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Get a glimpse behind the scenes of a real-world commercial made with After Effects. This course is for artists who are familiar with After Effects and want to better understand advanced techniques, design concepts, and approaches to complex projects.

The featured product is the N-trig pen, a digital pen that "draws the line from idea to technology." You will reverse engineer the finished project to understand the practical steps and creative decisions the filmmakers made along the way.

Eran Stern shows how to decode a client brief, present design concepts for signoff, create previsualizations and animatics, and then transition the design to After Effects. Many of the effects, such as dust layers, streaks of light, and geometric lines, are achieved using some of Eran's favorite third-party plugins (Particular, Form, and Plexus). The lessons are full of practical examples for broadcast television as well as online distribution. Along the way, Eran weaves in tips, shortcuts, and professional techniques that will amaze both veteran After Effects users and new motion graphics artists.

After Effects Breakdowns is for artists who want to better understand advanced techniques, design concepts, and approaches to complex motion graphics projects. The infographics-driven video in this installment, designed for the nonprofit organization Com.unity, explains how social tech is designed to solve large-scale social problems, such as obesity, accessibility, and car accidents. Watch Eran Stern reverse engineer the finished project using his favorite tools: After Effects and a few third-party plugins (Animation Composer, Particular, and Newton).

Eran shows how to decode a client brief, perform storyboarding in Illustrator, and then transition the design to After Effects for animation. Along the way, he weaves in tips, shortcuts, and professional techniques that will amaze both veteran After Effects users and new motion graphics artists.

Delve into the world of motion graphics, keying, and compositing in After Effects CC. In this course, Ian Robinson lays out six foundations for becoming proficient with After Effects, including concepts such as layers, keyframe animation, and working with 3D. To help you get up and running with the program, the course begins with a project-based chapter on creating an animated graphic bumper. Next, explore the role layers play in compositions and find out how to add style to your projects using effects and graphic elements. Last, see how to build 3D objects with CINEMA 4D Lite, as well as stabilize footage, solve for 3D cameras, and paint in graphics with the Reverse Stabilization feature.

Veteran After Effects user Chris Meyer shares real-world production and workflow advice as he demonstrates the newest features in Adobe After Effects CC. Chris reviews the streamlined connection to MAXON CINEMA 4D and the Refine Edge tool for creating mattes around hair and other partially transparent areas, and reveals how to get more accurate tracks and stabilizations with Reverse Stabilization and ground planes. He also reviews the upgraded Warp Stabilizer and 3D Camera Tracker and important new usability features such as layer snapping.

The September 2013 update brought the new Rigid Mask Tracker, as well as additional ways to scale up footage cleanly, while the highlight of the December 2013 update was the ability to convert parametric shape layers to Bézier paths, and Bézier paths into shape layers. The NAB 2014 update shows off important new integration with Adobe Premiere Pro and Typekit, as well major updates to effects. Smaller yet still important new and enhanced features in each release are also touched on throughout. As always, Chris doesn't just show you where these new features are, but how to apply them to your own projects, along with preferred working practices and potential gotchas.

Note: This course was created and produced by Chris and Trish Meyer. We are honored to host this content in our library.

After Effects CC Essential Training covers all of the fundamentals required to get new video editors and mograph artists up to speed with this powerful program. The first two chapters explore the key concepts, terminology, and interface of After Effects, and break down the six foundations of After Effects mastery—compositions, layers, animation, effects, 3D, and rendering. Follow-up chapters introduce a variety of real-world projects designed to reinforce the skills you've learned, such as:

• Building graphics such as lower thirds, logos, and credit rolls
• Repairing and retiming video
• Keying green-screen footage
• Rotoscoping
• Animating a 3D logo
• Motion tracking

Your guide, Ian Robinson, wraps up the course with some project management techniques that will help you merge projects from multiple editors, and get you in the habit of archiving completed work.

Adobe After Effects CC 2015 brings significant breakthroughs in performance and shared workflows—and in this course, master user Chris Meyer will show you how to put them to work in real-world situations. After Effects has been rewired underneath the hood to be more responsive, including a new preview scheme optimized for those with an editing background. Creative Cloud Libraries were also introduced in the CC 2015 release, as well as face tracking technology thanks to Adobe Character Animator, which is now bundled with the program. With over 20 years experience using After Effects, Chris Meyer demonstrates these and other changes using real-world examples, including how to work around the inevitable shortcomings and gotchas.

Check back often for updates. New chapters will be added each time Adobe releases a major After Effects update.

In this course, Alan Demafiles covers the core aspects of After Effects commonly used in editing and post production: masks, shapes, type, logos, stills, animating, rendering, and exporting. To begin, Alan compares After Effects to Premiere Pro so you can see the similarities and differences. Then he dives into hands-on demonstrations of how to limit effects with masks, create elements with shape layers, use text templates, animate a logo, and create a 3D type extrusion. Next he shows you how to work with imported pictures, create a Z-space camera montage, change the speed of animations, and more. He wraps up by walking through outputting steps and then kicks off a challenge exercise where you can put your skills into practice.

Get up and running with After Effects CC 2017. Although this is an introductory course, if you're brand new to After Effects, check out After Effects CC 2017 Essential Training: The Basics; in that course, instructor Mark Christiansen starts from the very beginning, introducing you to the interface and other basic concepts to help you understand what After Effects is, and how it's used in a variety of workflows.  In this course, Alan Demafiles covers all of the main aspects of this program, providing you with a solid foundation for using this tool in a motion graphics context. To begin, Alan breaks down After Effects into six foundations, each of which serve as the basis for subsequent course chapters. He covers how shape layers offer some of the power of Illustrator vector tools right in After Effects, and shares basic animation techniques like creating looped animation with expressions. In addition, he also touches on the program's powerful Type tool and shows you how adding type animators can make unique text manipulation possible. He wraps up the course with a project-based chapter that helps reinforce your new skills and provides you with valuable workflow tips.

After Effects CC is powerful, versatile, and complex. But if you need to learn it for the first time, it helps to break down the program into its very basics. This course is designed to help absolute beginners understand the fundamental concepts and techniques that make After Effects the flagship motion graphics and compositing application—without bogging you down with too many options or theories. In the first chapter, instructor Mark Christiansen shows the simplest way to guide a shot from start to finish through the program, working with its most popular features: the Timeline, layers, keyframes, effects, and the Render Queue. The second chapter features a short motion project that shows how all the tools come together in a real-world workflow. Start here to learn everything you need to get up and running with After Effects CC 2017.

Find out what the latest update to After Effects CC has in store for VFX and motion graphic artists. This update is part of the Creative Cloud 2017 overhaul, and offers exciting new performance improvements (like instant preview) and workflow enhancements, including markers with durations, one-click Adobe Media Encoder queues, and freeze frames for final frames. Instructor Mark Christiansen also shows how to use new features to find missing fonts by syncing with Typekit, create luminance-based alpha channels using Red Giant's Unmult plugin as an animation preset, render compositions with the built-in CINEMA 4D renderer, and collaborate more effectively than ever with After Effects team projects.

The November 2016 release is just the first of many for After Effects CC 2017. Mark will update the course as soon as new features are released. Check back often for new tutorials.

Learn how to create stunning visual effects with one of the most widely-used and highly-regarded compositing applications on the market—Adobe After Effects CC 2017. Although this is an introductory course, if you're brand new to After Effects, check out After Effects CC 2017 Essential Training: The Basics; in that course, instructor Mark Christiansen starts from the very beginning, introducing you to the interface and other basic concepts to help you get up and running with the popular program.

In this course, Alan Demafiles dives into the fundamentals you need to start creating visual effects with After Effects CC 2017. Discover how to work with green screen footage, use rotoscoping to separate foreground from background, track footage, and add your own 3D elements to a scene. Learn how to use particles to create fire, use noise to replace the sky, and more. In the final, project-based chapter, reinforce your new skills by putting techniques into practice using real-world scenarios.

In this course, Alan Demafiles covers the core aspects of After Effects commonly used in editing and post production: masks, shapes, type, logos, stills, animating, rendering, and exporting. To begin, Alan compares After Effects to Premiere Pro so you can see the similarities and differences. Then he dives into hands-on demonstrations of how to limit effects with masks, create elements with shape layers, use text templates, animate a logo, and create a 3D type extrusion. Next he shows you how to work with imported pictures, create a Z-space camera montage, change the speed of animations, and more. He wraps up by walking through outputting steps and then kicks off a challenge exercise where you can put your skills into practice.

After Effects can do many things, but if you're a motion designer, you're into After Effects for its motion graphics capabilities. This course concentrates on the tools and techniques you need to make amazing motion designs in Adobe After Effects CC 2018. First, explore shape layers and paths, the foundations of effective vector-based compositions. Then learn different methods of animation, including manually animating with keyframes, leveraging the Graph Editor, changing speed with time remapping, motion sketching, and looping with expressions. Next is compositing, which allows you combine visual elements from separate sources, as well as mask out areas of an effect. Then learn how to set and animate type, and get an introduction to 3D. The last step is rendering your project for your final destination. Instructor Alan Demafiles—a leading After Effects trainer—closes with some tips on building an effective workflow that maximizes your creative freedom and efficiency.

If you need to learn Adobe After Effects for the first time, it helps to break the program down to the basics. This course is designed to help absolute beginners understand the fundamental concepts and techniques that make After Effects such a powerful motion graphics and compositing application. It's a big-picture type of training course, designed to inform and inspire. In chapter one, instructor Mark Christiansen covers the six foundations of After Effects: building compositions, working with layers, animating with the Timeline, adding effects, designing in 3D, and rendering. The second chapter presents a short motion project that shows how all the tools come together in a real-world workflow.

Adobe After Effects CC 2018 offers new features that can enhance your VFX and motion graphics workflow. In this course, explore the major new additions to After Effects—including the latest version, 15.1, introduced in April 2018—and discover how to leverage them in your post-production process. Mark Christiansen provides a hands-on look at this update, showing how to edit keyboard shortcuts visually, create nulls from paths, automate motion with data-driven animation, use master properties to animate nested compositions, build smoother deformations with the Advanced Puppet tool, and more. In addition, he explains how to work with immersive video and customize your VR pipeline.

To keep you up-to-date on the latest additions to After Effects CC 2018, Mark will update the course when new features are released.

Learn how to create stunning visual effects with one of the most widely-used and highly-regarded compositing applications on the market—Adobe After Effects CC. In this course, Alan Demafiles dives into the fundamentals you need to start creating visual effects (VFX) with After Effects. Discover how to build accurate masks and keys, use rotoscoping to separate foreground from background, perform motion and camera tracking, and add your own 3D elements to a scene. Learn how to use effects such as particles and noise to create fire, replace the sky, and more. Then dive into the world of virtual reality as Alan explores the immersive VR and 360-degree video features introduced in After Effects CC 2018. In the final project-based chapter, you can reinforce your new skills by putting techniques into practice with a real-world challenge.

Visual effects have gone from a secret craft to a well-known career path, and with today's software, and the right tutorials, anyone can make high-quality VFX. The After Effects Compositing Essentials series is designed to help mograph artists of any level master techniques such as matching, tracking, keying, and rotoscoping. This course is your introduction to the series: part tutorial and part inspiration. Mark Christiansen introduces the seven essential compositing techniques and some bonus tips to help enhance drama, correct color, and create transparency. He also explains the art of storytelling with VFX, and how the pros use After Effects to create convincing movie magic.

Creating a moving shot that is made up of disparate elements and looks as though it was taken all at once, with a single camera, is the very core of visual effects compositing. To make the effect look natural, compositors also need a deep understanding of how to match color, light, and phenomena specific to the camera, including grain and depth of field. Matching requires no special knack; for example, you can learn to effectively match color even if you have trouble seeing color accurately. So join Mark Christiansen, as he teaches you how to composite 2D or 3D foreground objects to a background scene with After Effects and seamlessly match light, color, depth of field, and noise, so that every element looks natural.

This course was created by Mark Christiansen. We're honored to host this training in our library.

Compositing is all about matching, and in this course we go beyond the fundamentals of matching foreground and background, into the realm of the truly cinematic. Learn how to use the Curves control to surpass what is possible with any other color-adjustment tool in After Effects. Discover how to match the full conditions of the shot as the camera sees it, including back lighting, lens distortion, and other lens and frame-rate artifacts. To make a shot or sequence that belongs in your movie, you need to know how to flatten the shot so that you can use tools such as Magic Bullet Mojo or Looks to make it look truly cinematic. But even beyond making it flat, it's best for it to have the full depth and response of color as we see it in the natural world, and that requires the use of 32-bit-per-channel HDR. And for maximum drama, you want to be able to play with time itself, and motion blur as well. In this course, Mark Christiansen takes you through all these scenarios and the next step in After Effects compositing: matching a shot and making it look not only realistic, but cinematic.

Color keying, also known as chroma keying, lets you shoot a foreground scene and insert it into virtually any background; this can save you money and allow you to create shots that are impossible or highly dangerous to take as a single shot. For it to be effective, the key is in the details. In this course, Mark Christiansen shows how to produce feature-film-quality keys in After Effects that fit well within their new scenes, while retaining the subtle details—be they strands of hair or soft or translucent edges—that make the results believable.

Beginning with a brief explanation of the keying process, Mark takes you through the steps involved in creating a perfect green-screen key: generating a rough matte, eliminating color spill and matte lines, and refining problematic edges. He shows how to work with Keylight and Primatte—two indispensable keying tools in After Effects—and explains when to use one over the other. And for times when green screen won't work, he shows how to generate high-contrast mattes, or luma keys, based on the luminance data in your footage. Last, learn about compression and how to prep a shot for keying.

So you've decided to rotoscope. Performing a "roto," an animated selection with masking and paint tools, is time consuming, but the result can be amazing. In this course, Mark Christiansen teaches you how to roto, and how not to roto, in After Effects. His technique relies on a mostly manual masking and painting process, but he also introduces some procedural tools, such as tracking, to make your job go faster. Learn how to build simple rotos and more advanced articulated rotos, replace missing or mismatched backgrounds, separate foreground action to visual effects, and make the results look more realistic with soft edges and motion blur. Mark also reveals techniques for painting with the Brush and Clone tools and tricks for working with the Roto Brush.

Tracking is one of the most powerful ways to make your After Effects work more sophisticated, and one of the hardest to get right. The human eye has an uncanny ability to sense the accuracy of motion. But once you learn to take advantage of the automated 3D tracker, automated motion stabilizer, and 2D point tracker in After Effects—as well as third-party scripts and planar tracking with mocha—a world of possibilities is opened.

Here, Mark Christiansen shows how to use the five different After Effects trackers, customizing them to work best in the situations that motion graphics artists encounter most often. He covers the fundamentals, as well as opportunities to think outside the box, especially when an automated approach won't work.

Are you looking to add something extra to your Animate CC projects? After Effects offers camera motion; special effects such as fractal fog, motion blur, and glow; and 3D environments that you can't achieve in vector-based programs like Animate alone. This course reviews the Animate to After Effects compositing pipeline, starting with importing Animate scenes into layered AE compositions. Instructor Dermot O' Connor shows how to control the individual layers and add filters and effects to achieve just the look you want. He covers lighting and tone adjustments as well as atmospheric effects, distortion, and camera animation. Then he shows how to quickly assemble a 3D environment and import your Animate characters into the scene. Finally, Dermot explains how to render your composition and collect the final assets for archival and sharing.

Are you looking to add something extra to your Animate CC projects? After Effects offers camera motion; special effects such as fractal fog, motion blur, and glow; and 3D environments that you can't achieve in vector-based programs like Animate alone. This course reviews the Animate to After Effects compositing pipeline, starting with importing Animate scenes into layered AE compositions. Instructor Dermot O' Connor shows how to control the individual layers and add filters and effects to achieve just the look you want. He covers lighting and tone adjustments as well as atmospheric effects, distortion, and camera animation. Then he shows how to quickly assemble a 3D environment and import your Animate characters into the scene. Finally, Dermot explains how to render your composition and collect the final assets for archival and sharing.

Mograph designers and artists are always looking for new templates—and they're often willing to pay for them. Building template-based projects in After Effects is also a great way to earn extra income while improving your design skills. In this course, you'll create a working project template in After Effects and prepare it for sale. You'll learn how to build the project from flexible shape layers and text layers, adding some effects along the way. You'll also find out how to set up the project to make it easy for other designers to make changes to the color, text, and animation, and customize the project to suit their needs. Author Angie Taylor also shows the best ways to save and package template projects for web delivery or for submission to Adobe's Creative Cloud Market.