Adobe After Effects CC Classroom in a Book (2014 release)

Adobe After Effects CC Classroom in a Book (2014 release)

by
Released December 2014
Publisher(s): Adobe Press
ISBN: 9780133927146

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Book description

The fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe® After Effects® CC (2014 release)

Classroom in a Book®, the best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks, offers what no other book or training program does—an official training series from Adobe Systems Incorporated, developed with the support of Adobe product experts.

Adobe  After Effects® CC Classroom in a Book contains 14 lessons that cover the basics, providing countless tips and techniques to help you become more productive with the program. You can follow the book from start to finish or choose only those lessons that interest you.

In addition to learning the key elements of the After Effects interface, this completely revised CC (2014 release) edition covers new features, including mask tracker, detail-preserving Upscale effect, property linking, new snapping options and improvements, improved Cinema 4D integration, settings migration, bicubic sampling option in Transform effect, and more.

Purchasing this book gives you access to the downloadable lesson files you need to work through the projects in the book, and to electronic book updates covering new features that Adobe releases for Creative Cloud customers. For access, goto www.peachpit.com/redeem and redeem the unique code provided inside this book.

“The Classroom in a Book series is by far the best training material on the market. Everything you need to master the software is included: clear explanations of each lesson, step-by-step instructions, and the project files for the students.”

Barbara Binder,
Adobe Certified Instructor
Rocky Mountain Training

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. How to Get Your Lesson Files
  4. Contents
  5. Getting Started
    1. About Classroom in a Book
    2. Prerequisites
    3. Installing After Effects and Bridge
    4. Optimizing performance
    5. Restoring default preferences
    6. Accessing the Classroom in a Book files
    7. How to use these lessons
    8. Additional resources
    9. Adobe Authorized Training Centers
  6. 1. Getting to Know the Workflow
    1. About the After Effects work area
    2. Getting started
    3. Creating a project and importing footage
    4. Creating a composition and arranging layers
    5. About layers
    6. About the Tools panel
    7. Adding effects and modifying layer properties
    8. Animating the composition
    9. About the Timeline panel
    10. About timecode and duration
    11. Previewing your work
    12. Optimizing performance in After Effects
    13. Rendering and exporting your composition
    14. Customizing workspaces
    15. Controlling the brightness of the user interface
    16. Finding resources for using After Effects
    17. Review questions
    18. Review answers
  7. 2. Creating A Basic Animation Using Effects and Presets
    1. Getting started
    2. Importing footage using Adobe Bridge
    3. Creating a new composition
    4. Working with imported Illustrator layers
    5. Applying effects to a layer
    6. Applying and controlling effects
    7. Applying an animation preset
    8. Previewing the effects
    9. Adding transparency
    10. Rendering the composition
    11. Review questions
    12. Review answers
  8. 3. Animating Text
    1. Getting started
    2. About text layers
    3. Installing a font using Typekit
    4. Creating and formatting point text
    5. Using a text animation preset
    6. Animating with scale keyframes
    7. Animating using parenting
    8. About parent and child layers
    9. Animating imported Photoshop text
    10. Animating text using a path animation preset
    11. Animating type tracking
    12. Animating text opacity
    13. Using a text animator group
    14. About text animator groups
    15. Cleaning up the path animation
    16. Animating a nontext layer along a motion path
    17. Adding motion blur
    18. Review questions
    19. Review answers
  9. 4. Working with Shape Layers
    1. Getting started
    2. Adding a shape layer
    3. Creating custom shapes
    4. Duplicating shapes
    5. Using Brainstorm to experiment
    6. Positioning layers with snapping
    7. Adding compositions to a 3D project
    8. Extra credit: Animating layers to match audio
    9. Review questions
    10. Review answers
  10. 5. Animating A Multimedia Presentation
    1. Getting started
    2. Animating the scenery using parenting
    3. Adjusting an anchor point
    4. Masking video using vector shapes
    5. Keyframing a motion path
    6. Animating additional elements
    7. Applying an effect
    8. About solid-color layers
    9. Creating an animated slide show
    10. Supported audio file formats
    11. Adding an audio track
    12. Zooming in for a final close-up
    13. Extra credit: Editing audio files in Adobe Audition
    14. Review questions
    15. Review answers
  11. 6. Animating Layers
    1. Getting started
    2. Preparing layered Photoshop files
    3. About Photoshop layer styles
    4. Simulating lighting changes
    5. About expressions
    6. Duplicating an animation using the pick whip
    7. Animating movement in the scenery
    8. Adjusting the layers and creating a track matte
    9. About track mattes and traveling mattes
    10. Animating the shadows
    11. Adding a lens flare effect
    12. Animating the clock
    13. Retiming the composition
    14. Review questions
    15. Review answers
  12. 7. Working with Masks
    1. About masks
    2. Getting started
    3. Creating a mask with the Pen tool
    4. Editing a mask
    5. About mask modes
    6. Creating a Bezier mask
    7. Feathering the edges of a mask
    8. Replacing the content of the mask
    9. Adding a reflection
    10. Creating a vignette
    11. Using the Rectangle and Ellipse tools
    12. Trimming the work area
    13. Tips for creating masks
    14. Review questions
    15. Review answers
  13. 8. Distorting Objects with the Puppet Tools
    1. Getting started
    2. About the Puppet tools
    3. Adding Deform pins
    4. Defining areas of overlap
    5. Stiffening an area
    6. Animating pin positions
    7. Squash and stretch
    8. Recording animation
    9. Review questions
    10. Review answers
  14. 9. Using the Roto Brush Tool
    1. About rotoscoping
    2. Getting started
    3. Using Adobe Premiere Pro with After Effects
    4. Creating a segmentation boundary
    5. Fine-tuning the matte
    6. Refine Soft Matte and Refine Hard Matte effects
    7. Freezing your Roto Brush tool results
    8. Changing the background
    9. Adding animated text
    10. Outputting your project
    11. Review questions
    12. Review answers
  15. 10. Performing Color Correction
    1. Getting started
    2. Previewing your project on a video monitor
    3. Adjusting color balance with levels
    4. Adjusting color balance with Color Finesse 3
    5. Replacing the background
    6. Color-correcting using Auto Levels
    7. Motion tracking the clouds
    8. Replacing the sky in the second clip
    9. Color grading
    10. Extra Credit: Cloning an object in a scene
    11. Review questions
    12. Review answers
  16. 11. Using 3D Features
    1. Getting started
    2. Creating 3D text
    3. Using 3D views
    4. Importing a background
    5. Adding 3D lights
    6. Adding a camera
    7. Repositioning layers
    8. Adding a text layer
    9. Working with Cinema 4D Lite
    10. Extra credit: Extruding 3D text
    11. Review questions
    12. Review answers
  17. 12. Working with the 3D Camera Tracker
    1. About the 3D Camera Tracker effect
    2. Getting started
    3. Repairing rolling shutter distortions
    4. Tracking the footage
    5. Creating a ground plane, a camera, and the initial text
    6. Creating realistic shadows
    7. Adding ambient light
    8. Creating additional text elements
    9. Locking a layer to a plane with a null object
    10. Animating the text
    11. Adjusting the camera’s depth of field
    12. Rendering the composition
    13. Review questions
    14. Review answers
  18. 13. Advanced Editing Techniques
    1. Getting started
    2. Using Warp Stabilizer VFX
    3. Bicubic scaling
    4. Using single-point motion tracking
    5. Warp Stabilizer VFX settings
    6. Checking for drift
    7. Moving and resizing the track points
    8. Using multipoint tracking
    9. mocha for After Effects
    10. Creating a particle simulation
    11. Understanding Particle Systems II properties
    12. About high dynamic range (HDR) footage
    13. Retiming playback using the Timewarp effect
    14. Review questions
    15. Review answers
  19. 14. Rendering and Outputting
    1. Getting started
    2. Creating templates for the Render Queue
    3. About compression
    4. Exporting using the Render Queue
    5. Preparing movies for mobile devices
    6. Rendering movies with Adobe Media Encoder
    7. Preparing a movie for broadcast output
    8. Review questions
    9. Review answers
  20. Appendix: General keyboard shortcuts
  21. Index
  22. Production Notes
    1. Typefaces used
    2. Team credits
  23. Contributors
    1. Special Thanks
  24. Notes
  25. Learn by Video

Product information

  • Title: Adobe After Effects CC Classroom in a Book (2014 release)
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: December 2014
  • Publisher(s): Adobe Press
  • ISBN: 9780133927146