After Effects CS3 Advanced

PACKAGE INCLUDES

 •  Format - DVD-ROM
 •  Duration - 7 Hours of Intermediate to Advanced Training
 •  Author - Ko Maruyama
 •  Platform - Windows & Mac OS
 

COURSE INTRODUCTION

Get ready to dive in deeper than basic editing and compositing with these entertaining and educational videos on the advanced feature set in After Effects. You'll explore the 3D environment to understand better how to work with 3D cameras and add realistic lighting and shadows. Plus, test drive tools that you may have never ventured to try before, such as painting and keying. Ko wraps up the course with a closer look at the all new Puppetry and Shapes tools.

Highlights

•  Now that you've mastered the 2D features found in the After Effects Essentials series, you're ready to understand the possibilities of 3D within After Effects.
• Explore the advanced features and expressions to take full advantage of the Javascript within After Effects.
• Learn how to combine painting, motion tracking, text and keying, so that you can approach any animation or composites in After Effects with confidence that you can get it done.
• Animating the 3D layers with a 3D camera can add dynamic, organic looks to your composite. The key to making this work is to understand how to manipulate the various parts of each 3D element.
• The puppetry tools help you deform layers in ways that you had never considered before. With an auto-tracing feature you can quickly start animating with this active tool.

COURSE OUTLINE

Disc One

Lesson 1: UNDERSTANDING THE 3D ENVIRONMENT (46 min)
1. Introducing OpenGL?
2. Stepping into the Third Dimension
3. Rotating a 3D Layer
4. Using Camera Views
5. Understanding Coordinates
6. Introducing Camera Tools
7. Using View Layouts
8. Switching Access Modes
9. Using Parenting & Layering

Lesson 2: INTRODUCING 3D CAMERAS (27 min)
1. Adding a Camera & Setting Presets
2. Understanding the Camera Objects
3. Animating the Camera
4. Working with Depth of Field
5. Animating Focal Distance

Lesson 3: LIGHTS & MATERIAL OPTIONS (43 min)
1. Setting Up the 3D Environment
2. Building a Paper Submarine
3. Animating 3D Elements
4. Introducing Lights
5. Lighting & Shadows
6. Modifying Material Options
7. Working with Vanishing Point

Lesson 4: ADVANCED EXPRESSIONS (60 min)
1. Introducing More Expressions
2. Targeting Parameters
3. Linking Points of Interest
4. Driving Expressions Using Parameters
5. Driving Expressions Using Keyframe Data
6. Applying Effects
7. Applying Slider Effects
8. Using the Random Expression
9. Copying & Pasting Existing Expressions
10. Working with Parenting & Expressions
11. Working with Scripts

Lesson 5: MOTION TRACKING (51 min)
1. Introducing Motion Tracking
2. Tracking a Single Object
3. Targeting Tracking Data
4. Offsetting Trackers
5. Using the Motion Stabilizer
6. Tracking with Effects
7. Pinning Corners
8. Applying a 4-Point Track

Lesson 6: PAINTING WITH AFTER EFFECTS (70 min)
1. Introducing Paint Tools
2. Exploring Strokes & Brushes
3. Adjusting Paint in the Timeline
4. Animating Paint Strokes
5. Animating Strokes with Hold Keyframes
6. Animating the Brush Properties
7. Working with Photoshop? Animations
8. Painting on RGB & Alpha Channels
9. Linking Paths & Paint Shapes
10. Controlling a Shape Path with a Paint Path
11. Erasing Paint
12. Creating a Write-On Effect
13. Final Comments & Credits

Disc Two

Lesson 1: PUPPETRY IN AFTER EFFECTS (69 min)
1. Introducing Puppet Pins
2. Adjusting the Mesh
3. Adjusting the Mesh Priority: Part 1
4. Adjusting the Mesh Priority: Part 2
5. Redrawing the Mesh
6. Masking with Puppet Pins
7. Starching Areas
8. Using Motion Sketch
9. Sketching the Mesh
10. Using Forward Kinematics
11. Using Puppetry in Inverse Kinematics
12. Exploring Parenting in Inverse Kinematics
13. Setting Animation with Inverse Kinematics

Lesson 2: CREATING SHAPE LAYERS (60 min)
1. Using Layers from Illustrator?
2. Using Paths from Illustrator
3. Introducing Shape Primitives
4. Exploring Further with Shape Primitives
5. Creating Shapes with the Pen Tool
6. Manipulating the Entire Image
7. Working with Subdivided Splines
8. Adding Gradients to Shapes
9. Bringing the Shape Layers Together

Lesson 3: ADVANCED TEXT ELEMENTS (61 min)
1. Introducing Advanced Text
2. Using the Range Selector
3. Using the Wiggly Selector
4. Animating Range Selectors
5. Changing Selector Properties
6. Animating a Blur & Fire Effect
7. Introducing 3D Transformations
8. Applying Lights & Cameras to 3D Text
9. Working with Advanced Colour Depth

Lesson 4: ADVANCED KEYING (56 min)
1. Exploring Basic Keying Effects
2. Using Colour Sampling Effects
3. Applying the Keylight Filter
4. Adjusting the Key
5. Adjusting the Image
6. Saving Your Key
7. Cropping with Keylight
8. Compositing with Keys
9. Rotoscoping with Masks
10. Tracking with Masks
11. Rotoscoping with Paint Tools

Lesson 5: EXPLORING POPULAR EFFECTS (10 min)
1. Using a 4-Color Gradient
2. Creating Shattered Text
3. Final Comments & Credits