After Effects CS5 Essential Training

http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=59957


chapter 2 Introductory Project

Preview

• space bar » preview (not in real time, no audio)

• click on the last button on the preview panel

• 0 (zero on the key pad) » Ram RealTime preview with audio

Output in Render Queue

1. adjust settings

2. set "output to" location

3. click on "Render"


chapter 3 Getting Started

Maximize a panel

1. mouse over a panel

2. press ~ key

Create a new composition based on an existing footage

drag the footage to the "new composition" icon

Add content to a composition
• command + / to add content to the center of the composition panel

• drag a content to the composition, timeline, or layer panel

Composition Setting commend + K, or go to the menu Composition, or fly out menu of the timeline panel

Duration input inside the Composition Setting
15 = 00;00;15
115 = 00;01;15
5.. = 05;00;00

Frame Rate
Web 15 - 20
NTSC 29.97
PAL 25
Film 24
HD PAL 50
HD NTSC 60

Video Dimensions
Full HDV 1440 x 1080
HDV/HDTV 1280 x 720
DV 720 x 480

chapter 4 Learning to Animate

Illustrator file

import as a composition to keep all layers

Solo view

choose "•" on layers panel

T R A P S
T: Opacity
R: Rotation [negative values mean counter clockwise]
A: Anchor Point
P: Position
S: Scale [negative values mean flipping the content]
press any key of the five = show the one in layers panel
Shift + press any key of the five = adding one to the existing list

Reset anchor point
press y key+drag or choose "Pan Behind Tool"

Puppet Tool

Open/fold layer's key frames
• select the layer
• press or double-press "U" key

Command key for puppet tool
record my mouse movement while dragging the puppet tool

Copy/past key frame
• select one or more key frames (can use marquee)
• copy and then place the play-head on the timeline
• paste keyframes where the play-head is

Shortcuts
Home - go to the beginning of timeline
End - go to the end of timeline
Page down - next frame
Page up - previous frame
J - the previous key frame
K - the next key frame


chapter 5 Precomposing and Nesting Compositions

Group/Pre-comp (for both layers and compositions)

Layer » Pre-compose

Navigation
• Double click the pre-composition to go inside
• click the Shift key, then use the arrow keys or mouse to go forward and backward

Duplicate : command key + D


chapter 6 Effects

Create a new layer
1. in a composition
2. Layer » New or right-click in the timeline panel

Reset values
• the yellow "Reset"
• right-click on any settings, such as Scale, Opacity

Apply Effects
• drag to the layer
• choose the layer first, double click the effect

Toggle fx icon to show/hide the effect

Create a fire ball








Cycore effects is powerful and fast

Blur Effects are cool when use with particles
(Two blur effects here)











Motion Blur









Brainstorm
"Randomness" controls variations








chapter 7 Video

Shorten layers
• drag the timeline ends of the footage
• shift drag to snap to the playhead
• Edit » Split Layer (at the playhead)
• Option + Home key to bring the footage timeline back to beginning

Trim video
• double-click a footage in a project panel or timeline to edit it in the footage panel or layer panel
• Ripple Insert Edit or Overlay Insert Edit
• more: http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64215

Rename layers
press return key and don't double-click

Change video speed
option 1: Stretch on the time line (ok quality, fast rendering)
option 2: Timewarp effect (great quality, long rendering)
option 3: in-camera slow-motion or fast-motion shooting (best quality)

Import footage with an alpha channel
• choose the alpha channel options in the import window

Change footage's alpha channel setting
1. select the footage
2. choose Interpret Footage

Hide layers


chapter 8 Color-correcting footage

Cinematic color treatments
• artistic eye
• combine color balance, hue/saturation, level, and more

A quick vignette
1. create a solid black layer
2. choose the ellipse Shape tool from the tool bar to create a mask
3. double-click on the ellipse tool to create an ellipse at the same size of the project
4. change the mask setting from Add to Subtract
5. adjust feather value

Colorizing black-and-white footage - 5 ways
• Hue/Saturation » select Colorize
• Color Balance
• Black & White
• Tint
• Tritone
• Colorama (it has preset)

Adjustment layers
• effect all layers underneath it
• carry Color Correction effects
• also carry Noise and Distort effects, and maybe more


chapter 9 Text

apply text animation presets
• select the layer and place the playhead where I want it to be
• go to the fly-out menu of the Effects and Presets panel » Browse Presets
• find Text presets and browse
• double-click the ideal preset to apply to the selected layer

Animate text manually
• apply animation to text
• add more settings to the existing animation
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64230


Layer Style
• add a layer style: either right-click on the layer or go to the Layer menu • Gradient Overlay looks good


chapter 10 Becoming More Efficient

work areas
• purpose: only render part of the composition
• drag the bars on timeline to set the work area
• press b and n key to set the work area according to the playhead
• shift + home, shift + end for navigating to the beginning and end of the work area
• shift + ~ : collapse/open selected layers

add layer markers
press control + 8 or Layer menu » Add Marker

add comp markers
drag from the timeline's marker icon

replace a footage
1. select the layer with the old footage
2. hold Option key
3. drag the new footage from the project panel over the selected layer in the composition panel
4. then release

navigate the timeline
• Option key + scrolling the mouse wheel: zoom
• Shift key + scrolling the mouse wheel: forward and backward
• d key: center the current playhead

navigate among layers
• command + up/down arrow

cropping and arranging layers
• option + [ or ]: crop layer
• [ or ]: move layer around the playhead
• option + home or end: move layer to either end of the timeline
• i or o: move playhead to either end of the cropped layer
• page-up or page-down: move playhead one frame next or previous (not involving layers)


chapter 11 Painting

paint brush
• works only in the layer comp panel
• turn on "paint on transparent"
• hold command key and drag to increase/decrease the brush size

Roto brush
• works at 100% view/full resolution
• works only in the layer comp panel
• Freeze after selecting the object
• in the Roto Brush Effect: try Refine Matte, Smooth, Reduce Chatter
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64244

Write-on Effect for growing vines • works in the layer comp panel
• key frame bursh position and size
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64245


chapter 12 masks and shape layers

make a mask
1. select the layer in the composition panel or timeline panel
2. choose the shape tool and draw over the layer

about masks
• change "add" to "subtract" to invert the mask or just check "Inverted"
• mask's path feather, opacity, expansion :: animate the settings

bubbles effect: foam effect

press and double-press m key

auto-trace
• Layer » Auto-trace
• choose "current frame" for still image result; "work area" for moving footage
• the preview looks much worse than the actual result
• some effects work with auto-traced layers/shapes: such as Stroke » such effects can be applied to multiple masks
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64249

mask objects/footage with other objects/footage - awesome results!!!!!!
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64250

create a shape layer
1. don't select any layers
2. draw a shape
• "Fill" and the fill color icon have different dialog windows
• use "Add" menu for a polystar - awesome results!!!!!!
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64252

chapter 13 3D

3D layer is always above 2D layers
• negative values are closer to the viewer (the opposite of Processing)

Add camera
1. right-click on the LEFT of the layer's name (must)
2. choose New » Camera

• Unified Camera

Add lighting
1. right-click on the LEFT of the layer name (must)
2. choose New » light

Add shadows
1. turn on Casts Shadows in this window and adjust the values
2. open each layer pressing "Command a" "Shift ~" and double-press "a"
3. turn on "Casts Shadows" for each layer (if all layers are selected, doing one layer effects all layers)
• Shadow Diffusion is for a softer edge

Add Depth of Field
1. open the camera layer
2. turn on Depth of Field and adjust Distance, Aperture, and Blur Level


Shatter Effect: blowing a wall (nice!)
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64258


chapter 14 Keying and Compositing

Keying
• the best keying effect — Keylight
• change Screen Color according to the back drop
• "view: Status" to see the gray area
• under "Screen Matte": "Clip black" and "Clip white" values to set the gray area


Refine Matte effect for correcting bad green screen result
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64261


Film visual effect (I like it) (check the layers of the file)
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64263


Blend Mode


chapter 15 Intermediate Animation

Orientation to motion path
• use menu or right-click on the layer

Motion Sketch
• record mouse location + speed!
• increase Smooth value to make the movement smooth
• check "background" to show the bg
Easing
1. select the key frame2. use the menu

Graph Editor
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64272

Auto-keyframes (from a different video course)
• the big red button
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=63399


chapter 16 Stabilizing and Tracking Motion

Work inside the layer panel
• it works inside the composition panel as well

Stabilizing
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64274

Tracking• including lights
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64275



chapter 17 Parenting and Expressions

Parenting - grouping one layer to another, then another...
• work with Position, Anchor Point, Rotation, Scale
• doesn't work with Opacity and Effects

Parenting with Null objects - grouping multiple layers to a Null layer
1. create a new Null layer
2. select multiple layers, then repeat the above step to make the Null layer a parenting layer
• looks great when using in 3D!
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64279

Create Expressions
• Any key frames can have Experssions
• Option key + click on the Stop Watch
• manual input
• auto input from parenting data, even a puppet pin (note: not have to be parenting layers)
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64280

Wiggle expression - awesome effect!
• wiggle position, color effects, and so on
• wiggle(5,10) means wiggle(times per second, pixel threshold)
• great for the background image shaking and shaking objects
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64282
isolating layer view


chapter 18 Audio

• press "0" or "."key on the Number keypad(!) to listen to the audio
• audio layers are treated same as video layers

Audio Effects
• Reverb is pretty interesting

chapter 19 Rendering and Compression

Rendering
• Render Queue
• don't forget check "Audio Output"
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64289

Compression
• QuickTime - Animation - 100% :: great quality
• H.264 highest settings :: good for web, so so quality
http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=64290


chapter 20 Integration

Copy paths from Illustrator and Photoshop
• just Paste
• click on the "Position" of a layer, then paste - this makes the path a motion path for that layer's content

Flash
save files in FLV/F4V
export files in both SWF and XFL (like FLA)

Quotes 1 ~ Wit and Wisdom

It's better to fail in originality, than succeed in imitation. — Herman Melville

Better nouveau than never. — Groucho Marx

Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. — Winston Churchill

Early to bed. Early to rise. Work like hell and advertise. — Dr. Scholl

The first thing to decide before you walk into any negotiation is what to do if the other fellow says no. — Ernest Bevin

There are no short cuts to any place worth going. — Beverly Sills

Those who lack courage will always find a philosophy to justify it. — Albert Camus

What the mind can conceive, the mind can achieve. — Clement Stone

Happiness is a singular incentive to mediocrity. — Michel Montaigne

If everything seems under control, you are not going fast enough. — Mario Andretti

We don't see things as they are. We see them as we are. — Anais Nin

Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than going to a garage makes you a mechanic. — Laurence J Peter

Happiness is a singular incentive to mediocrity. — Michel Montaigne

Art is not what we see; it is in the spaces between. — Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)

Man can will nothing unless he has first understood that he must count on no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth. — Jean-Paul Sartre | Being and Nothingness {L’Etre et le Néant}

If glamour is magic, if it’s really about casting a spell, one should happily confront the manipulation of it all. It’s adult to manipulate, and only human. — Isaac Mizrahi, designer

When creative work is then attempted, the student will know what s/he is about and will not be lost in ignorance or trial and error. If s/he is deeply interested in his/her work, every healthy wo/man has a deep capacity for developing the creative energies in his/her nature. — a unknown book (probably about art education)

The trick is not how much pain you feel but how much joy you feel. Any idiot can feel pain. Life is full of excuses to feel pain, excuses not to live, excuses, excuses, excuses. — Erica Jong, author

We create stories and stories create us. It is a rondo. — Chinua Achebe

No revolution in outer things is possible without prior revolution in one's inner way of being. Whatever change you aspire to... must be preceded by a change in heart. — I Ching Hexagram 49

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. — the Dalai Lama

To understand is to perceive patterns. — Isaiah Berlin

We are fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance. — Japanese proverb

To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak. — Hopi saying

From wonder into wonder existence opens. — Lao-tzu

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change. — Buddha

Wisdom begins with wonder. — Socrates

When you have only two pennies left in the world. Buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other. — Chinese proverb

I don't want to be a passenger in my own life. — Diane Ackerman

The opposite of play is not work. It is depression. — Brian Sutton-Smith

Nine tenths of education is encouragement. — Anatole France

When you possess light within, you see it externally. — Anaïs Nin

We don't see things as they are. We see things as we are. — Anaïs Nin

To receive everything, one must open one's hands and give. — Taisen Deshimaru

Generosity during life is a very different thing from generosity in the hour of death; one proceeds from genuine liberality and benevolence, the other from pride or fear. — Horace Mann

Sell your cleverness and purchase bewilderment. — Rumi

Nobody can hurt you without your permission. — Mahatma Gandhi

Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another. — Madonna

Choosing not to choose is a choice in itself. — Unknown

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. — Nelson Mandela

The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. — Henry Miller

Always be a little kinder than necessary. — James M. Barrie

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. — Martin Luther King, Jr.

No man can justly censure or condemn another, because indeed no man truly knows another. — Thomas Browne

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. — Buddha

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are. — Joseph Campbell

The way to find out about happiness is to keep your mind on those moments when you feel most happy, when you are really happy — not excited, not just thrilled, but deeply happy. This requires a little bit of self-analysis. What is it that makes you happy? Stay with it, no matter what people tell you. This is what is called following your bliss. — Joseph Campbell

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen. — Albert Einstein

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. — Marie Curie

If God had wanted us to be the same, He would have created us that way. — Koran

When you start on a long journey, trees are trees, water is water, and mountains are mountains. After you have gone some distance, trees are no longer trees, water no longer water, mountains no longer mountains. But after you have traveled a great distance, trees are once again trees, water is once again water, mountains are once again mountains. — Zen teaching

If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished? — Rumi

The maxim "Nothing but perfection" may be spelled "Paralysis. — Winston Churchill

Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends. — Shirley MacLaine

I love not man the less, but Nature more. — Lord Byron

Passion is the element in which we live; without it, we hardly vegetate. — Lord Byron

A mistress never is nor can be a friend. While you agree, you are lovers; and when it is over, anything but friends. — Lord Byron

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. — William James

A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are things which renew humanity. — Buddha

If we always helped one another, no one would need luck. — Sophocles

When you are kind to others, it not only changes you, it changes the world. — Harold Kushner

Heroes take journeys, confront dragons, and discover the treasure of their true selves. — Carol Pearson

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. — Albert Einstein

The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice. — George Eliot

Perspective is worth 80 IQ points. — Alan Kay

Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables. — Spanish proverb

There is no truth. Only points of view. — Dame Edith Sitwell

You were given a right foot and a left foot, not a right foot and a wrong foot. — Buckminster Fuller

Any fool can make a rule and any fool will mind it. — Henry David Thoreau

Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun. — Katharine Hepburn

I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. — Robert A. Heinlein

Why are women immobile? Because so many feel like they're waiting for someone to say, "You are good, you are pretty, I give you permission." — Eve Ensler

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. — Dr. Seuss

Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, "This is the real me," and when you have found that attitude, follow it. — William James

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. — Rumi

In many ways we were drugged when we were young. We were brought up to need people. For what? For acceptance, approval, appreciation, applause. — Anthony de Mello

Love is an act of courage, not of fear. — Paolo Freire

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. — Michelangelo

I cannot live without my life. — Emily Bronte

What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be. — Ellen Burstyn

Language... has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word "solitude" to express the glory of being alone. — Paul Tillich

I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people: that each protects the solitude of the other. — Rainer Maria Rilke

For many people, an excuse is better than an achievement because an achievement, no matter how great, leaves you having to prove yourself again in the future; but an excuse can last for life. — Eric Hoffer

I will not take "but" for an answer. — Langston Hughes

I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse. — Florence Nightingale

He who cannot dance claims the floor is uneven. — Hindu saying

Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses. — George Washington Carver

Love is much more demanding than law. — Archbiship Desmond Tutu

The palest ink is better than the sharpest memory. — Chinese proverb

Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace. — Albert Schweitzer

If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us. — Hermann Hesse

I am a part of all that I have met. — Lord Alfred Tennyson

Wherever there is a human being, there is a chance for a kindness. — Seneca

It is by logic we prove. It is by intuition we discover. — Henri Poincaré

You have to be available to the invisible voices that are swirling around you. — George C. Wolfe

You haven't seen a tree until you have seen its shadow from the sky. — Amelia Earhart

A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out. — Grace Pulpit

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. — Lao-tzu

Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall. — Ray Bradbury

Everything in life is based on daring. — Martin Buber

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential. — Winston Churchill

A sobering thought: what if, at this very moment, I am living up to my full potential. — Jane Wagner

Simplicity is the key to brilliance. — Bruce Lee

Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live. — Dorothy Thompson

Anger is just a cowardly extension of sadness. It's a lot easier to be angry at someone than it is to tell them you're hurt. — Tom Gates

If you really want something in this life you have to work for it. Now quiet, they are about to announce the lottery numbers. — Homer Simpson, The Simpsons

The manner of giving is worth more than the gift. — Pierre Corneille

What we do flows from who we are. — Paul Vitale

Do or do not. There is no "try." — Master Yoda

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Without deviation, progress is not possible. — Frank Zappa

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. — Albert Einstein

I embrace emerging experience, I participate in discovery. I am a butterfly. I am not a butterfly collector. I want the experience of the butterfuly. — William Stafford

Desire is half of life, indifference is half of death. — Kahlil Gibran

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. — Eleanor Roosevelt

Far away is only far away if you don't go there. — O. Povo

A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for. — Grace Hopper

Fear is what prevents the flowering of the mind. — Krishnamurti

The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is on the contrary born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life. When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything else—we are the busiest people in the world. — Eric Hoffer

To do two things at once is to do neither. — Publilius Syrus

Our life is frittered away by detail... Simplify, Simplify. — Henry D. Thoreau

Things do not change, we change. — Henry D. Thoreau

It is not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy. The bee is praised. The mosquito is swatted. — Mary O'Connor

What is the use of running when we are not on the right road? — German proverb

Cooking is a great way to get back in touch with things that brought us comport. — Liz Scott

Anything made with love, bam!—it's a beautiful meal. — Emeril Lagasse

People change and forget to tell each other. — Lillian Hellman

A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one. — Heraclitus of Ephesus

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow. — Alice Walker

Live is a verb. — Charlotte Perkins Gilman

When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free. — Charles Evans Hughes

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.. — Oscar Wilde

It's time to start living the life you've imagined. — Henry James

It's never too late to be what you might have been. — George Eliot

Praise the bridge that carried you over. — George Colman

You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you have to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are. — Fred Rogers

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. — Larry James

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become. — Buddha

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. — Buddha

To understand everything is to forgive everything. — Buddha

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. — Buddha

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. — Buddha

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. — Buddha

Not to mourn for the past,
Not to worry about the future,
Not to anticipate troubles
But to live the present moment
Wisely and earnestly. — Buddha?

Only the foolish learn from experience — the wise learn from the experience of others. — Romanian Proverb

Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others. — Otto von Bismarck

In human relationships, kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths. — Graham Greene

You have not lived until you have almost died. Life has a flavor the protected will never know. — Unknown

To love is to give, to be brave, to hold the pain, and ultimately to live. — Jing Zhou

Each of us literally chooses, by his way of attending to things, what sort of universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit. — William James

When you take charge of your life, there is no longer need to ask permission of other people or society at large. When you ask permission, you give someone veto power over your life. — Geoffrey F. Albert

Intensity: say yes
Inclusion: be generous
Integrity: speak up
Intimacy: love more
Intuition: trust yourself
Intention: slow down
— Life Is a Verb p8, by Patti Digh

The Four Noble Truths — http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/fourtruths.html