Using the After Effects Interface

Name: Using the After Effects Interface
Author: Tim Jones

An in-depth introduction to digital effects application tools

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Course: On-Demand

Hello, and welcome back to KnowledgeCity's After Effects Intermediate Course. I'm your instructor, Tim Jones, and in this lesson, we are discussing the After Effects interface. After Effects, as you may know, uses non-destructive editing, which allows you to make changes without overwriting your original data. After Effects simply makes a link to the source materials and allows you to create effects after the fact. In other words, what happens in After Effects stays in After Effects, which is great news, allowing you to go wild without messing up any of the original assets. The downside is that, because you don't really import files into your project, if you move or delete those files, the link to AE will be broken, and you'll be you get the dreaded missing file message. This, I suppose, is your Achilles heel. AE bestows great power to create without destroying, but it can be a house of cards, especially over time, as you move, rename, and archive your files. But fear not, the engineers at Adobe have provided great tools to allow you to collect up all your files and keep them in one place for future editing. We'll go over that in the project window lesson. In broad strokes, AE operates like many of the video editing or animation software programs you may be used to. You have a project window, which holds all your imported assets. I put air quotes around imported because, as we discussed, you're really just making links to those assets. You have a composition window, which I think of as my stage. This is where you visually lay out all your elements in Effects. And you have a timeline, where you manipulate what is seen on your composition window or your stage. In this chapter, we're going to take a closer look at each of these windows. Now, I know this is supposed to be the After Effects Intermediate Course, and certainly, by now, you're familiar with the interface. Okay, fair enough. Hopefully, by this time, you understand the basics of importing your assets, putting them into a comp, and manipulating them over time, but AE is an incredibly powerful tool which allows you to do some pretty amazing stuff, which means, by necessity, the interface itself presents a lot of tools for you to work with. I've got to admit that, even after using AE for almost 20 years now, when I force myself to go back and do something as basic, or in this case as intermediate, as an interface overview, I actually learned a few things along the way about this amazing software. So if you think you know everything already about the interface, I suppose you could go ahead and skip this chapter, but I highly recommend you stick with us as we take a deeper dive into each of the three windows, the project window, the composition window, and the timeline window, to see everything that AE has to offer you. So let's get started.

Advanced Provider : Tim Jones 8 Lessons · 55m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe Systems. It’s used in post-production for filmmaking, video games and television production. It can be used to make animated logos, illustrations, infographics or simple video presentations. After Effects uses nondestructive editing. It allows you to make changes without overwriting the original data. AE makes a link to the source materials and allows you to create effects after the fact. Adobe provides great tools that can allow you to keep all your files for future editing.

In this course, you’ll learn about the Adobe After Effects interface and how to navigate the project windows or panels. You’ll learn how to import and organize files and how to work with compositions and footage in your project window. We’ll also go over the composition and timeline windows. You’ll also know how to control layers using switches.

This course provides an in-depth introduction to tools in the Adobe After Effects interface. It discusses tools in the project, composition, and timeline panels.

What You'll Learn

Recognize the tools available in the Adobe After Effects interface
Navigate the project, composition, and timeline panels
Import and organize files within the project window
Work with compositions and footage in the project window
Control layers using layer switches
Work with After Effects templates

Key Takeaways

Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application used in post-production for filmmaking, video games, and television production.
After Effects can be used to make animated logos, illustrations, infographics, or simple video presentations.
After Effects uses nondestructive editing, allowing you to make changes without overwriting the original data by linking to the source materials.
This course provides an in-depth introduction to tools in the project, composition, and timeline panels of the After Effects interface.
Layers in After Effects can be controlled using switches in the timeline.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this course cover?

The course covers the Adobe After Effects interface, including how to navigate the project windows or panels, import and organize files, work with compositions and footage in the project window, use the composition and timeline windows, control layers using switches, and work with After Effects templates.

What is Adobe After Effects used for?

Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application used in post-production for filmmaking, video games, and television production, and it can make animated logos, illustrations, infographics, or simple video presentations.

What skills will I gain from this course?

You will learn to recognize tools in the Adobe After Effects interface, work with the project, composition, and timeline panels, and work with After Effects templates.

What does nondestructive editing in After Effects mean?

Nondestructive editing allows you to make changes without overwriting the original data; After Effects links to the source materials and lets you create effects after the fact while keeping your files for future editing.