Motion Graphic Course Outline

1 GETTING TO KNOW THE WORKFLOW

• 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 workspaces
• Controlling the brightness of the user interface
• Finding resources for using After Effects
• Review questions and answers

2 CREATING A BASIC ANIMATION USING EFFECTS AND PRESETS

• Getting started
• Importing footage using Adobe Bridge
• Creating a new 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

• Getting started
• About text layers
• Installing a font using Adobe Fonts
• Creating and formatting point text
• Using a text animation preset
• Animating with scale keyframes
• Animating using parenting
• Animating imported Photoshop text
• Animating type tracking
• Animating text opacity
• Using a text animator group
• Animating a layer’s position
• Timing layer animations
• Adding motion blur
• Review questions and answers

4 WORKING WITH SHAPE LAYERS

• Getting started
• Creating the composition
• Adding a shape layer
• Creating a self-animating shape
• Duplicating a shape
• Creating custom shapes
• Positioning layers with snapping
• Animating a shape
• Creating nulls from paths
• Previewing the composition
• Review questions and answers

5 ANIMATING A MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION

• Getting started
• Adjusting anchor points
• Parenting layers
• Precomposing layers
• Keyframing a motion path
• Animating additional elements
• Applying an effect
• Animating precomposed layers
• Animating the background
• Adding an audio track
• Review questions and answers

6 ANIMATING LAYERS

• 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
• Adding a video animation
• Rendering the animation
• Retiming the composition
• Review questions and answers

7 WORKING WITH MASKS

• 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 reflection
• Creating a vignette
• Adjusting the timing
• Trimming the work area
• Review questions and answers

8 DISTORTING OBJECTS WITH THE PUPPET TOOLS

• Getting started
• About the Puppet tools
• Adding Position pins
• Adding Advanced and Bend pins
• Stiffening an area
• Animating pin positions
• Using the Puppet tools to animate video
• Recording animation
• Review questions and answers

9 PERFORMING COLOR CORRECTION

• Getting started
• Adjusting color balance with levels
• Adjusting color with the Lumetri Color effect
• Replacing the background
• Color-correcting using Auto Levels
• Motion tracking the clouds
• Replacing the sky in the second clip
• Color grading
• Review questions and answers

10 CREATING MOTION GRAPHICS TEMPLATES

• Getting started
• Preparing a master composition
• Setting up a template
• Adding properties to the Essential Graphics panel
• Providing image options
• Protecting the timing of a section
• Exporting the template
• Review questions and answers

11 WORKING WITH THE 3D CAMERA TRACKER

• About the 3D Camera Tracker effect
• Getting started
• Tracking the footage
• Creating a ground plane, a camera, and the initial text
• Creating additional text elements
• Locking an image to a plane with a solid layer
• Tidying the composition
• Adding a final object
• Creating realistic shadows
• Adding ambient light
• Adding an effect
• Previewing the composition
• Review questions and answers

12 ADVANCED EDITING TECHNIQUES

• Getting started
• Stabilizing a shot
• Using single-point motion tracking
• Using multipoint tracking
• Creating a particle simulation
• Retiming playback using the Time warp effect
• Review questions and answers

13 RENDERING AND OUTPUTTING

• Getting started
• About rendering and output
• Exporting using the Render Queue
• Creating templates for the Render Queue
• Rendering movies with Adobe Media Encoder
• Review questions and answers