Adobe After Effects : Tutorial 01

1. Start by connecting to the server and copy to your computer aetut_01 from the Shared
Folder. Then File > Import > Project and choose music spotted.aep from folder.
2. Reconnect the file downshift.mov ( + click ) and choose Replace Footage and locate
in root folder.
3. You will see the audio track in the Timeline. If you hit LL you can view the waveforms that
represent the amplitude of the sound. There are markers sets along the sequence that
line up with the peaks of the waveform.
4. In order to keep things organized, create a new folder sources. To create a new folder
click on the folder icon at the bottom of your project window.
5. File > Import > Multiple Files and select from material folder all the contained files.
6. Drag the footage item planet_e.mov into the star of your timeline 00:00:00. We want to
emphasize the three percussion hits at the beginning of the music. While selecting this
layer, press the S key and this will reveal the Scale parameter. Check the stopwatch to
activate it . Since we want our letter to jump, select Layer > Toggle Hold Keyframe ( or
select it from the drop down when holding down the Control key on the keyframe). Type
in a scale value of %30.
7. Go to the next marker (:0012) and enter a scale value of %70. Then to the next marker
(:00:24) and enter %100. You can try holding down the Shift key and dragging towards
the next marker and it should snap to it.
8. Next go tot File > Import and choose from the Text folder everythinghas.ai. By
importing as a Comp, you can see inside the Comp folder the layers of the Illustrator
document.
9. Go to:02:04 (1st marker 2) . Select the 3 Illustrator layers and drag them into the
Timeline. Sort the layers so they read in proper sequence (everything, has, beauty). This
will lessen the confusion later.
10. Go to 03:14 and select these top three layers (hold Shift and select) then type S key and
Shift T to reveal their Scale and Opacity parameters. Activate the Scale and Opacity
stopwatches and set opacity to %0 and the Scale to %100. ‘Then type Option + ] to trim
their end points to this frame.
11. Back up 12 frames (Shift + Page Up then Page Up key will back up 10 then 2 frames to
03:02). Then click the Opacity value for the three layers and type in %100.
12. Go back to:02:04 (1st marker 2). Scale all three layers to %40.
13. Now we want to spread them out in time. The everything layer can stay where it is. Line
up the Current Time Marker to 02:16 (with the 2nd marker 2), select the has layer and hit
the [ key and it will jump into place. Set the Current Time Marker to the next marker
(02:28) and repeat last step with beauty layer.
14. Shrink the text layers. Go to the marker 3 bass ( 04:08). Drag trees.mov into the
Timeline below text layers. Bracket the Work Area to overlap the second set of text and
part of this clip ( B= start work area, N= end work area) .

15. The cut is good but the video is moving a little slow for the driving beat so lets speed it
up. Select the trees.mov layer and select Layer > Time Stretch. Enter a value of %50
and Hold in Place at the Layer In Point. This will speed the video by x2 (any value more
than %100 will slow down the video). Click OK.
16. Now import the second phrase of text. File > Import go to Text Folder and select
noteveryone.ai. Import as a merged file as we will treat as one footage item.
..
17. Go to 04:08 and drag noteveryone.ai into the Timeline. With the layer selected type S
and T + Shift to reveal Scale and Opacity. Enter a Scale value of %40 and Opacity value
of %0 to start. Go to the Second marker (04:24) and set Opacity to %100 and Scale to
%100.
18. Next go to the marker 5 (08:16) and drag footage item trucks.jpg . We want to apply a
Pan Effect so position this large image so you can see the tracks centered in the Comp
window. Scale until you see all three trucks comfortably with some space around them.
Try holding down the Option key while selecting Scale below the layer and adjust the
slider. Around %70 seems good.
19. Shift + P and activate with stopwatch. Go to marker 7 (12:24) and insert a new keyframe.
This will duplicate the last one. Option + ] to trim to current frame.
20. Go back marker 5 (8:16) and re-position this layer so it gives the idea that the trucks are
going down the road.
21. Lets soften the transition between the trees.mov clip and trucks.jpg. Go to back to
marker 5 (08:16) with the trucks.jpg layer selected type option T and set the Opacity
value to %0. Go to the next marker (09:02) and set Opacity to %100. This will create a
nice crossfade.
22. To end it locate marker 7 (12:24) and drag footage item hand.tif into the Timeline. Type
S and Shift P. Select both keyframes (stopwatch) and Layer > Toggle Hold Keyframe
to make them jump. On the first keyframe, reduce the scale so the hand fits in the Comp
window and position as you like.
23. The go to the second marker (13:07) and scale it up stopping short of %100. To make it
appear as if the other hand is coming up, we want to mirror the hand. Select the Scale
value (control + click), disable Frame Aspect Ratio and enter a minus sign in front of the
width parameter. OK and adjust Position accordingly.
24. Go to the third marker (13:18) and Scale again this time enabling the Preserve Aspect
Ratio and type in a value of %100.
25. Lastly to finish we want a simple fadeout. Got the last pop marker. (14:12) and make sure
that the ‘hand.tif layer is selected. Type Shift + T and enable keyframe. Then go the end
of the Comp and enter a value of %100
26. Set Work Area brackets around the part of the clip you want to preview. Preview to Ram