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electricjonny — A Beginner AE Tutorial
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Published: 2008-04-25 07:53:58 +0000 UTC; Views: 7990; Favourites: 68; Downloads: 582
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Description
Since we have no AE (After Effects) tutorials on here yet, I thought I'd submit one
This is just a beginner one, on how to make a new composition, then add a simple rotation animation, then save it out as a video file. I'll probably make some more once I find a good one to do. I'm thinking one on the basics of how to key frame things.
Anyway, I hope this makes sense. I have a slight speech impediment, so I hope you can understand me OK. Let me know how this looks
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Comments: 28
Hey cool tutorial, but because I am a noob at animations, I have no idea what after effects is.
So if it's no problem with you to answer, what is after effects? I have seen lots of animators use it for their projects and stuff, but I'm not sure if I should get into that as well when I make (well, start planning to make) my films.
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It's basically a compositing tool. Sort of like Photoshop for video
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Oh okay then. Thanks. I probably will stick with what I have. I'm still beginning anyway, so it's best if I lay low on that.
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hey man, i am just starting in AE. and i stumble upon this great tutorial. this is really helpful.
great job man.
i really hope theres more to come.
thanks for inspiring others
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I'm glad I could help you!
I haven't been doing as much AE work as I used to, but if I get inspired to make another, I'll upload it
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i hope you could man..
its gonna be really useful to0 us beginers ..
AE is very complex.. not like photoshop and illustrator anybody could use them.//.
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Have you seen the tutorials here?
[link]
[link]
Those are two great sites to learn AE
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thanks for the link man..
the very first site that i came across with is video copilot. it is with andrew kramer that i learned the basic stuff and opened my understanding for AE.
actually i downloaded all their basic training videos.
the second link you gave me is cool. totally different.
im looking forward in checking it out when im not that busy with work.
can i ask you?
is it difficult for you when you were just starting in AE?
can u give me an advice? advice for a beginner like me.
thanks again for the help.
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Haha yeah, AE can be pretty hard at first. I think the main thing you should learn is how keyframes work, and how the different types of keyframes work. They're pretty fundamental to using AE, and once you get a good grasp on them, you can do a whole lot.
Then it's a matter of knowing the steps to get a certain effect. You sort of just have to play with things (or watch tutorials) to know how different effects can be used to make different things. Unlike Photoshop, the effects in AE are a core part of using it to get what you want.
Then there's some advanced expressions you can do to make your keyframes do very interesting and time saving things. For example, there's the built in wiggler, but I hardly ever use it from the menu. I usually just add in an expression since it's usually faster and does what I could have done with the menu. So you can hold Alt on the keyboard as you click something like position, the add in the text wiggle(2,50); and that will move the layer around 50 pixels in any direction twice a second.
I don't really understand all the expression stuff, but it's pretty useful (I'm sure you've seen Andrew use expressions).
But really, you just have to sit down and experiment. Try something, see what it does, then make sure you know why it's doing what it's doing. But using it a lot is how you get to know how it all works.
And on a side note, I think the Noise & Grain -> Fractal Noise is one of the most useful effects AE has 
Anyway, good luck learning it
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indeed, its pretty intimidating and hard. but i believe that with just a few familiarization and experimenting, i can do it.
i learned few stuff regarding keyframe and how they work. i know that these are the fundamental in AE since AE is all about motion graphics.
and with the expressions thing? im having dificulty understanding it/ i just cant get how things work. but i guess i need more time to understand them, coz as what ive seen in Andrew's tuts, expressions are very useful.
i know i need more time to sit down and experiment with AE.. good thing i now have my own PC. now i can focus on it.
BIG BIG THANKS man for writing back to me. i will take note and do as much as i could with what you've said. it's gonna be a long road to travel for AE but, i can get there!
thanks again.
you've been a great help!
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thanks for this !
I just started working with Premiere and After Effects and this was a lot of help
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You're welcome
Shoot me a note if you have any questions about After Effects
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Thanks, I'm going to do another one, but I need to make sure I really know what I'm talking about first
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Is this for AEcs3 only? Because I was following it in AE7 and it unfortunately doesn't have new>shape layer unless it's hidden somewhere.
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Yeah, the shape layers are CS3-only
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understand you just fine 
EE this is awesome
as soon as I magically acquire after effects I'll try this out
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Drop me a note if you have any questions
I'm not a pro, but I know it pretty well.
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Haha! 
And yes. You should do one for dAmn.
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Haha, yeah, it's mostly for video people. But that's what I do, so I use it all the time
And I'll think about making one for dAmn, but it'll be a while
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