Adobe After Effects CS5 Introduction

Duration: 3 days
Time: 10am - 5pm. Breaks are scheduled throughout the day and lunch is typically scheduled between 12-1pm
Course Materials: Vendor Authorized Courseware provided
Locations: Reston, VA / On-Site
Related Courses: Flash - ActionScript - Photoshop - InDesign - Illustrator - Fireworks - Premiere Pro
Cost: $1495
Registration: Click Here to Register

Description

Adobe After Effects CS5 is a powerful software tool for visual eff ects and motion graphics. You can use After Effects’ tools to create dynamic designs for commercial video and motion picture production to CD-ROM title development. This course will help you to understand the fundamental concepts and features to master the program. It includes many advanced features, including tips and tricks using the latest version. We also recommend this course for those planning to obtain the Adobe
Certified Expert status.

Audience

Graphic professionals who need an essential understanding of motion editing and compositing. Experienced users will also benefit from the many tips and tricks and special exercises.

Prerequisites

Because of the amount of material we cover in class, we do require students to be comfortable using a mouse, opening and saving files, and the general operations of computers. While we will make every reasonable effort to help, students with insufficient skills may be required to observe the class lessons or do their best to keep up without slowing down the rest of the class.

What you will learn

Basic Animation and Effects
Keyframes and Layers
Working with text
Parenting and Nesting
Transparency
Track and Key
Using Paint and Vector Paint
Expressions and Time
Advanced Motion techniques
New Features of CS5

1 Getting to know the Workflow

Lesson overview
Getting started
Creating a project and importing footage
Creating a composition and arranging layers
Adding effects and modifying layer properties
Animating the composition
Previewing your work
Optimizing performance in After Effects
Rendering and exporting your composition
Customizing the workspace
Controlling the brightness of the user interface
Finding resources for using After Effect
Checking for updates
Review questions and answers

2 Creating a basic Animation using Effects and Presets

Lesson overview
Getting started
Importing footage using Adobe Bridge
Creating the composition
Working with imported Illustrator layers
Applying effects to a layer
Applying an animation preset
Previewing the effects
Adding transparency
Rendering the composition
Review questions and answers

3 Animating Text

Lesson overview
Getting started
About text layers
Creating and formatting point text
Using a text animation preset
Animating with scale keyframes
Animating using parenting
Animating imported Photoshop text
Animating text using a path animation preset
Animating type tracking
Animating text opacity
Using a text animator group
Cleaning up the path animation
Animating a nontext layer along a motion path
Adding motion blur
Exporting to Adobe Flash Professional CS5
Review questions and answers

4 Working with Shape Layers

Lesson overview
Getting started
Adding a shape layer
Creating custom shapes
Creating stars
Incorporating video and audio layers
Applying a Cartoon effect
Adding a title bar
Using Brainstorm to experiment
Review questions and answers

5 Animating a Multimedia Presentation

Lesson overview
Getting started
Animating the scenery using parenting
Adjusting an anchor point
Masking video using vector shapes
Keyframing a motion path
Animating additional elements
Applying an effect
Creating an animated slide show
Adding an audio track
Zooming in for a fi nal close-up
Review questions and answers

6 Animating Layers

Lesson overview
Getting started
Simulating lighting changes
Duplicating an animation using the pick whip
Animating movement in the scenery
Adjusting the layers and creating a track matte
Animating the shadows
Adding a lens flare effect
Animating the clock
Retiming the composition
Review questions and answers

7 Working with Masks

Lesson overview
About masks
Getting started
Creating a mask with the Pen tool
Editing a mask
Feathering the edges of a mask
Replacing the content of the mask
Adding a refl ection
Creating a vignette
Adjusting the color
Review questions and answers

8 Distorting Objects with the Puppet tools

Lesson overview
Getting started
About the Puppet tools
Adding Deform pins
Defining areas of overlap
Stiffening an area
Animating pin positions
Recording animation
Review questions and answers

9 Using the Roto Brush tool

Lesson overview
About rotoscoping
Getting started
Creating a segmentation boundary
Fine-tuning the matte
Creating a transition from the full clip
to the foreground
Creating the logo
Animating text
Adding a background image
Adding audio
Review questions and answers

10 Performing Color Correction

Lesson overview
Getting started
Adjusting color balance
Replacing the background
Removing unwanted elements
Correcting a range of colors
Warming colors with the Photo Filter effect
Review questions and answers

11 Building 3D Objects

Lesson overview
Getting started
Building a 3D object
Working with a null object
Working with 3D text
Creating a backdrop for 3D animation
Nesting a 3D composition
Adding a camera
Completing the scene
Review questions and answers

12 Using 3D Features

Lesson overview
Getting started
Animating 3D objects
Adding reflections to 3D objects
Animating a camera
Adjusting layer timing
Using 3D lights
Adding effects
Adding motion blur
Previewing the entire animation
Review questions and answers

13 Advanced Editing Techniques

Lesson overview
Getting started
Using motion stabilization
Using single-point motion tracking
Using multipoint tracking
Creating a particle simulation
Retiming playback using the Timewarp effect
Review questions and answers

14 Rendering and Outputting

Lesson overview
Getting started
Creating templates for the rendering process
Creating templates for output modules
Exporting to different output media
Review questions and answers
Appendix: Color Management in After Effects CS5

 

 

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