Getting Started
Adobe After Effects CC provides a comprehensive set of 2D and 3D tools for compositing, animation, and effects that motion graphics professionals, visual effects artists, web designers, and film and video professionals need. After Effects is widely used for digital post-production of film, video, DVDs, and the web. You can composite layers in various ways, apply and combine sophisticated visual and audio effects, and animate both objects and effects.
About Classroom in a Book
Adobe After Effects CC Classroom in a Book (2019 Release) is part of the official training series for Adobe graphics and publishing software, developed with the support of Adobe product experts. The lessons are designed to let you learn at your own pace. If you’re new to Adobe After Effects, you’ll learn the fundamental concepts and features you’ll need to master the program. And if you’ve been using Adobe After Effects for a while, you’ll find that Classroom in a Book teaches many advanced features, including tips and techniques for using the latest version.
Although each lesson provides step-by-step instructions for creating a specific project, there’s room for exploration and experimentation. You can follow the book from start to finish, or do only the lessons that match your interests and needs. Each lesson concludes with a review section summarizing what you’ve covered.
Prerequisites
Before beginning to use Adobe After Effects CC Classroom in a Book (2019 Release), make sure that your system is set up correctly and that you’ve installed the required software and hardware. You should have a working knowledge of your computer and operating system. You should know how to use the mouse and standard menus and commands, and also how to open, save, and close files. If you need to review these techniques, see the printed or online documentation included with your Microsoft® Windows® or Apple® macOS® software.
To complete the lessons in this book, you’ll need to have both Adobe After Effects CC (2019 release) and Adobe Bridge CC installed. The exercises in this book are based on After Effects CC (2019 release).
Installing After Effects, Bridge, and Media Encoder
Adobe After Effects CC is not included with the book; you must purchase it separately as part of an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. For system requirements and complete instructions on installing the software, visit https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/system-requirements.html. Note that After Effects CC requires a 64-bit operating system. To view QuickTime movies on macOS, you must also have Apple QuickTime 7.6.6 or later installed on your system.
Some of the lessons in this book use Adobe Bridge or Adobe Media Encoder. After Effects, Bridge, and Media Encoder use separate installers. You must install these applications from Adobe Creative Cloud (adobe.com) onto your hard disk. Follow the onscreen instructions.
Activating fonts
Several lessons use specific fonts that may not be installed on your system. You can activate the fonts using Adobe Fonts or choose a different font on your system with similar characteristics. If you choose a different font, your projects won’t look exactly like the ones shown in the book.
Adobe Fonts licenses are included in Creative Cloud subscriptions.
To activate fonts within After Effects, choose File > Fonts From Adobe, or click the Creative Cloud icon next to Add Adobe Fonts in the Font menu in the Character panel. Then, find the font in Adobe Fonts in your browser, and activate the font.
Optimizing performance
Creating movies is memory-intensive work for a desktop computer. After Effects CC (2019 release) requires a minimum of 8GB of RAM. The more RAM that is available to After Effects, the faster the application will work for you. For information about optimizing memory, cache, and other settings for After Effects, see “Improve performance” in After Effects Help.
Restoring default preferences
The preferences files control the way the After Effects user interface appears on your screen. The instructions in this book assume that you see the default interface when they describe the appearance of tools, options, windows, panels, and so forth. Therefore, it’s a good idea to restore the default preferences, especially if you are new to After Effects.
Each time you quit After Effects, the panel positions and certain command settings are recorded in the preferences files. To restore the original default settings, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift (macOS) while starting After Effects. (After Effects creates new preferences files if they don’t already exist the next time you start the program.)
Restoring the default preferences can be especially helpful if someone has already customized After Effects on your computer. If your copy of After Effects hasn’t been used yet, these files won’t exist, so this procedure is unnecessary.
Important: If you want to save the current settings, you can rename a preferences file instead of deleting it. When you are ready to restore those settings, change the name back, and make sure that the file is located in the correct preferences folder.
Locate the After Effects preferences folder on your computer:
For Windows: .../Users/<user name>/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/AfterEffects/16.0
For macOS: .../Users/<user name>/Library/Preferences/Adobe/After Effects/16.0
Rename any preferences files you want to preserve, and then restart After Effects.
Note
In macOS, the user library folder is hidden by default. To see it, in the Finder, choose Go > Go To Folder. In the Go To Folder dialog box, type ~/Library, and then click Go.
Online content
Your purchase of this Classroom in a Book includes online materials provided by way of your Account page on peachpit.com. These include:
Lesson files
To work through the projects in this book, you will need to download the lesson files from peachpit.com. You can download the files for individual lessons or it may be possible to download them all in a single file.
Web Edition
The Web Edition is an online interactive version of the book providing an enhanced learning experience. Your Web Edition can be accessed from any device with a connection to the Internet and it contains:
The complete text of the book
Hours of instructional video keyed to the text
Interactive quizzes
Accessing the lesson files and Web Edition
If you purchased an eBook from peachpit.com or adobepress.com, your Web Edition will automatically appear under the Digital Purchases tab on your Account page. Click the Launch link to access the product. Continue reading to learn how to register your product to get access to the lesson files.
If you purchased an eBook from a different vendor or you bought a print book, you must register your purchase on peachpit.com in order to access the online content:
Go to www.peachpit.com/register.
Sign in or create a new account.
Enter the ISBN: 9780135298640.
Answer the questions as proof of purchase.
The Web Edition will appear under the Digital Purchases tab on your Account page. Click the Launch link to access the product.
The Lesson Files can be accessed through the Registered Products tab on your Account page. Click the Access Bonus Content link below the title of your product to proceed to the download page. Click the lesson file links to download them to your computer.
Organizing the lesson files
The files are compressed into ZIP archives to speed download time and protect the contents from damage during transfer. You must uncompress (or “unzip”) the files to restore them to their original size and format before you use them with the book. Modern Mac and Windows systems are set up to open ZIP archives by simply double-clicking.
Note
If for any reason you need to download fresh copies of the lesson files, you can download them from your account again at any time.
On your hard drive, create a new folder in a convenient location, and name it Lessons, following the standard procedure for your operating system:
In Windows, right-click, and choose New > Folder. Then enter the new name for your folder.
In macOS, in the Finder, choose File > New Folder. Type the new name, and drag the folder to the location you want to use.
Drag the unzipped Lessons folder (which contains folders named Lesson01, Lesson02, and so on) that you downloaded onto your hard drive to your new Lessons folder. When you begin each lesson, navigate to the folder with that lesson number to access all the assets you need to complete the lesson.
About copying the sample movies and projects
You will create and render one or more movies in some lessons in this book. The files in the Sample_Movies folders are examples that you can use to see the end results of each lesson and to compare them with your own results.
The files in the End_Project_File folders are samples of the completed project for each lesson. Use these files for reference if you want to compare your work in progress with the project files used to generate the sample movies.
These sample movies and end-project files vary in size from relatively small to several megabytes, so you can either download them all now if you have ample storage space, or download just the files for each lesson as needed, and then delete them when you finish that lesson.
How to use these lessons
Each lesson in this book provides step-by-step instructions for creating one or more specific elements of a real-world project. The lessons build on each other in terms of concepts and skills, so the best way to learn from this book is to proceed through the lessons in sequential order. In this book, some techniques and processes are explained and described in detail only the first few times you perform them.
Many aspects of the After Effects application can be controlled by multiple techniques, such as a menu command, a button, dragging, and a keyboard shortcut. Only one or two of the methods are described in any given procedure, so that you can learn different ways of working even when the task is one you’ve done before.
The organization of the lessons is also design-oriented rather than feature-oriented. That means, for example, that you’ll work with layers and effects on real-world design projects over several lessons, rather than in just one lesson.
Additional resources
Adobe After Effects CC Classroom in a Book (2019 Release) is not meant to replace documentation that comes with the program or to be a comprehensive reference for every feature. Only the commands and options used in the lessons are explained in this book.
Tutorials within After Effects can help you get started: In After Effects, choose Help > Learn After Effects. The Learn panel opens with a series of tutorials.
For comprehensive information about program features and tutorials, refer to these resources:
Adobe After Effects Learn & Support: helpx.adobe.com/support/after-effects.html is where you can find and browse tutorials, help, and support on www.Adobe.com.
After Effects tutorials: helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/tutorials.html lists online tutorials for beginner and experienced users. You can go there directly from After Effects by choosing Help > Tutorials.
After Effects Forums: forums.adobe.com/community/aftereffects_general_discussion lets you tap into peer-to-peer discussions, and questions as well as answers about After Effects.
Adobe Create Magazine: create.adobe.com offers thoughtful articles on design and design issues, a gallery showcasing the work of top-notch designers, tutorials, and more.
Resources for educators: www.adobe.com/education and edex.adobe.com offer a treasure trove of information for instructors who teach classes on Adobe software. Find solutions for education at all levels, including free curricula that use an integrated approach to teaching Adobe software and can be used to prepare for the Adobe Certified Associate exams.
Also check out these useful links:
Adobe Add-ons: exchange.adobe.com/addons is a central resource for finding tools, services, extensions, code samples, and more to supplement and extend your Adobe products.
Adobe After Effects CC product home page: www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects
Adobe Authorized Training Centers
Adobe Authorized Training Centers offer instructor-led courses and training on Adobe products. A directory of AATCs is available at https://training.adobe.com/training/partner-finder.html