What you'll learn

Welcome to the Quick Start to After Effects. Quick Starts are a series of specially-constructed courses meant to be followed in sequence and include valuable exercises to reinforce learned concepts. We'll go through After Effects in a very methodical, step-by-step way, making sure to cover the tools and techniques that are most important in enabling you to get up and running quickly. In this initial volume, we'll cover the basics of getting started working in After Effects. We'll discuss navigation and the interface. We'll cover methods of working with outside sources for assets and how to import them to After Effects. We'll also learn how to work with layers on the Timeline and how to start editing and adding effects to them to create a story. In the end, we'll end up with a finished commercial style ad that will teach you the basics of getting started with After Effects as well as give you a few editorial pointers. While following along with these lessons and building a project together will provide you with valuable knowledge, the real power comes from being able to take the techniques you've learned and apply them in a different way to your own work. These courses are designed to be taken in sequence so we really encourage you to start with this volume and proceed all the way through to Volume 5, and take advantage of the periodic assignments along the way to get the full learning experience. Software required: After Effects CC v. 12.0.0.404.