Learning Adobe After Effects
Driving Question: How Can I Use Adobe After Effects To Create A Polished Video Explaining My Research?
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I decided to learn Adobe AE because I wanted to show my research in a new and different way, and also because I wanted to learn something new. In this project, I edited a video in Adobe AE about my "Diet and Sickness?" project.
THE VISION
The vision for my project was a live-action video with animated clips in between, akin to a crash course video (example on the left). Since I am including some animations, my target audience was mainly people in my age group. However, styling my video in this manner will undoubtedly make it more engaging, and hopefully, reach a larger audience.
Example video, may take a second to load.
Initial Apps
Some initial apps that I tried were Animaker, Powtoon, and Adobe Spark. While these animation apps weren't bad, they were geared more for quick video shorts such as ads, product promotions, or quick explanations. Plus, for Animaker and Powtoon, I had to buy the full version to get access to most features.
Asking Students
I sent an email to the student body to ask about video editing/animating software that I could use for my project.
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Afterwards, I emailed the principal, Julia, and tech support, Nick, to get access.
New Computer
I had to get a better computer to run Adobe After Effects. It requires a minimum of 2 GB of vram and 4GB to run smoothly. My old computer had 128MB of vram; this new computer has 6GB of vram, allowing me run After Effects at high quality.
Evidence
Learning The Layout
Asset Preview
Media Assets
Edit Assets in Composition Panel
View Project/Composition Panel
Timeline
Customizable panel including text options, effect presets, audio effects, animations, etc.
Tools and Menu Bar
Other Options/Search Bar
Adobe Basic Tutorials
Create a new composition
Adobe Tutorial Compositions
Channel info
These compositions were created by following instructions from Adobe tutorials.
People & Blogs
Adobe Tutorial Compositions
Keyframe Movement Example (2)
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Basic Keyframe Animation: Adobe Tutorial
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In this Adobe tutorial, I learned the basics of keyframe animation.People & Blogs
Easy Ease & Graph Editor: Adobe Tutorial
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In this Adobe tutorial, I learned I learned how to apply easy ease to keyframe animations and refine it using the graph editor.People & Blogs
Adobe After Effects Basics Composition: Adobe Tutorial
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In this Adobe tutorial, I learned the basics of keyframe animation.People & Blogs
Adding Motion Blur: Adobe Tutorial
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In this Adobe tutorial, I learned how to add motion blur.People & Blogs
Following a Motion Path: Adobe Tutorial
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In this Adobe Tutorial, I learned how to make a car follow a motion path.People & Blogs
Parent Child Link Motion: Adobe Tutorial
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In this Adobe Tutorial, I learned how to make multiple parts move together.People & Blogs
Basic Logo Animation: Adobe Tutorial
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In this Adobe tutorial, I learned the basics of logo animation involving multiple partsPeople & Blogs
Advanced Logo Animation: Adobe Tutorial
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In this Adobe tutorial, I learned how to coordinate multiple parts to move in concert.People & Blogs
Advanced Logo Animation Using Graph Editor: Adobe Tutorial
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In this Adobe tutorial, I learned how to use the graph editor to refine keyframe animationPeople & Blogs
Adding Glow & Fade Effect To Logo: Adobe Tutorial
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In this Adobe tutorial, I learned how to add a glow and fade effect.People & Blogs
I started learning by going through the basic tutorials provided by Adobe After Effects. This taught me the layout, basics of keyframe animation, animation effects, and additional tools
PDF file, may take a second to load
Adobe After Effects Master Class
After going through the Adobe Tutorials, I still didn't feel like I knew enough. I went online and found a masterclass course for 80% off at $16.
This course covered all the basics from the Adobe Tutorials as well as advanced topics such as green screen, masking, rotoscoping, and motion tracking.
Each lesson also had an exercise/activity, resulting in many mini-compositions. I finished all the beginner and intermediate lessons before starting on my final project.
Adobe AE Master Class Compositions
Channel info
These compositions were created by going through Adobe AE Master Class lessons.
People & Blogs
Adobe AE Master Class Compositions
Applying Stretch & Blur Animation Preset
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Learned how to add and manipulate the stretch & blur animation preset to create a transition effect.People & Blogs
Adjusting Footage and Syncing Audio to Footage
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I learned how to crop and adjust footage as well as sync it with an audio clip.People & Blogs
Syncing Footage with Audio
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I learned how to crop and adjust footage as well as sync it with an audio clip.People & Blogs
Adding Effects on Shapes
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Learned how to apply and adjust effects on shapes as well as create custom shapes with the pen tool.People & Blogs
3D Shapes
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Learned how to add and manipulate 3D shapes and lights.People & Blogs
Intro to Text Animations
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I learned and played around with different text animations.People & Blogs
Animating a Text Intro with Slow Fade On Effect
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Used the "slow fade on" effect in combination with keyframe animation to create an animated text intro/title.People & Blogs
Animating 3D Text (Star Wars Intro)
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Used my knowledge of 3D text animation to create an imitation Star Wars intro.People & Blogs
Video in Text with Pre Comp
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I learned how to add a video within text and add effects by creating a pre-comp.People & Blogs
Write On Effect with Video In Text
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I learned how to create a write-on text effect while including a video within the text.People & Blogs
No Video Lessons
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Screen shots of compositions without a video..
PDF file, may take a second to load
Final Draft (Excerpt)
PDF file, may take a second to load
YouTube Video, may take a second to load
Final Mini-Reflection
Going into this, I honestly thought that video editing was going to be easy, like dragging a preset effect to a chunk of text to make it do something fancy. I was quickly proven wrong. Every small piece of animation takes so much thought and different moving parts. I remember making my first text box animation took me an hour because I had to create a sound effect, adjust the anchor point, position, height, length, keyframes, text format, and end animation. This definitely taught me perseverance, and overall, I think it was super fun and rewarding. In total, I probably spent a combined ≈ 50 hours of learning time.
Next Steps
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Find template for intro
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Finish draft
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Ask for feedback
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Make revisions
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Send out to the public (most likely school)