There’s a fantastic new resource available for After Effects users – a free three-hour in-depth tutorial on After Effects CS5. This introductory course covers a broad range of topics: learning the basics of compositing and animation, how to use keyframes as well as spatial and temporal interpolation, using parenting to group animated elements together, how to use masks and layers, introduction to effects, importing Photoshop documents into AE, syncing transitions to music, creating a master composition, how to render out your finished video to a standalone file, and more. The program is hands-on and includes downloadable sample files to follow along with for creating a motion graphic title sequence.
The free class is broken out into seven easily-digestible parts, and has already earned a five-star rating from viewers. It’s “learn by doing” and although the lessons are geared towards After Effects CS5, most of the concepts (though not all the product features or speed) apply to earlier versions such as CS4 or CS3. By the time you’re through, you’ll be able to make your own stunning motion graphic title sequence for a film using your software.
If you don’t already own After Effects CS5, it’s a phenomenal release and you can easily download the free 30-day trial from Adobe to get started with the training. (Note that After Effects CS5 requires a 64-bit system, so if you don’t have that yet, you may have to go with the free trial of After Effects CS4 instead… Then, if and when you’re ready to buy, you can get both of them together with a single purchase.)
| Classroom: Basic Compositing and Animation in After Effects CS5 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Part | Session Topic | Runtime |
| 1 | Animation and Compositing Basics | 27m 36s |
| 2 | Animation Technique and Keyframe Interpolation | 26m 54s |
| 3 | Masking and Duplicating Layers | 23m 44s |
| 4 | Parenting | 09m 36s |
| 5 | Precompositions and Master Compositions | 23m 50s |
| 6 | Photoshop to After Effects Workflow | 30m 39s |
| 7 | Final Touches and Rendering | 31m 43s |
Elsewhere, After Effects CS5 is garnering some great reviews – see what OSNews (“a very strong release“), Videomaker (“a must-have upgrade“) and Renderosity (“a solid release“) have to say about it…
If you’re new to After Effects, you may also want to read Getting Started with After Effects (CS4, CS5, & CS5.5) with a ton of tips from Adobe’s documentation lead Todd Kopriva. The free extensive “After Effects Basics” sessions from Andrew Devis are another fantastic resource.
Also see here for a comprehensive set of Adobe CS5 tutorials for all products.
Awesome! Thank you!
Any PDF files? I need that too. Thanks for these anyway.
You’re very welcome Rex – although this one’s in online video tutorial form only…
But see the link at the bottom of the article for a great web resource called, “Getting Started with After Effects.”
i want learning on after effects
Sure Anas, you can find more excellent free tutorial videos on Adobe TV.
I want to provide me a copy of a free education After Effects if they could.
Hello again Anas, Adobe doesn’t offer zero-cost copies except for the 30-day fully-functional free trials…
However the education versions are deeply-discounted for students and teachers, and are an even better deal for the suites (like CS5.5 Production Premium which includes AE as well as Premiere Pro, Audition, Photoshop Extended, etc.).
I love and and really appreciate what have read so far, and i will really like to be a wizard in after effects. where do I start from ?
Well Niran, click the first chapter above and press “play!” Also download the free trial to follow along, and read through the many pages of free documentation.