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, DVD, 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 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, 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® Mac® OS software.
To complete the lessons in this book, you’ll need to have both Adobe After Effects CC and Adobe Bridge CC installed.
Installing After Effects and Bridge
You must purchase the Adobe After Effects CC software separately. For system requirements and complete instructions on installing the software, visit www.adobe.com/support. Note that After Effects CC requires a 64-bit operating system and OpenGL 2.0 support. You must also have Apple QuickTime 7.6.6 or later installed on your system.
Many of the lessons in this book use Adobe Bridge. After Effects and Bridge use separate installers. You must install these applications from Adobe Creative Cloud onto your hard disk. Follow the onscreen instructions.
Optimizing performance
Creating movies is memory-intensive work for a desktop computer. After Effects CC requires a minimum of 4GB 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 (Mac OS) 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.
1. Locate the After Effects preferences folder on your computer:
• For Windows:…/Users/<user name>/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/ AfterEffects/12.0.
• For Mac OS:…/Users/<user name>/Library/Preferences/Adobe/After Effects/12.0
2. Rename any preferences files you want to preserve, and then restart After Effects.
Note
In Mac OS 10.7 and later, 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.
Accessing the Classroom in a Book files
The lessons in Adobe After Effects CC Classroom in a Book use specific source files, such as image files created in Adobe Photoshop® and Adobe Illustrator®, audio files, and prepared QuickTime movies. To complete the lessons in this book, you need to download the lesson files from peachpit.com. You can download the files for individual lessons, or download them all in a single file.
Your Account page is also where you’ll find any updates to the chapters or to the lesson files. Look on the Lesson & Update Files tab to access the most current content.
To access the Classroom in a Book files, do the following:
1. On a Mac or PC, go to www.peachpit.com/redeem, and enter the code found at the back of your book.
2. If you do not have a Peachpit.com account, create one when you’re prompted to do so.
3. Click the Lesson & Update Files tab on your Account page. This tab lists downloadable files.
4. Click the lesson file links to download them to your computer.
5. Create a new folder on your hard disk, and name it Lessons. Then, drag the lesson files you downloaded into the Lessons folder on your hard disk.
Note
As you complete each lesson, you will preserve the start files. In case you overwrite them, you can restore the original files by downloading the corresponding lesson files from your Account page at peachpit.com.
When you begin each lesson, you will navigate to the folder with that lesson number, where you will find all of the assets, sample movies, and other project files you need to complete the lesson.
If you have limited storage space on your computer, you can download each lesson folder individually as you need it, and delete it afterward if desired. You do not have to save any finished project if you don’t want to, or if you have limited hard disk space.
About copying the sample movies and projects
You will create and render one or more QuickTime movies in some lessons in this book. The files in the Sample_Movie 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 end-project files vary in size from relatively small to a couple of megabytes, so you can either download them all now if you have ample storage space, or download just the end-project file for each lesson as needed, and then delete it 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 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. For comprehensive information about program features and tutorials, refer to these resources:
• Adobe After Effects Help and Support: www.adobe.com/support/aftereffects is where you can find and browse Help and Support content on Adobe.com.
• Adobe Creative Cloud Learning: helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/tutorials.html provides inspiration, key techniques, cross-product workflows, and updates on new features. The Creative Cloud Learn page is available only to Creative Cloud members.
• Adobe Forums: forums.adobe.com lets you tap into peer-to-peer discussions, questions, and answers about Adobe products.
• Adobe TV: tv.adobe.com is an online video resource for expert instruction and inspiration about Adobe products, including a How To channel to get you started with your product.
• Adobe Design Center: www.adobe.com/designcenter 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 Marketplace & Exchange: www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange 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 Labs: labs.adobe.com gives you access to early builds of cutting-edge technology as well as forums where you can interact with both the Adobe development teams building that technology and other like-minded members of the community.
Adobe certification
The Adobe training and certification programs are designed to help Adobe customers improve and promote their product-proficiency skills. There are four levels of certification:
• Adobe Certified Associate (ACA)
• Adobe Certified Expert (ACE)
• Adobe Certified Instructor (ACI)
• Adobe Authorized Training Center (AATC)
The Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) credential certifies that individuals have the entry-level skills to plan, design, build, and maintain effective communications using different forms of digital media.
The Adobe Certified Expert program is a way for expert users to upgrade their credentials. You can use Adobe certification as a catalyst for getting a raise, finding a job, or promoting your expertise.
If you are an ACE-level instructor, the Adobe Certified Instructor program takes your skills to the next level and gives you access to a wide range of Adobe resources.
Adobe Authorized Training Centers offer instructor-led courses and training on Adobe products, employing only Adobe Certified Instructors. A directory of AATCs is available at partners.adobe.com.
For information on the Adobe Certified programs, visit www.adobe.com/support/certification/main.html.