Skip to content
close
  • Inside Blue WhaleBlue Whale Media
    • About Us
    • AwardsAwards
    • Testimonials
    • TrainingTraining
    • EventsEvents
    • CharityCharity
    • Vacancies
    • Blog
  • Web ServicesWeb Services
    • Web Design
    • Audit
    • Hosting
    • Ecommerce
    • Development
  • ProductionProduction
    • Video Production
    • Live Shoots
    • Animation
    • Aerial Imagery
    • Photography
    • Social Media
  • MarketingMarketing
    • Marketing
    • SEO
    • Pay Per Click
    • Social Media
    • Email Marketing
  • ContentContent
    • Website Content
    • Blogging
    • Press Release
    • Product Descriptions
  • PortfoliosPortfolios
    • Website
    • Content
    • Branding
    • Marketing
  • Contact UsContact Us
  • ConsultationConsultation
  • EmailEmail
  • TelephoneTelephone
close
  • Inside Blue WhaleBlue Whale Media
    • About Us
    • AwardsAwards
    • Testimonials
    • TrainingTraining
    • EventsEvents
    • CharityCharity
    • Vacancies
    • Blog
  • Web ServicesWeb Services
    • Web Design
    • Audit
    • Hosting
    • Ecommerce
    • Development
  • ProductionProduction
    • Video Production
    • Live Shoots
    • Animation
    • Aerial Imagery
    • Photography
    • Social Media
  • MarketingMarketing
    • Marketing
    • SEO
    • Pay Per Click
    • Social Media
    • Email Marketing
  • ContentContent
    • Website Content
    • Blogging
    • Press Release
    • Product Descriptions
  • PortfoliosPortfolios
    • Website
    • Content
    • Branding
    • Marketing
  • Contact UsContact Us
  • ConsultationConsultation
  • EmailEmail
  • TelephoneTelephone
Call us Email us
Blue Whale Media Logo
  • Inside Blue WhaleBlue Whale Media
    • About Us
    • AwardsAwards
    • Testimonials
    • TrainingTraining
    • EventsEvents
    • CharityCharity
    • Vacancies
    • Blog
  • Web ServicesWeb Services
    • Web Design
    • Audit
    • Hosting
    • Ecommerce
    • Development
  • ProductionProduction
    • Video Production
    • Live Shoots
    • Animation
    • Aerial Imagery
    • Photography
    • Social Media
  • MarketingMarketing
    • Marketing
    • SEO
    • Pay Per Click
    • Social Media
    • Email Marketing
  • ContentContent
    • Website Content
    • Blogging
    • Press Release
    • Product Descriptions
  • PortfoliosPortfolios
    • Website
    • Content
    • Branding
    • Marketing
  • Contact UsContact Us
  • ConsultationConsultation
  • EmailEmail
  • TelephoneTelephone
Menu
Blue Whale Media Ltd
  • Inside Blue WhaleBlue Whale Media
    • About Us
    • AwardsAwards
    • Testimonials
    • TrainingTraining
    • EventsEvents
    • CharityCharity
    • Vacancies
    • Blog
  • Web ServicesWeb Services
    • Web Design
    • Audit
    • Hosting
    • Ecommerce
    • Development
  • ProductionProduction
    • Video Production
    • Live Shoots
    • Animation
    • Aerial Imagery
    • Photography
    • Social Media
  • MarketingMarketing
    • Marketing
    • SEO
    • Pay Per Click
    • Social Media
    • Email Marketing
  • ContentContent
    • Website Content
    • Blogging
    • Press Release
    • Product Descriptions
  • PortfoliosPortfolios
    • Website
    • Content
    • Branding
    • Marketing
  • Contact UsContact Us
  • ConsultationConsultation
  • EmailEmail
  • TelephoneTelephone
Close Menu

Adobe After Effects Guide

A Beginners Guide to After Effects

In this blog I will attempt to give beginners a guide to After Effects, going over the simple steps to setting up the perfect compositions and how to do a few specific editing techniques. After Effects looks like a spaceship interface to somebody who has never opened it before, however, I will try to strip the look down and explain the difficult parts.

Project

The first thing to understand when opening up After Effects is your project, this is where you upload your clips and where all your compositions are kept, it contains information regarding the FPS, and dimensions of your clips. It also has a search bar feature, so it is really important that you name all of your clips and compositions appropriately. You are also able to put things into folders within after effects and change the bits per channel between 8, 16 and 32.

Composition

The second thing that that you will come across when setting up a video is the composition, when you open up new composition it gives you some options, for example, dimensions, it helps to know what size your video needs to be and what platform it will be displayed on. You should also load your footage into the project panel first as it tells you your frames per second and your compositions fps should match the video you are using.

Layers

Getting to grips with layers and the timeline in After Effects is the key to unlocking the true power of After Effects. This is due to the fact that the majority of the animation controls are situated here such as keyframes, but also that there is a huge amount of ‘hidden’ functionality which is not immediately apparent.

One of the most useful functions of layers is using footage or an object in one layer to act as a matte (or mask) for the layer beneath it. Place the layer to be used as a matte immediately above the content layer. On the content layer use the ‘TrkMat’ dropdown to choose how the mask layers should interact with the footage layer, either via transparency (Alpha) or image brightness (Luma).

The layers option is at the top of the screen and allows you to add a selection of different layers e.g. Solid, adjustment, shape, camera and null.

Animated Typography

Creating kinetic typography with After Effects is great fun, with a powerful selection of bespoke animation tools when using the dedicated text object layer, it is easy to create a wide range of animations both in 2D and 3D because the text in After Effects is able to follow 3D paths. There are also some useful presets in After Effects to help with animated typography

Plugins

One of the great things about Adobe switching to a subscription model is that when new features are ready, they are added to applications rather than waiting for the next big point release. However, there are still times when After Effects won’t be able to do what is required for the job.

Please select a valid form.
Call us

Call

01925 205 035
Email us

Email

[email protected]
Book a Zoom consultation

Zoom

Book a consultation today.

Client Support

Locations

Policies

Careers

Company Reg: 15890531

GDPR Data Protection Act: A8639602

By continuing to browse our site, you agree to the use of our cookies.
OK
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT