Learn Adobe After Effects In 15 Minutes
Tutorial includes basic things needed to get started in After Effects.
Start Window in After Effects
How to create a new project/composition in After Effects?
How to Import Files in After Effects?
How to use Timeline and Editing Layers in After Effects?
Main Tools for working in After Effects
Main Panels On The Right Side
Free extension for easy working in After Effects – EasyEdit Viewer
Animated VideoTemplates For EasyEdit Viewer
How to Import Ready-Made Scene From The HYPER – Graphics Pack?
How to Render Video in After Effects?
Create a new project
First of all, when you open After Effects you see the start window.
Here you can create a new project or open an existing one. Also the last projects you open will be displayed in this part of the window.
Click Create a new project.
Create a new composition
The first step is to create a new composition.
To do this click on this icon. In the window that appears we can adjust the size of our composition in width and height. If you tick the Lock Aspect Ratio, then the size of one side changes proportionally to the another.
Here we adjust the frame rate of our composition. In this window we adjust the duration.
How to import files?
You can import files (photos, videos, music) by right-clicking and selecting Import.
After that select the files you need > click Open.
Or just double click on the Project panel.
Main windows and panels.
This is the Timeline. All the layers of your main composition will be displayed here. Here you can edit these layers, adjust the time of their appearance and disappearance, duration and other general settings.
Selection Tool
This is the Selection Tool, it is analogous to the mouse cursor, but in After Effects.
By selecting it we can move layers
Hand Tool
This is the Hand Tool – by selecting it, we can move the window with the composition as we like.
Anchor Point
To show what it is, I’ll go ahead and create a shape using the Rectangle Tool. This is the anchor point. Now if we expand the transform menu and rotate our shape, we will see that it rotates around this point. Now if we put a point in the center of the shape and repeat the action, we will see that the rotation occurs relative to the center.
Type Tool
This is the Type Tool, it creates the text.
On the right side, the Character menu opens, in which we can set the basic settings for our text.
We can set the size of the text. Letter spacing. Line spacing. Font and style. And the color of the text.
Effects & Presets panel
It is the Effects&Presets panel. It contains animation effects, effects and presets for editing your own materials.
Align Layer
With Align you can align your element to the composition.
Align Text
The Paragraph menu allows you to align your text to the center, left or right edge.
Preview Controls
In the Preview menu, you can select the quality of the preview played. Use these arrows to move one frame forward or backward. Or even jump to the first or last frame. We can also specify the value of skipping the number of keyframes, for faster loading of our preview.
EasyEdit Viewer
FREE Extension/Plugin for After Effects that makes working process much easier and faster.
This is EasyEdit Viewer. You can download the extension for Mac OS and Windows.
Also here you can find projects available for EasyEdit Viewer.
This is HYPER Graphic Pack. It contains all the most important and useful things to be the coolest video creator.
For example, I select the Typography category – I import the shot I like and can edit it to fit my needs. In the Essential Graphics panel, you can edit the composition as you like.
You can change any text, its size, position. And choose the colors you like. Also, using these sliders, you can edit the time and duration of the animation appearance.
Export Your Video
To render video go to Composition > Add To Adobe Media Encoder Queue > Choose H.264 Format > Check the box Use Maximum Render Quality > Name Your Video >Click Render Button.
We also suggest watching our tutorial about rendering in After Effects.
