How Do I Do That in After Effects

Learn essential techniques to solve specific problems in After Effects and improve your workflow.

Introduction

• Are you wondering how to do that one thing in After Effects?
• Using the exercise files and prerequisites

1. Set Up a Project

• How do I import and organize footage for my After Effects project?
• How do I import a layered Photoshop file in After Effects?
• How do I import a layered Illustrator file in After Effects?
• How can I find things in an After Effects project?
• How can I easily move things from Premiere Pro to After Effects?

2. Using Compositions to Organize Animations

• How do I set up a composition in After Effects?
• How can I name and organize layers in After Effects?
• When should I use precompositions in After Effects?
• How can I combine multiple compositions into one?

3. Fixing Footage

• Removing camera shake in After Effects
• Adding camera shake in After Effects
• Removing flicker in After Effects
• Removing lens distortion in After Effects
• Improving a dark shot in After Effects
• Improving an overexposed shot in After Effects

4. Controlling Time

• Speeding up a shot in After Effects
• Slowing down a shot in After Effects
• Creating a variable speed effect in After Effects
• Creating an echo time effect in After Effects
• Reversing a shot in After Effects

5. Layers

• How can I scale a vector layer in After Effects?
• How can I trace a layer in After Effects?
• How can I arrange and align layers in After Effects?
• How do I link multiple layers in After Effects?
• How can I use a layer to mask another in After Effects?
• How can I mask a layer in After Effects?
• How can I blend layers with modes in After Effects?

6. Animation

• How can I animate an object in After Effects?
• How can I refine the velocity and ease of a layer to make it look more natural?
• How can I add motion blur to an animation to make it look realistic in After Effects?
• How can I use a null object to control animations in 3D space in After Effects?
• How can I save an animation preset in After Effects?
• How can I modify keyframes in After Effects?
• How can I create a staccato or popping animation in After Effects?

7. Working with Photos

• Importing photos and raw images into After Effects
• Importing a timelapse sequence into After Effects
• Creating pans and zooms on images in After Effects
• Creating a 3D photo effect with Photoshop and After Effects part 1
• Creating a 3D photo effect with Photoshop and After Effects part 2

8. Titling and Text

• How can I add text in After Effects?
• How can I use text animation presets in After Effects?
• How can I customize text animation presets in After Effects?
• How can I extrude text in 3D in After Effects?
• How can I create a handwritten title in After Effects?
• How can I create a MOGRT to save time in After Effects?
• How can I animate layered Photoshop text in After Effects?

9. Repair and Enhance Layers

• How can I clone an object in After Effects?
• How can I erase an object in After Effects?
• How can I cut out an object in After Effects with RotoBrush?
• How can I create a film-look in After Effects?

10. Keying and Compositing a Shot

• How do I key green screen footage in After Effects?
• How do I make believable depth of field effects in After Effects?
• How can I adjust the background when keying in After Effects?
• How can I relight my keyed footage in After Effects?
• How do I rotoscope in After Effects?

11. Rendering and Previewing

• How do I preview an entire After Effects animation?
• How can I speed up an After Effects preview for an animation?
• How do I render an After Effects animation?
• How do I include transparency information in a render?
• How can I speed up an After Effects render for an animation?
• How can I batch export from After Effects?

Conclusion

• Next steps