After Effects Apprentice,, 3rd Edition

Table of contents

1. Front Cover
2. Title Page
3. Copyright
4. Contents
5. Introduction
6. Getting Started
7. Pre-Roll
   1. Exploring the After Effects landscape
      1. project structure
      2. main application window
      3. Tools panel
      4. Project panel
      5. importing footage
      6. Composition panel
      7. Timeline panel
      8. Layer panel
      9. Info, Preview, Audio panels
      10. Effects & Presets; Effect Controls
      11. Workspaces
      12. Adobe Bridge
8. Lesson 1 – Basic Animation
   1. Building your first animation while you learn a typical After Effects workflow.
      1. creating folders in the Project panel
      2. creating a new composition
      3. importing media
      4. interpreting alpha channels
      5. adding layers to the Comp panel
      6. changing the Background Color
      7. scrubbing parameter values
      8. interactively transforming layers
      9. animating Position; RAM Preview
      10. navigating between keyframes
      11. adding a background layer
      12. dragging footage to the Timeline panel
      13. editing a keyframe’s Bezier handles
      14. editing spatial keyframes; motion paths
      15. animating Opacity, Scale, and Rotation
      16. arranging and replacing layers
      17. adding solid layers
      18. applying, copying, and pasting effects
      19. rendering
      20. RAM Preview options; the Work Area
      21. caches and memory
      22. importing layered Photoshop and Illustrator files
9. Lesson 2 – Advanced Animation
   1. Manipulating keyframes to create more refined animations.
      1. keyframe basics
      2. Anchor Point overview
      3. Anchor Point tool
      4. motion control moves
      5. the Graph Editor
      6. speed versus value graphs
      7. panning and zooming time
      8. editing graph curves
      9. easing animations
      10. editing multiple keyframes
      11. Graph Editor Sets
      12. Separate Dimensions
      13. Motion Sketch
      14. smoothing keyframes
      15. Auto-Orient
      16. Motion Blur
      17. Roving keyframes
      18. Time-Reverse Keyframes
      19. Hold keyframes
      20. time display and timecode
10. Lesson 3 – Layer Control
    1. Learning how to trim layers and enhance them using blending modes and effects.
       1. layers and stacking order
       2. moving layers in time
       3. trimming layers
       4. trimming in the Layer and Footage panels
       5. slip editing
       6. Sequence Layers keyframe assistant
       7. looping footage
       8. image sequences
       9. changing the frame rate; Time Stretch
       10. blending modes
       11. effects and solids
       12. effect motion path
       13. Effects & Presets panel
       14. searching for effects
       15. animation presets
       16. Behavior presets
       17. Layer Styles
       18. adjustment layers
       19. filmic glow trick
       20. Brainstorm; the Cartoon effect
       21. non-square pixels
11. Lesson 4 – Creating Transparency
    1. Using masks, mattes, and stencils to cut out portions of a layer.
       1. masking tools; creating mask shapes
       2. Rounded Rectangle tool
       3. Free Transform Points
       4. masking in the Layer panel; Ellipse tool
       5. Mask Feather
       6. animating a mask path
       7. creating a vignette; Mask Expansion
       8. masking with the Pen tool (Bezier masks)
       9. applying an effect to a masked area
       10. controlling mask path interpolation
       11. using effects with the mask path
       12. Mask Modes and multiple masks
       13. Mask Opacity
       14. creating and editing RotoBezier masks
       15. Audio Spectrum effect
       16. variable mask feathering (new in CS6)
       17. Alpha Track Matte
       18. nesting a track matte composite
       19. Luma Track Matte
       20. animating matte layers
       21. Stencil Luma and Stencil Alpha
       22. effects with track mattes and stencils
12. Lesson 5 – Type and Music
    1. Animating text and working with music are essential to motion graphics design.
       1. creating basic text
       2. creating text animators; Range Selectors
       3. animating text Position, Rotation, and Opacity
       4. randomizing the order of characters
       5. creating cascading text
       6. working with selection Shapes
       7. setting the text Anchor Point
       8. animating by words
       9. title safe areas
       10. animating text Blur and Tracking
       11. text on a path
       12. Per-character 3D
       13. separating fields
       14. adding the Wiggly Selector
       15. rendering with an alpha channel
       16. field rendering
       17. adding audio to a comp
       18. spotting audio; using layer and comp markers
       19. mixing and enhancing audio
       20. using text animation presets
       21. saving text animations as presets
       22. editing Photoshop Text layers
13. Lesson 6 – Parenting and Nesting
    1. Grouping layers to make them easier to coordinate.
       1. parenting, nesting, and expressions defined
       2. assigning a parent
       3. parenting, opacity, and effects
       4. parenting with null objects
       5. nesting to group layers; using guides
       6. editing precomps
       7. navigating composition hierarchies
       8. nesting a common source
       9. sizing precomps
       10. ETLAT (edit this, look at that)
       11. precomposing a group of layers
       12. precomposing a single layer
       13. render order explained
       14. splitting work between comps
       15. precompose options compared
       16. using precomposing to reorder
       17. continuous rasterization
       18. collapsing transformations
       19. compound effects
14. Lesson 7 – Expressions and Time Games
    1. Using expressions and playing with time.
       1. using the pick whip to create expressions
       2. altering expressions
       3. stabilizing shadows
       4. matching value ranges (the linear expression)
       5. looping keyframes
       6. expression tips
       7. the wiggle expression
       8. expression controllers
       9. keyframing the wiggle expression
       10. creating a master controller with a null object
       11. converting sound to keyframes
       12. frame blending
       13. Pixel Motion
       14. stop motion tricks
       15. preserve frame rate
       16. creating freeze frames
       17. time remapping
       18. resources for learning more about expressions
15. Lesson 8 – 3D Space
    1. Adding a new dimension to your animations.
       1. enabling layers for 3D
       2. moving and rotating layers in 3D space
       3. multiplaning effects
       4. 3D motion paths
       5. multiple views
       6. adding a camera; camera settings
       7. using the camera tools; 3D views
       8. moving and animating cameras
       9. building a camera rig
       10. layer and camera auto-orientation
       11. camera depth of field blur
       12. 3D lights
       13. casting shadows
       14. Light Falloff; Material Options
       15. Ray-traced 3D Renderer (new in CS6)
       16. extrusion and beveling
       17. bending footage layers
       18. transparency; index of refraction
       19. reflections
       20. environment layers
       21. ray-tracer image quality
       22. Fast Previews
16. Lesson 9 – Track and Key
    1. Tackling several essential skills for creating special effects.
       1. tracking overview
       2. Warp Stabilizer (new in CS5.5)
       3. point-based tracking and stabilization
       4. creating track points
       5. applying stabilization
       6. fixing bad tracks
       7. 2D motion tracking
       8. applying a motion track
       9. tracking interlaced footage
       10. Radio Waves effect
       11. applying tracks to effect points
       12. planar tracking with mocha AE
       13. pasting the mocha track into After Effects
       14. Bezier Warp effect
       15. 3D Camera Tracker (new in CS6)
       16. defining the plane; moving the target
       17. creating a track null; parenting
       18. adding 3D text and a shadow catcher
       19. stabilizing position, rotation, and scale
       20. keying using the Keylight effect
       21. creating garbage mattes
       22. Rolling Shutter Repair (new in CS6)
17. Lesson 10 – Paint, Roto, and Puppet
    1. Exploring Paint, Roto Brush, and the Puppet tools.
       1. basic painting
       2. erasing strokes
       3. Paint Channels
       4. Paint blending modes
       5. brush duration bar
       6. animating strokes
       7. revealing a layer
       8. creating organic textures
       9. tablet settings
       10. cloning
       11. transforming strokes
       12. basic Roto Brush
       13. Roto Brush workflow; the base frame
       14. propagating strokes
       15. corrective strokes
       16. refining the matte
       17. Puppet Pin tool
       18. animating Puppet pins
       19. Puppet Overlap tool
       20. recording puppet animation
       21. Puppet Starch tool
       22. multiple shapes
18. Lesson 11 –Shape Layers
    1. Creating, animating, and extruding vector-based shapes.
       1. creating a shape layer
       2. Stroke and Fill settings, editing shapes
       3. multiple shapes
       4. Even-Odd Fill
       5. shape effects
       6. creating buttons
       7. Shape Repeater
       8. compound shapes; Merge Paths
       9. gradients
       10. shape pen paths
       11. Wiggle Transforms
       12. advanced strokes
       13. dashes and gaps
       14. animating a stroke
       15. create shapes from vector layers (new in CS6)
       16. extruding shape layers (new in CS6)
19. Lesson 12 – Final Project
    1. Creating a show opening, from draft to completion.
       1. delivery specifications
       2. music considerations; creating the main comp
       3. spotting music
       4. mocking up the 3D world; Label colors
       5. 3D view layouts
       6. initial camera move; Separate Dimensions
       7. placing the 3D background
       8. 3D Camera Tracker
       9. time stretch; frame blending
       10. typesetting the title
       11. applying text animation presets
       12. timing animation to music
       13. using shapes to create a video frame
       14. creating a reusable element
       15. crafting an efficient composition hierarchy
       16. replacing placeholders; ETLAT
       17. filling out the background
       18. creating animated lines
       19. using expressions to animate to music
       20. enabling Motion Blur; rendering a proof
       21. delivering a broadcast package
       22. ideas for enhancing the final project
20. Appendix – Rendering
    1. Unleashing your creations on the world.
    2. The Render Queue (movie)
    3. rendering: under the hood
    4. Render Settings Templates
    5. Output Module Templates
    6. rendering movies
    7. rendering sequences
    8. issues that affect image quality
    9. field flicker (movie)
    10. 3:2 Pulldown
21. Back Matter
    1. Resources, Production Credits
    2. Index