific
features. Use Sync Settings to sync and import your own settings.
In addition, use New Project... to start with a new After Effects project,
or Open Project... to open an existing one.
In order to see how to use After Effects, let's start with a new project.
The main interface is a workspace made by different windows and also by
several editing tools placed in the top left corner. In particular, you
can use the Home button to come back to the Home Screen page if you need.
All the windows and panels move and change according to the workspace
chosen in the top right corner. In this video we just use the Default one,
but you can also try the Learn workspace to open the Learn panel,
collecting several tips and suggestions as you work with your project.
In the central part you have the preview called Composition window, used
to check your work in progress. Below you have the project Timeline,
where you edit and manage all your media files imported. On the left and
right sides, other windows collect several features and properties
we will see. In case any window is missing, you can recover it by using
the Window tab.
Let's understand the basic structure of an After Effects project. This is
made by several independent structures called Compositions, representing
single and custom videos made, starting from media files or footages,
which can be audio, video files or pictures. In this beginner tutorial,
we will work with a single Composition for simplicity.
To add media files inside your project just drag and drop these from any
folder to the project Timeline. All these imported files are also listed
under the Project window on the left, complete with file name, format and
size. These files are collected as simple links, so in case they are
moved or deleted they become offline and unavailable, with their name in
italic style. You can recover any file by right-clicking on it and going
to Replace Footage, File..., browsing for the missing file in your
computer.
To start editing these files, you have to create a new Composition first.
Click on the New Composition button and use the new dialog box to adjust
its settings, such as its name on top and all its video and audio
properties under Basic. Use Preset to pick a ready template to use and
customize it as you like at the bottom, changing the video size with
Width and Height, the Frame Rate (or video frames per second), the video
resolution and the maximum Composition duration in seconds. Once you are
ready, click on OK to create the Composition.
The new Composition opens directly on both the Timeline and the preview
above and is also listed inside the Project window just like a footage.
In case you need to adjust again the Composition settings, just
right-click on it and go to Composition Settings.
Once you have a Composition open on the Timeline, you can import your
files by clicking and dragging these from the Project window into the
Timeline. These are added as several rows called Layers, with file name
and properties on the left, and colored rectangles or clips on the right,
extended in time as much as their content last and with a different
color depending on the kind of media file.
The Composition window (or preview) is used to check your footages and
your compositions in progress inside the Timeline. Double-click on any
source file inside the Project window to preview it directly. If you
double-click on a Composition, this opens on both the Timeline and the
preview, showing the result of all your modifications made, in particular
where the blue marker is placed in time. Click on the timeline to place
the marker, or click and drag it to check the composition content
frame-by-frame.
To playback and pause the composition, audio or video footages in real
time, just use the Space bar key. Consider that the first preview may not
be good until the green rendering bar gets completed in the interested
part. This rendering allows to get a uniform and fine preview on the
Timeline content up to your next modifications made on it.
You can also use your mouse wheel to zoom in and out on the preview. To
pan through it, just hold down the Space bar key and click and drag.
Now, let's see how to edit media files inside the Timeline.
To zoom in and out on the Timeline, just use your mouse wheel while
holding down the ALT key. To move through time, just use the mouse wheel
with the Shift key.
To move any clip in time, click and drag it. Consider that this also
resets the green rendering bar above.
In case multiple visual clips get overlapped in time, the preview shows
the layer that is at the top in front of all the other layers placed in
a lower position. You can click and drag a layer up or down from the left
side to change their order and so their visibility on the preview.
To stretch or shorten the duration of any clip in time click and drag
from its edges. Video and sound clips also show black corners, indicating
that their content has a limited duration. This means that you can't
stretch these indefinitely and you cut part of their content if you
shorten these.
Another possible way to stretch and shorten your clips is to change their
playback or speed rate. If you right-click on a clip and go to Time, Time
Stretch..., you can set the Stretch Factor percentage
below 100% to fasten the clip and make it shorter in time; or
above 100% to slow the clip and make it last longer in time. This
effect won't change anything regarding the clip content.
Use CTRL (or CMD) and Z to undo any of your latest actions.
To cut, copy and paste any clip, select its Layer from the left side and
use CTRL (or CMD) and X, C and V. You can cut a Layer to remove and
delete it. When you paste, a new copy of the interested layer is made on
a new Layer row.
On the extreme left you have several options to manage each Layer inside
the Composition. Use the eye icon to hide or show the visual content of
the Layer; the speaker icon to mute or unmute its audio content; and the
Solo button to hide all the Layers except the interested one. Enable the
Lock button to block any possible modification on the Layer content
until you disable it. To rename a Layer, just right-click on it and go to
Rename.
In addition, click on the grey arrow to show the full list of properties
for each Layer, depending on its kind of content. Audio layers have the
Audio section, where you can adjust the volume with Audio Levels and
check the sound waveform under Waveform.
Pictures and photos show the Transform section, used to adjust Position,
the content size with Scale, its inclination with Rotation, around a
center called Anchor Point, and the transparency level with Opacity.
Video layers have both the Audio and the Transform sections.
To edit these properties click and drag on the blue values or just click
once on these to type in directly, applying with the Enter key. Click on
Reset above to reset all the properties within the chosen section.
To check your modifications, make sure to open the preview on the current
Composition and place its blue marker on the clip you want to modify.
You can also use the main preview to modify your visual clips. With the
Selection Tool enabled, select the Layer interested and click and drag it
to move it within the preview and use its nodes to scale it.
With the rotation Tool, you can click and drag the clip to rotate it.
On the right the Effects & Presets panel collects all the visual and
audio effects available inside After Effects. Choose the effect from the
list and drag and drop it on the interested Layer. This will be added
inside a new section called Effects, collecting all the effects and their
properties applied on the layer. For the complete list of effects
properties use the Effect Controls window on the left.
You can also use the fx icon to enable and disable each effect. To remove
one definitely just select it use CTRL or CMD and X.
The Transitions are special visual effects used to introduce or end a
clip. For example, at the end of a clip, place the blue marker where the
transition should start and enable the timer button next to Completion.
Then, at the end of the clip, change the Completion property from 0% to
100%.
You can also add transitions at the beginning on the clip, with the
difference that the Completion percentage goes from 100% to 0% in time.
You can edit and manage its properties just like the other effects.
Inside After Effects you can also add pieces of text with the Type Tools.
Enable any Type Tool and click and drag on the preview to create a text
box, used to delimit the text content. Then, type inside, horizontally or
vertically depending on the kind of type tool you have chosen. In case
you do not see text properly, make sure to enlarge the text box enough.
The piece of text is represented on the Timeline as a red Text Layer
which can be edited and managed as seen for other Layers. You can also
use the Transform section or the Selection and the Rotation Tools to
move, scale and rotate text on the preview.
To edit the text content and its properties double-click on the Text
Layer and use the Character window on the right to adjust the font family,
size, distribution, style and color. Consider that these changes are
applied just on the selected piece of text you have on the preview.
Now, let's see how to save and export your work!
To save your current project go to File and then to Save As twice,
setting file name and location. This .aep project file saves any
Composition, link and any property or effect applied on each layer.
To render your Compositions into videos to playback and upload outside,
you have to use the Render Queue window. First of all, add any of the
Compositions to be rendered by selecting this and then going to the
Composition tab, Add to Render Queue. This Composition will appear inside
the Render Queue window with all its default rendering settings.
Under Render Settings, choose Quality, Resolution and Frame Rate to use.
The video size is indeed fixed by the Composition Settings.
On Output Mode, choose the file format to use and the color code below.
You can also Resize and Crop the video if you need. At the bottom, set
the audio sample rate and its depth.
On Output To, set the video name and where to save it. Once defined, the
Composition gets the 'Queued' status and is ready to be exported. At this
point, enable it on the left and click on the Render button to start
rendering.
Each of these Compositions are rendered according to their own Work Area,
located right below the main timeline. It is always rendered just what
falls within such region. You can place and shorten its properly in order
to choose which part of the Composition must be exported.
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