After effects advanced

Overview
Upon completion of this Advanced course, Delegates will have seen and understood the new functions in After Effects CS3. They will also gain knowledge of Expressions, Motion Tracking and the Puppet Tool.

Prerequisites
Knowledge of After Effects or to have attended the After Effects Introduction course at Harlequin. Knowledge of post-production and or animated graphics.

Course Content Introduction to 3D

• Introducing 3D Layers
• Using Camera Views
• Understanding Coordinates
• Introducing Camera Tools
• Using View Layouts
• Switching Access Modes
• Parenting + Null Objects
• Photoshop Vanishing Point in After Effects

Cameras

• Adding a Camera
• Camera Presets
• Animating Camera Movement
• Depth of Field + Focal Distance

Lights

• Setting Up the 3D Environment
• Introducing Lights
• Lighting + Shadows
• Modifying Material Options

Advanced Expressions

• Targeting Parameters
• Linking Points of Interest
• Expressions Using Parameters
• Expressions Using Keyframe Data
• Applying Effects
• Random Expression
• Copying + Pasting Existing Expressions
• Scripts

Motion Tracking

• Introducing Motion Tracking
• Tracking a Single Object
• Targeting Tracking Data
• Offsetting Trackers
• Using the Motion Stabilizer
• Tracking with Effects
• Pinning Corners
• Applying a 4-Point Track

Painting With After Effects

• Paint Tools
• Animating Paint Strokes
• Animating Brush Properties
• Painting on RGB + Alpha Channels
• Linking Paths + Paint Shapes
• Shape Path Control using a Paint Path
• Erasing Paint
• Write-On Effect

Puppet Tool

• Introducing Puppet Pins
• Manually Animate with Puppet Pins
• Masking with Puppet Pins
• Starching Areas
• Using Motion Sketch

Shape Layers

• Using Layers from Illustrator
• Using Paths from Illustrator
• Shape Primitives
• Using the Pen Tool
• Animating Shape Layers

Advanced Text

• Advanced Text
• Range Selector
• Wiggly Selector
• Animating Range Selectors
• Selector Properties
• 3D Transformations
• Using Lights + Cameras with 3D Text
• Using Music to Control Text Parameters

Advanced Keying

• Basic Keying Effects
• Color Sampling Effects
• Keylight Filter
• Cropping with Keylight
• Compositing with Keys
• Rotoscoping with Masks
• Tracking with Masks
• Rotoscoping with Paint Tools

Complex Projects

• Nesting + Precomposing
• Flowchart
• Collapsing Transformations
• Pre-rendering
• Using Null Objects

Effects

• Displacement Map
• Particle Playground
• Third Party Plugins

Integration with Other Adobe Application

• Premiere
• Encore
• Photoshop
• Soundbooth

Outputs

• Making Movie + Render Queue
• Multiple Output Modules
• Templates
• Exporting to swf and flv
• Adobe Media Encoder
• Setting Flash Control Points
• Clip Notes (Client interaction Function)
• Video for Mobile Cellphone