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After Effects Advanced Techniques
with Trish & Chris Meyer
Dates: 2 days – none scheduled.
Price & Registration: TBA
An intensive 2-day hands-on class at the Rich Media Institute in Venice, CA, designed for serious users of After Effects who wish to gain a deeper understanding of After Effects 7. This fast-paced class covers the high-end features of the software with skilled After Effects motion graphics designers and authors of Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects and After Effects in Production.
Learn through in-class examples, tips and tricks developed by the instructors. Emphasis is placed on 3D animation, text animators, and understanding the internal render order critical for troubleshooting visual problems.
A good working knowledge of After Effects 7 is necessary; this class is not for beginners! It is suggested that students acquire Creating Motion Graphics Volume 1 as a companion to this course (covers 3D and Text) as well as Volume 2 (covers time remapping, motion tracking, paint & clone).
Please note that this is a “bring your own laptop” course! You will need to have After Effects installed before the class begins.
While After Effects 7 Professional will be used for this course, the techniques taught are entirely applicable to version 6.5 with the exception of the new Graph Editor. Students are free to use either version. Note that the Professional version is required for motion tracking only; all other features covered are included in the Standard version.
Day 1:
- Complex animation made easy with Parenting & Null Objects
- Basic Expressions
- Building hierarchies by nesting and precomposing comps
- Understanding the internal render order in 2D
- Collapsing transformations in 2D
- Time Remapping (including the new Graph Editor )
- Mastering Text Animators
- Using and editing Text and Animation Presets
Day 2:
- Animate in 3D using Camera and Lights
- Managing 3D shadows
- Setting material options for 3D layers
- Understanding the internal render order in 3D comps
- Precomposing and collapsing transformations in 3D comps
- Importing a 3D render from Cinema 4D, plus its camera & lights
- Paint and Clone
- Motion tracking & stabilization (AE Professional only)
- plus lots more tips & tricks and workflow enhancements...
Prerequisites: six months or more experience with After Effects; Photoshop basics; video editing, 3D and Illustrator basics helpful.
Recommended Reading:
- Creating Motion Graphics - Volume 1: The Essentials
(3rd edition for AE 6.5) - Creating Motion Graphics - Volume 2: Advanced Techniques
(3rd edition for AE 6.5) - Optional: For understanding the technical issues (alpha channels, fields, 3:2 pulldown, non-square pixels, widescreen, luminance ranges, and so on): VideoSyncrasies DVD.
About Your Instructors
Trish and Chris Meyer are principals in CyberMotion, an award-winning Los Angeles motion graphic design studio. Their design and animation work has appeared on shows and promos for CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, The Learning Channel, HBO, and PBS. CyberMotion was one of the first studios to create major release film opening titles using desktop tools, and they have also created promotional and trade show videos for corporate clients from Apple Computer to Xerox.
In addition to their motion graphics work, Trish and Chris have written the books "Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects" and "After Effects in Productions", and they co-author the Motion Graphics column for DV magazine (www.dv.com) plus monthly Tips N Tricks articles at Artbeats.com. They host the Motion Graphics Los Angeles professional user group (www.mgla.org).
Trish founded CyberMotion after an extensive career in print as a magazine art director for music technology magazines. Her partner Chris, a refugee from the music industry, specializes in sound design and 3D work as well as dealing with multi-format technical issues. Both Trish and Chris have backgrounds as musicians, and a close relationship between sound and picture informs much of their work.