Hands-On Motion Graphics with Adobe After Effects CC

Hands-On Motion Graphics with Adobe After Effects CC

by David Dodds
Released March 2019
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781789345155

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Book description

Discover the techniques to enhance your videos with complex animations

About This Book
  • Design, animate, and sequence complete Motion Graphics Project
  • Work with compositions & pre-compositions to create animations quickly.
  • A practical guide to maximizing your motion graphics and visual effects skills
Who This Book Is For

This book is targeted at students, professionals, Youtubers, and people who are interested in video editing, animation, motion graphics. It is also for Illustrators who would like to put their creations in motion would very much like to read this book.

What You Will Learn
  • Create a lower third project for a TV show with complex layers
  • Work with Shape Layer Animation to create an animated lyric video
  • Explore the different tools to animate characters
  • Use Text animation to create a dynamic film opening title
  • Use professional-level visual effects to create a VFX project
  • Model, light, and composite your 3d project in After Effects
In Detail

Adobe After Effects is one of those tools that will help you enhance your videos and bring life to it. Video Editors, YouTubers use After Effects to implement Visual Effects and Motion Graphics in their videos.

Hands-On Motion Graphics with Adobe After Effects CC shows you the basics, intermediate and advanced techniques in Adobe After Effects CC 2018. You will start by setting up your editing environment to learning and improving techniques to better your videos. Furthermore, you will work with basic and advanced special effects to create, modify, and optimize motion graphics your videos. Lastly, you will not only learn how to create a 2.5D animation but also learn how to use Cinema 4D Lite to build and animate complete 3D scenes.

With the help of projects, you will learn to package a whole video efficiently by the end of the book.

Table of contents

  1. Preface
    1. What this book covers
  2. Getting started with After Effects
    1. Technical requirements
      1. Computer requirements
    2. Exploring the interface
      1. Resetting the layout
      2.  Saving your project
      3. The project panel
      4. Importing images
      5. Preferences autosave
      6. Creating compositions
      7. The timelines and the toolbar
      8. How to bring layers into your composition
        1. Tool panel
        2. Preview panel
        3. Composition window
        4. Effects panel
    3. Introduction to layer properties
      1. Layer panel
      2. The footage panel
      3. Timeline panel
      4. Navigating in the timeline
      5. Current time indicator
      6. The workspace area
      7. Trimming layers
      8. Creating composition markers on your timeline
      9. Animating a property
      10. Animating Scale
    4. Solid layers and masking
      1. Duplicating layers
      2. Identifying and turning off your layers
      3. Solo layers
      4. Tagging your layers
      5. Looking at transform properties
      6. Rulers and guides
    5. Editing masks
      1. Editing your mask shape
      2. How to edit masks
      3. Using the subtract masking feature
    6. Create an animated slideshow
    7. Summary 
    8. Questions
    9. Further reading
  3. Create a Lower third for a television show
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Animating a television lower third with precomps and null objects
      1. Designing with storyboards
      2. Editing masks and using precomps
      3. Nesting precomps and using the pen tool
    3. Animation, nulls, text, and rendering
      1. Parenting and null object animation
      2. Parenting null animation
        1. Parenting
          1. Positioning lower third
          2. Creating a dark blue solid
          3. Triangle pickwhip
    4. Color correction and adjusting masks
      1. Adjusting colors
      2. Adjusting masks
    5. Creating text/easy easing keyframes/rendering
      1. The type tool
        1. Type fill
        2. Adjust text
      2. Rendering
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
  4. Use Shape Layers to Create an Animated Lyric Video
    1. Using shape layers to create transitions and background graphics
      1. Creating shape 1
      2. Create a new polystar shape layer
      3. Creating a transition shape
    2. Importing audio, text animation presets, background graphics
      1. Importing audio and creating composition markers
      2. Text animators
      3. Editing your text preset keyframes
      4. Creating a animated background shape
    3. Summary
    4. Questions
    5. Further reading
  5. Create a graphic video using icon and character animation
  6. Produce a film title project using Text Animator
  7. Animate a sports broadcast using basic effects
  8. Develop a vfx project using shot replacement
  9. Implement a 2.5 D environment camera fly through
  10. Build a 3D c4d lite logo project

Product information

  • Title: Hands-On Motion Graphics with Adobe After Effects CC
  • Author(s): David Dodds
  • Release date: March 2019
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781789345155