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  • Hello everyone, and welcome to this video! Let's see how you can quickly

  • and easily learn how to use Adobe After Effects CC Release 2017 when

  • starting for the first time!

  • Please leave us any comments below in video description to improve our

  • future video guides!

  • After Effects is one of the most complete and professional video editing

  • software mainly used in post-production. This is different from Premiere

  • Pro CC, it is used to add effects, particles and transitions in order to

  • enhance the overall video appearance.

  • When you open After Effects, a dialog box opens, this is used to create a

  • new or to open existing projects. Under Recent, you can find all your most

  • recent After Effects projects ready to use. Below this, you would use New

  • Project... to start with a new project, or use Open Project... to browse

  • for an existing one.

  • You also have the possibility to work with Team Projects, which are special

  • projects that can be shared inside groups and teams. We won't see these in

  • this very basic tutorial.

  • In order to see and learn all the basic features you need inside After

  • Effects, let's create a new project.

  • The overall project interface is composed of several panels, and they

  • change slightly depending on the workspace chosen at the very top. For

  • simplicity, we will see just the default one, called Essentials.

  • Each of these panels you see can be closed and eventually reopened by going

  • to the Window tab, and choosing them from the list.

  • The first thing to do with a new project is to import all the media files

  • you need, which can be either images, videos or sound files. You can do so

  • by simply dragging and dropping them on the project from your computer.

  • Hold the CTRL button down and select multiple files if you want to import

  • more of them at once.

  • All these files imported, called Footage, are listed with their name,

  • format and size under the Project panel on the left. Just remember that all

  • these files are imported as simple links. This means that, if the original

  • file is either deleted or moved elsewhere, it won't be available in this

  • project anymore, and it will be shown in italic. In case you simply moved

  • it elsewhere, just right-click on the file, and go to Replace Footage,

  • and then to File... to relink it to the new location.

  • Once your files are inside the Project panel, just drag and drop them on

  • the timeline panel at the very bottom. These will be contained inside rows,

  • called Layers, represented as colored rectangles with a fixed duration.

  • When the first clip is imported, you will also create a new Composition,

  • that collects all the Layer rows you see. This will also be listed inside

  • the Project panel, with a frame icon on the left. So you can see that this

  • panel shows you the overall content of your project, composed by a single

  • or multiple compositions, and each composition is indeed a collection of

  • Layers listed and placed on the timeline, containing images, videos, audio

  • files, or even other compositions, that you can import inside the timeline

  • and seen as Footage.

  • To create new Compositions, click on the frame icon at the bottom of the

  • Project panel. Each Composition has its own settings, that you can check

  • and edit by right-clicking on its name and going to Composition Settings.

  • Here you can set the Composition name, its video resolution, and also its

  • frame rate. Also, under Duration, you can extend the overall duration of

  • the Composition, this is important in case there is an insufficient

  • duration to contain all your media.

  • Let's see how to preview your project inside After Effects!

  • On the central part of the interface, you have the main Video Preview, used

  • to check how your project is going. In particular, if you double-click

  • on any Footage inside the Project panel, this will be opened in the Video

  • Preview. You can also double-click on a Layer inside your timeline to

  • preview it. In order to check the overall content inside the Composition

  • that is open on your timeline, just double-click on it from the Project

  • panel.

  • Also, use your mouse wheel to zoom in and out. Hold the Space bar key and

  • click and drag to pan and check the details. You can play and stop quickly

  • by using the Space bar key. The first preview may not be excellent: After

  • Effects needs to render the preview first, until the thin green line

  • you see covers the whole timeline duration. At this point, the preview

  • will be fluid.

  • Pay attention to the Video Preview timeline. This always refers to the

  • element you have chosen, that you can check on the tab above. For example,

  • if you have a Layer or a Footage open, the timeline will follow

  • the duration.

  • But, if you open a Composition, you will directly preview all its content

  • that is shown in the main timeline below. In this case, the Video Preview

  • shows exactly what is under the blue playhead. You can also click and drag

  • it to check an exact frame.

  • Now, let's see how to edit your Composition through the main timeline.

  • You can zoom in and out by holding down ALT and using your mouse wheel on

  • it.

  • To move each clip in time, just click and drag it to where you like.

  • Consider that you may need to wait for the composition to be rendered again

  • to get a good preview.

  • You can also stretch or shorten a clip by clicking and dragging from its

  • furthest most edges. There is no problem for image clips but, for video and

  • audio clips that have a fixed duration, you may not be able to stretch

  • those over it. Also, if you shorten them, After Effects shows the cut

  • content under a darken color.

  • You can also use the Video Preview to correct the appearance of the visible

  • clips. If you have a Composition open, you can select each of its clips

  • from the timeline to edit their position by clicking and dragging. You can

  • also scale and size by using the nodes you see. You can rotate each clip

  • selected by enabling the Rotation Tool on the left, and clicking and

  • dragging on the Video Preview.

  • Let's see how to fully edit each of your Layer rows inside your timeline.

  • All the tools and settings of those are collected on the left.

  • First of all, each Layer gets the name from its Footage imported by default,

  • but you can rename it by right-clicking on it and going to Rename.

  • Also, the Layer order sets the order of visibility of the Video Preview.

  • In short, a Layer that is placed on top is shown above all the other layers

  • that stay below. To change a Layer position, just click and drag it up or

  • down from its name.

  • You can cut, copy, and paste a Layer by selecting it, and going to the

  • Edit tab above. In case you make any mistake, you can undo your latest

  • action by using CTRL+Z with your keyboard.

  • On the far left of each layer you have four important buttons to control

  • the content inside the Composition. Inside visible layers, such as videos

  • and images, you can use the eye icon to hide or show their content.

  • Inside videos and sound files, you can use the speaker icon to mute or

  • unmute these.

  • For all Layers, you can use the Solo icon to playback just the specific

  • layer, or use the Lock icon to block any possible change or modification on

  • the layer content.

  • Each Layer has a small grey arrow. If you click on it, you will check the

  • full list of properties and features for each Layer. For example, image

  • layers show the Transform section, used to adjust the Layer content

  • position, size, inclination and transparency through Opacity. To change

  • these settings, you can either click on a value to type it directly, or

  • simply click and drag it to fine tune the settings. Use Reset to return to

  • the original values.

  • To check the effect of your modifications, make sure to have the Video

  • Preview open on the Composition, with the blue playhead placed over the

  • Layer you wish to preview.

  • Layers with an audio content have the Audio section, that shows the volume

  • level under Audio Levels and the sound waveform under Waveform. Videos that

  • have audio inside show both Transform and Audio sections.

  • Inside this list are included all the effects applied to each Layer. You

  • can apply amazing effects by going to the Effects & Presets panel on the

  • right, and browsing for your favorite effect. Then, just and drag and drop

  • the effect on the layer. This will be added inside the list, with all

  • its settings. You can also enable and disable each effect by clicking on

  • the fx icon on the far left, in order to see how the Layer changes with the

  • effect applied.

  • Let's see how to add a simple title. To do so, just enable the Horizontal

  • Type Tool on top, and click and drag on the Video Preview to create a text

  • box, that is used to contain your text. After that, type in, and modify

  • all the text properties by using the Character panel on the right. To place

  • text correctly, just click and drag it directly on the Video Preview.

  • Remember that text is no more but an independent layer inside your

  • Composition.

  • Let's see how to save and render your project! To save your overall

  • project, including all the settings and effects applied on each single

  • Layer and Composition, go to File and then to Save As twice.

  • If you want to obtain the final video to upload it online or simply play

  • it back, you have to render it first.

  • The Render Queue panel is used to render your selected Compositions

  • individually, from top to bottom. You can open it by using the Window tab.

  • At this point, open the Composition to render, go to the Composition tab,

  • and then to Add to Render Queue. This will show up on the Render

  • Queue panel.

  • Under Render Settings, click on Best Settings to adjust the Quality,

  • Resolution and Frame Rate on the right. Keep in mind that the Size is

  • determined by the Composition Settings seen before.

  • Under Output Module, click on Lossless to select the video format to use,

  • the color code and the main Audio settings. Click on Output To, to set the

  • destination folder, which is where the final video will be saved, and the

  • name for your video.

  • Once the destination folder is set, the new status will be ''Queued'', and

  • then you can start rendering by going to Render on the far right.

  • The part of the Composition that will be rendered is just the part that is

  • within the Work Area on the timeline, which is the second thicker bar from

  • the top. You can stretch and move it as you like by clicking and dragging

  • on it.

  • Thanks for watching this video! Check out our channel for more professional

  • and free Adobe tutorials!

Hello everyone, and welcome to this video! Let's see how you can quickly

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