Motion Graphics and Video Effects Manual

Contents
The Interface.......................................................................2
Menu Bar..............................................................................................2
Toolbar........................................................................ .........................3
Creating and Editing a Video..............................................4
Importing a Video.................................................................................4
Trimming a Video.................................................................................4
Adding Special Effects to a Video.......................................5
Adding Text..........................................................................................5
Animating Text......................................................................................6
Correcting Exposure...........................................................8
Adding a Mask.....................................................................................8
Adding an Effect...................................................................................9
Getting to Know the Interface
1. Menu Bar
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
The menu bar is located in the top left corner of the screen. It is very similar to
menu bars found in other programs, and many features are located under the
same menu items as in other Adobe products.
1. Here you can open, save, import, and export projects and fles
2. One of the most useful features here is the Preferences section. The Preferences
section enables you to change the appearance of After Effects, as well as change mem-
ory settings and optomize the program to ft your needs. The undo, redo, and other
editable features can also be found here.
3. This is where you create a new composition, however there are other features here
that you should explore as well.
4. Create, edit, and arrange layers here
5. Edit various effects and presets here
6. Explore this menu item to add animation to videos
7. Similar to Photoshop, here you can fnd rules, grids, and guides
8. Here you can enable or disable different panels such as the info, audio, preview, and
effects and presets panels.
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2. Toolbar
The toolbar is also located in the top left corner of the screen. Here you
will fnd all the tools available to you in After Effects. Some tools are
hidden under their related tools, to access them simply click and hold the
mouse down on the little triangle located on the bottom right of certain
tools. .
V H Z W C Y Q G Ctrl+T Ctrl+B Ctrl+P Controls related
to active tool
The following letters are the shortcuts for their tools; for tools with hidden tools underneath, press
the shortcut several times to scroll through each hidden tool:
V. Selection Tool
H. Hand Tool
Z. Zoom Tool
W. Rotation Tool
C. Track XY Camera Tool
Y. Pan behind (Anchor Point) Tool
Q. Rectangle Tool
G. Pen Tool
Ctrl+T. Type Tool
Ctrl +B. Brush, Clone Stamp, and Eraser Tool
Ctrl +P. Puppet Pin Tool
C
G
Ctrl +T
Ctrl
+P
Q
Creating and Editing a Video
Importing a Video:
1. Under the File menu, click Import > File.
2. Highlight the fle you want to edit, and click
Open. Your video should appear in the
Project Panel on the left.
Trimming a Video:
1. Click and drag the Time Marker located
in the center of your screen from left to right to
get a basic preview of your movie.
2. Drag Time Marker back to original position.
3. Drag Time Marker to desired point where you want movie to start and click
Set IN point button located directly below .
4. Drag Time Marker further forward to point where you desire movie to end and click
Set OUT point button .
5. Click and drag your trimmed composition located in the Project Panel on the left onto
the composition button, this creates a new, trimmed composition.
To make a composition that you just trimmed longer, go to the menu bar and
click Composition > Composition Settings and change the duration and
start time numbers.
TIP!
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Adding Special Effects
to a Video
Adding Text:
1. Select the Type Tool from the Toolbar and draw a bounding box where you want
the text to appear on your video.
2. Type the text you want in your video and press enter.
3. Click the Ram Preview button located in the Preview Panel toward the top
right-side of the screen. This just shows you that the text is in fact in your video now.
To modify text use character and paragraph styles located in the Character
and Paragraph Panels on the right side of the screen.
TIP!
Animating Text:
1. Click and drag the Time Marker to the point in the video where you want the text to
appear.
2. Trim the text layer (the red horizontal bar below the Time Marker) by dragging its end-
point to the same point where you dragged the Time Marker in the previous step.
3. Click the Ram Preview button to make sure the text appears in the video at
the correct time.
4. Click the Triangle next to the text layer to show the layers properties.
5. Now two more words should appear: Text and Transform. Click the Triangle next to
the word Transform.
6. Before you do anything else, click the Stopwatch icon located to the left of the
Time Indicator.
7. Drag Time Marker forward to point where you want text to begin fading in.
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9. Set Opacity value to 0% by placing your cursor over the Opacity % and dragging it
to the left.
10. Drag Time Marker forward to point where you want text to become fully faded in.
11. Set Opacity value to 100%.
12. Click the Ram Preview button to make sure the text fades in accordingly.
Correcting Exposure
Adding a Mask:
1. First you need to create a new adjustment layer. To do this, go to the Menu Bar at
the top of the screen and click on layer > New > Adjustment Layer.
2. Click and drag the Adjustment Layer in between your text and movie layer. This
ensures that the effect is only applied to the movie and not the text.
3. Click on the Pen Tool . Now Click the cursor to begin drawing a mask on the
area of your video that you wish to apply the effect to. Each time you click a new point is
added, and you want to make sure that you close your mask by clicking your last point
on top of your frst point.
4. Use the Selection Tool to adjust the points on your mask.
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Adding an Effect:
1. Click on the Effects and Presets Panel located on the right side of your screen.
2. In the Effects and Presets Panel, search exposure.
3. Click and drag the exposure effect onto your Adjustment Layer.
4. Locate the Effects Controls Box in the top left corner of your screen.
5. In the Effects Controls Box, click and drag the exposure number to the left or
right to adjust the section of your video that you applied the mask to. You should be
able to see the results of the effect as you adjust it.
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