After Effects CS6 Digital Classroom Book Official Site | After Effects CS6 Book

Adobe After Effects CS6 Digital Classroom is like having a personal instructor guiding you through each lesson, while you work at your own pace. This After Effects book and DVD includes 10 self-paced lessons helping you learn essential skills and explore new features and capabilities of Adobe After Effects.

Full color lessons with easy to follow step-by-step instructions
Video tutorials highlight key topics in each lesson | view sample video tutorial
Covers all essential After Effects skills | view Table of Contents
Gets you up-and-running quickly with included lesson files on DVD
Written by expert instructors – it's like having your own personal tutor
Used by hundreds of schools and more than 100,000 readers

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Starting Up

About Digital Classroom
Prerequisites
System requirements
Starting Adobe After Effects CS6
Fonts used in this book
Loading lesson files
Working with the video tutorials
Viewing the video tutorials
Additional resources

Lesson 1: Understanding Motion Graphics

Starting up
Defining motion graphics
Television and video graphics
Internet and mobile devices
Desktop distribution and presentation graphics
Digital video basics
Understanding video formats
Understanding frame rate and resolution
Understanding transparency
Self study
Review

Lesson 2: Understanding the After Effects Interface

Starting up
Understanding and working with menus
Opening an existing After Effects project
Understanding the After Effects panel system
After Effects panels
Primary panels
Understanding the workspace
Viewing and hiding panels
Docking and undocking panels
Resizing panels
Saving a custom workspace
Resetting the workspace
Setting After Effects Preferences
Changing the default undo levels
Enable Auto-Save
Self study
Review

Lesson 3: Media Management— Working with Images, Video, and Audio

Starting up
What is Media Management?
Projects, compositions, and layers: an overview
Creating a new project
Importing media files
Organizing the Project panel
Modifying the column displays
Creating folders and subfolders
Previewing footage
Previewing stills and video
Previewing audio
Trimming a video clip
Importing multiple files
Importing Photoshop and Illustrator files
Importing image sequences
Importing After Effects compositions
Locating missing files
Using the Interpret Footage dialog box
Looping an audio or video file
Using Remember Interpretation
Using the Collect Files command to consolidate files
Self study

Lesson 4: Creating Animation in After Effects

Starting up
Understanding the animation workflow
Creating and working with compositions
Creating a new composition
Understanding composition settings
Importing compositions
from Photoshop and Illustrator
Working with layers
Understanding the layer switches
Understanding layer stacking order
Changing layer names
Creating Kinestasis by animating the Anchor Point
Animating rotation
Using layer parenting to ease repetition
Animating position
Understanding motion paths
Using layer motion blur
Adjusting Motion Blur settings
Using blending modes
Applying layer styles
Understanding nested compositions
and precomposing
Adding nested styles
Pre-composing layers
Creating a fade-in by animating Opacity and Scale
Self study
Review

Lesson 5: Working with Masks, Track Mattes, and Keys

Starting up
Working with masks in After Effects CS6
Creating masks with the shape tools
Selecting and manipulating masks
Animating the position of masks
Working with mask feathering
Setting the Mask Feather Property
Setting Per Vertex mask feathering.
Creating freeform masks
Setting up the project
Animating the shape of masks
Understanding track mattes
Creating track mattes
Creating mattes from animated Photoshop files
Creating a chroma key
Creating a garbage matte
Creating a chroma key
Refining the matte
Self study
Review

Lesson 6: Working with Text

Starting up
Creating text in After Effects CS6
Setting text properties globally
Formatting individual characters
Animating text properties
Saving an animator as a preset
Working with text animation presets
Modifying animation presets
Creating custom text animators
Creating a typewriter effect
Creating a blur-in effect
Creating text on a path
Self study
Review

Lesson 7: Working with Audio

Starting up
Audio in After Effects
Previewing audio
Adding audio files to the Timeline
Viewing audio file metadata
Looping audio files in After Effects CS6
Animating audio levels
Working with audio effects
Using composition markers to set the beat
Naming composition markers
Refining the position of composition markers
Syncing animation to composition markers
Creating keyframes from audio files
Self study
Review

Lesson 8: Working with 3D in After Effects

Starting up
Previewing animation with RAM preview
Working with the After Effects 3D
Creating 3D layers
Using multiple viewports
Understanding 3D Transform properties
Understanding Material Options
Animating 3D layers in After Effects CS6
Creating and using lights
Understanding light options
Animating light properties
Creating and using cameras
Understanding basic camera options
Animating camera properties
Creating the depth-of-field effect
Creating a Rack Focus shot
Working with the After Effects 3D Layers
Creating a Ray-traced composition
Extruding and Beveling Text
Creating Reflections
Self study
Review

Lesson 9: Advanced Animation

Starting up
Animating with effects in After Effects CS6
Applying effects to layers
Animating effect properties
Saving animation presets
Applying and modifying effects presets
Time-reversing a layer
Using the Motion Sketch panel to capture motion
Controlling layer orientation
Using the Smoother panel to soften movement
Using the Wiggler panel to add frantic motion
Create acceleration and
deceleration using Easy Easing
Changing spatial interpolation in After Effects CS6
Adding easing to keyframes
Using squash and stretch to enhance the animation
Animating with the Graph Editor
Create a strobing effect using hold interpolation
Self study
Review

Lesson 10: Tracking and Stabilizing Footage

Starting up
Understanding Video Stabilization and Tracking
Using the Warp Stabilizer in After Effects CS6
Using the 3D Camera Tracker
Adjusting render settings
Attaching 3D layers to Track Points
Self study
Review

Lesson 11: Working with Expressions and Scripts

Starting up
Automating animation with expressions
Finding expressions in After Effects CS6
Adding expressions to properties
Using the loopOut() expression
Using the random() expression
Using the Time property with expressions
Using the wiggle() expression
Working with scripts
Installing and running scripts
Creating scripts
Finding additional scripts
Using and running scripts
Using the Ease and Wizz Script
Self study
Review

Lesson 12: Outputting After Effects Projects

Starting up in After Effects CS6
Rendering files for output
Understanding the Render Queue
Adding compositions to the Render Queue
Adjusting render settings
Duplicating jobs in the Render Queue
Creating render templates
Exporting a project file
Trimming and cropping compositions
Rendering an individual frame
Self study
Review

Appendices

Appendix A
Adobe After Effects keyboard shortcuts
Appendix B
After Effects secondary panels
Appendix C
Still images and image sequences
Project formats
Appendix D
Understanding formats and codecs
Understanding bit rate
Understanding spatial and temporal compression
Appendix E
Understanding Video Displays
Understanding aspect ratio and pixel aspect ratio
Progressive display versus interlacing