If you’re diving into After Effects for the first time, the vast array of features can be intimidating. Let’s discuss the key essential features to help simplify your learning curve.
1. Transform
Every layer in your project has a selection of Transform effects, each with adjustable properties. The Transform area is where animation happens in After Effects.
To find Transform, select your layer in the bottom-left next to the timeline, click the small arrow next to the colored box, and click the arrow next toTransform. The effects include:
To make your content move via a Transform effect, you’ll need to create at least two keyframes. Drag the playhead to where you want the animation to start on the timeline, then click the littlestopwatch iconnext to the name of the Transform effect to place a keyframe on the timeline.
To create the second keyframe, drag the playhead to where you want the animation to stop. Then, adjust the numbers next to the Transform effect (or click and drag your content directly in the playback window). This will automatically create a second keyframe, and you’ve just created a basic motion path.
Hit the play button (or Spacebar) to watch your content move along this path.
2. Easy Ease
Your motion path will automatically have linear keyframe interpolation, meaning it moves from one point to the next at a fixed pace. This can look very unnatural and robotic, so adjusting the interpolation is crucial.
One way is through the Graph Editor, but this is not beginner-friendly. Instead, you can let After Effects do the work for you with Easy Ease, which is essentially a bezier keyframe interpolation preset. Bezier interpolation is completely customizable and essential for lifelike, natural motion in animation.
To apply Easy Ease, click and drag over both keyframes in the timeline, right-click on one of the keyframes, go toKeyframe Assistant, and selectEasy Ease. Hit the Spacebar and watch your animation start out slow, pick up speed, and slow down again at the end of the motion path—very much like how we move in real life.
You can also play around withEasy InandEasy Outif you want to try varying interpolation speeds.
3. Motion Blur
After you’ve created your animation and customized the keyframe interpolation, there’s one more key component to making the movement look natural—Motion Blur.
Video animation operates in the realm of computers, which necessitates blurring effects to mimic the organic movement we observe around us in real life. The Motion Blur feature in After Effects prevents the mechanical appearance of motion without blur.
In the bottom left of the timeline, click thethree-circled iconto enable the Motion Blur option for all the layers. Select your layer and tick the box under the three-circled icon to apply Motion Blur to whatever motion path you’ve created with the Transform tools on that layer.
Adding motion blur to a photocan also create a cool effect, making your subject look like it’s frozen in time.
4. Null Object
A Null Object is a nothing object and is an essential feature for motion tracking. It possesses all the same Transform properties as any other layer, but adjusting these won’t result in anything because you may’t see a Null Object.
The purpose of a Null Object is to act as a parent layer. You can attach one or more other layers (children) to it, and it will act as a master control.
To add a Null Object to your timeline, go toLayerin the top panel, selectNew, and clickNull Object. Keep reading to see how useful this feature is.
5. Tracker
The Tracker feature in After Effects finds the same image data between different frames, and once this data is recorded, you can apply it to any layer. That layer will then move along the path of matching image data across the different frames—this is motion tracking.
There are different types of motion tracking you can achieve in After Effects, but single-point tracking is the easiest to get started with.
First, change the resolution toFullat the bottom of the playback window, and ensure the playhead is dragged all the way to the beginning.
Select the clip that you want to motion track, and go toWindow>Trackerto bring up the Tracker window in the right panel. In the Tracker window, clickTrack Motion.
A double-square will appear in the playback window—move it onto the object you want to track in the frame. You can also adjust its size by dragging the little white dots. Try to place it over a high-contrast area that remains unobscured throughout the clip.
Hit the littleplay iconin the Tracker window to start recording the tracking data. If the square veers away from your chosen object, hit the littlestop icon, then theleft-facing arrow iconto go back a frame, and move the square to where it needs to be. Hit the play icon to restart the tracking for that part.
Once you’ve got the tracking data for the entire clip, you have to store it somewhere. Go toEdit Targetin the Tracking window and select yourNull Objectnext toLayerin the pop-up. Then hitApply, and select bothX and Yin the Dimensions pop-up.
Your motion tracking data is complete and safely stored in the Null Object. If you open the Null Object’s Transform properties, you’ll see all the keyframes created by the Tracker.
6. Pick Whip
So you’ve got all this tracking data in your Null Object, but it’s invisible. This is where the Pick Whip feature comes in—it’s the smallspiral iconnext to a layer’s name in the timeline panel.
Pick Whip allows you to link layers along with their properties, which means you can apply the data from one layer to any other layer.
If you haven’t already, import your image into your project and drag it into the timeline—or create a text or shape element, whatever it is you want to animate. Just make sure it sits above your footage.
Ensure your playhead is dragged all the way to the beginning and select your image, text, or shape layer. Reposition and resize it over the object that you tracked in the video.
With the same layer selected, locate the Pick Whip spiral next to it, then click and drag it onto the Null Object Layer. Your image layer (child) will now inherit the same properties as the Null Object (parent). Hit Spacebar to watch it follow the same motion path.
As shown above, I’ve animated the star face emoji over a dancer’s face. you’re able to alsocreate animated GIFs using Puppet Warp in Photoshop.
7. Pre-Compose
Pre-composing your layers groups them into one package. Think of it as exporting your final project that consists of multiple effects layers—once the video is exported, everything is merged. Except with Pre-compose in After Effects, you may return to edit any individual layer.
This is an extremely handy feature if you want to group certain layers and apply the same effect to all of them without compromising the rest of your layers.
Select all the layers you want to group, right-click on them, and selectPre-compose. You can also go toLayerat the top panel and selectPre-compose. This will create a new composition folder containing all the layers you’ve selected. Whatever effects you apply to this pre-comp folder will be applied to all the layers contained in it.
See how I can now move all the text layers together:
If you want to access the individual layers, pressTabon your keyboard and move between the folders with the arrow keys. Below, I opened my pre-comp folder which only shows me the text layers in it—the yellow background layer isn’t visible—and I can edit them individually.
Mastering these features in After Effects will improve your proficiency in motion animation andstreamline your video editing skills. Once you’ve got these basics under your belt, you’ll be well-prepared for more advanced editing techniques.
