Getting started

In this lesson, you will become more familiar with the Adobe After Effects project workflow. You’ll learn new ways to accomplish basic tasks as you create a simple identification graphic for the introduction to a video presentation called “Explore Hawaii” for the fictional Blue Crab Charter Services. You will animate the title and logo so that they fade to become a watermark in the lower right corner of the screen during the presentation. Then you’ll export the introduction for broadcast output.

First, take a look at the final project files to see what you’ll be doing.

1. Make sure the following files are in the Lessons/Lesson02 folder on your hard disk, or download them from adobepress.com now:

   • In the Assets folder: BlueCrabLogo.ai, MauiCoast.jpg

   • In the Sample_Movie folder: Lesson02.mp4

2. Open and play the Lesson02.mp4 sample movie in Windows Movies & TV or QuickTime Player to see what you will create in this lesson. When you are done, close Windows Movies & TV or QuickTime Player. You may delete the sample movie from your hard disk if you have limited storage space.

   Before you begin the lesson, you’ll restore the default application settings for After Effects. See “Restoring default preferences” on page 3 for more information.

3. Start After Effects, and then immediately hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift (macOS) to restore default preferences settings. When prompted, click OK to delete your preferences.

4. In the Home window, click New Project.

   After Effects opens to display a blank, untitled project.

5. Choose File > Save As > Save As.

6. In the Save As dialog box, navigate to the Lessons/Lesson02/ Finished_Project folder.

7. Name the project Lesson02_Finished.aep, and then click Save.

Creating a new composition

Following the workflow you learned in Lesson 1, you need to import footage and create a new composition. You’ll import footage, create a composition, and then add your footage item to it.

Working with imported Illustrator layers

The BlueCrabLogo graphic was created in Illustrator; your job in After Effects is to add text and animate it. To work with the layers of the Illustrator file independently of the background footage, you’ll open the BlueCrabLogo composition in its own Timeline and Composition panels.

1. Double-click the BlueCrabLogo composition in the Project panel.

   The composition opens in its own Timeline and Composition panels.

2. Select the Horizontal Type tool () in the Tools panel, and click in the Composition panel.

3. Type EXPLORE HAWAII, all capital letters, and then select all of the text you just entered. Notice that the generic Text 1 layer name in the Timeline panel changes to EXPLORE HAWAII, the text you typed.

   

   Note

   If the Character panel isn’t open, choose Window > Character. You may need to expand the width of the panel to see the eyedropper.

4. In the Character panel, select a sans serif typeface such as Impact, and change the font size to 80 pixels. Click the eyedropper () in the Character panel, and click the outer border on the logo to select the yellow color. After Effects applies it to the text you typed. Leave all other options in the Character panel at their defaults.

   

   You’ll position the text you just typed using a guide.

5. Select the Selection tool () in the Tools panel.

   Tip

   You can also choose View > Show Grid to make the nonprinting grid visible to help you position objects. Choose View > Show Grid again to hide the grid later.

6. Choose View > Show Rulers, and then drag a guide from the top ruler into the Composition panel.

7. Right-click or Control-click the guide, click Edit Position, type 120 in the Edit Value dialog box, and click OK. The guide moves to the position you specified.

   

8. Drag the text so that it is centered over the image, snapping its bottom side to the guide.

9. Drag another guide from the top ruler, right-click or Control-click it, click Edit Position, type 150 in the Edit Value dialog box, and click OK.

10. In the Timeline panel, select the background layer, and then Shift-select the text layer to select all three logo layers. Align the top of the logo with the lower guide.

    

11. Choose View > Show Rulers, and then choose View > Show Guides, to hide the ruler and the guides.

12. Choose File > Save to save your work.

Applying effects to a layer

Now you’ll return to the main composition, Explore Hawaii, and apply an effect to the BlueCrabLogo layer. This will apply the effect to all of the layers nested in the BlueCrabLogo composition.

1. Click the Explore Hawaii tab in the Timeline panel, and then select the BlueCrabLogo layer.

   The effect you create next will be applied only to the logo elements, not to the background image.

2. Choose Effect > Perspective > Drop Shadow.

   

   A soft-edged shadow appears behind the nested layers of the BlueCrabLogo layer—the logo graphic and the words Explore Hawaii—in the Composition panel. You can customize the effect using the Effect Controls panel.

3. Choose Window> Effect Controls if the Effect Controls panel isn’t already open. In the Effect Controls panel, make sure that the drop shadow’s Distance is 5, and increase its Softness to 4. You can set each value by clicking the field and typing the number or by dragging the blue value.

   

   The drop shadow is nice, but the logo will stand out even more if you apply an emboss effect. You can use either the Effect menu or the Effects & Presets panel to locate and apply effects.

4. Click the Effects & Presets tab to open the panel. Then click the arrow next to Stylize to expand the category.

5. With the BlueCrabLogo layer selected in the Timeline panel, drag the Color Emboss effect into the Composition panel.

   

   The Color Emboss effect sharpens the edges of objects in the layer without suppressing the original colors. The Effect Controls panel displays the Color Emboss effect and its settings below the Drop Shadow effect.

6. Choose File > Save to save your work.

Applying an animation preset

You’ve positioned the type and applied some effects to it. It’s time to add some animation! You will learn several ways to animate text in Lesson 3; for now, you’ll use a simple animation preset that will fade the words Explore Hawaii onto the screen next to the logo. You’ll need to work in the BlueCrabLogo composition so that you can apply the animation to only the EXPLORE HAWAII text layer.

1. Click the BlueCrabLogo tab in the Timeline panel, and select the EXPLORE HAWAII layer.

2. Move the current-time indicator to 1:05, which is the point at which you want the text to start fading in.

   

3. In the Effects & Presets panel, choose Animation Presets > Text > Animate In.

   

4. Drag the Fade Up Words animation preset onto the EXPLORE HAWAII layer in the Timeline panel or over the words Explore Hawaii in the Composition panel. Don’t worry about the text disappearing— you’re looking at the first frame of the animation, before the words have started to appear.

5. Click a blank area of the Timeline panel to deselect the EXPLORE HAWAII layer, and then drag the current-time indicator to 2:10 to manually preview the text animation. The text appears, one word at a time, until the words Explore Hawaii are fully onscreen at 2:10.

   

Precomposing layers for a new animation

The presentation graphic is coming along nicely, and you’re probably eager to preview the complete animation. Before you do, however, you’ll add a dissolve to all of the logo elements except the words Explore Hawaii. To do this, you need to precompose the other three layers of the BlueCrabLogo composition: text, crab, and background.

Precomposing is a way to nest layers within a composition. Precomposing moves the layers to a new composition, which takes the place of the selected layers. When you want to change the order in which layer components are rendered, precomposing is a quick way to create intermediate levels of nesting in an existing hierarchy.

1. Shift-click to select the text, crab, and background layers in the BlueCrabLogo Timeline panel.

2. Choose Layer > Pre-compose.

3. In the Pre-compose dialog box, name the new composition Dissolve_logo. Make sure the Move All Attributes Into The New Composition option is selected. Then click OK.

   

   The three layers are replaced in the BlueCrabLogo Timeline panel with a single layer, Dissolve_logo. This new, precomposed layer contains the three layers that you selected in step 1. You can apply the dissolve effect to it without affecting the EXPLORE HAWAII text layer and its Fade Up Words animation.

4. Make sure the Dissolve_logo layer is selected in the Timeline panel, and press the Home key or drag the current-time indicator to 0:00.

   Tip

   To locate the Dissolve – Vapor preset quickly, type vap in the search box in the Effects & Presets panel.

5. In the Effects & Presets panel, choose Animation Presets > Transitions – Dissolves, and then drag the Dissolve – Vapor animation preset onto the Dissolve_logo layer in the Timeline panel or onto the Composition panel.

   

   The Dissolve – Vapor animation preset includes three components—a master dissolve, a box blur, and a solid composite, all of which appear in the Effect Controls panel. The default settings are fine for this project.

6. Choose File > Save.

Previewing the effects

It’s time to preview all of the effects together.

1. Click the Explore Hawaii tab in the Timeline panel to switch to the main composition. Press the Home key or drag the current-time indicator to make sure you’re at the beginning of the time ruler.

2. Make sure the Video switch () is selected for both layers in the Explore Hawaii Timeline panel.

3. Click the Play button () in the Preview panel, or press the spacebar, to watch the preview. Press the spacebar to stop playback at any time.

   

   

Adding transparency

The logo should appear semitransparently in the corner of the frame during the presentation. You’ll reduce the opacity of the logo, scale it, and shift its position so that it can be used this way.

1. Still in the Explore Hawaii Timeline panel, go to 2:10.

2. Select the BlueCrabLogo layer, and press T to display its Opacity property. By default, the Opacity is 100%—fully opaque. Click the stopwatch icon () to set an Opacity keyframe at this point in time.

   

3. Press the End key or drag the current-time indicator to go to the end of the time ruler (2:29), and change the Opacity to 40%. After Effects adds a keyframe.

   

   The logo appears, the words Explore Hawaii show up, and it all fades to 40% opacity.

4. Go to 2:10, and press P to display the Position property and then Shift+S to display the Scale property, too. Click the stopwatch icons () to set initial keyframes for both properties.

5. Go to 2:25, and change the Scale to 25% and the Positon to 620, 410.

   

6. Click the Play button () in the Preview panel, press the spacebar, or press 0 on your numeric keypad to preview your composition.

   

   

7. Press the spacebar to stop playback when you’re done.

8. Choose File > Save to save your project.

Rendering the composition

You’re ready to prepare your presentation intro for output. When you create output, the layers of a composition and each layer’s masks, effects, and properties are rendered frame by frame into one or more output files or, in the case of an image sequence, into a series of consecutive files.

Making a movie from your final composition can take a few minutes or many hours, depending on the composition’s frame size, quality, complexity, and compression method. When you place your composition in the Render Queue, it becomes a render item that uses the render settings assigned to it.

After Effects provides a variety of formats and compression types for rendering output; the format you choose depends on the medium from which you’ll play your final output or on the requirements of your hardware, such as a video- editing system.

You’ll render and export the composition so that it can be broadcast on television.

1. Click the Project tab to bring the Project panel forward. If the Project tab is not visible, choose Window > Project.

2. Do one of the following to add the composition to the Render Queue:

   • Select the Explore Hawaii composition in the Project panel, and choose Composition > Add To Render Queue. The Render Queue panel opens automatically.

   • Choose Window > Render Queue to open the Render Queue panel, and then drag the Explore Hawaii composition from the Project panel onto the Render Queue panel.

3. Click the arrow to expand the Render Settings options. By default, After Effects renders compositions with Best Quality and Full Resolution. The default settings are fine for this project.

4. Click the arrow to expand the Output Module options. By default, After Effects uses the High Quality setting to encode the rendered composition into a movie file. If you’re using macOS, skip to step 5. If you’re using Windows, click the arrow next to High Quality, and choose Lossless.

5. Click the blue words next to the Output To menu.

   

6. In the Output Movie To dialog box, accept the default movie name (Explore Hawaii), select the Lessons/Lesson02/Finished_Project folder for the location, and then click Save.

7. Back in the Render Queue panel, click the Render button.

   

   After Effects displays a progress bar in the Render Queue panel as it encodes the file, and issues an audio alert when all items in the Render Queue have been rendered and encoded.

8. If you want to see your final product, double-click the Explore Hawaii.avi or Explore Hawaii.mov file in the Lessons/Lesson02/Finished_Project folder to open it in Windows Media Player or QuickTime, and then play the file.

9. Save and close the project file, and then quit After Effects.

   Congratulations. You’ve created a presentation intro suitable for broadcast.