BSA227 W1 : After Effects Introduction

We started learning the very basics of After Effects this week, I've tried to cover as best I can the steps we took. This stuff is very basic tutorial level but after that we had some freedom to experiment, I've covered my experimentation in the second part of this blog.

First we created the project ("new composition"), we went for 25 frames per second and also changed the duration from the default 30 seconds to 12, I assume just to get us used to the workflow.

Next we added a white solid to our blank (black) canvas ( layer > new > solid ), changing the dimension to 100 x 100 pixels 

The white solid has been added to our layers, pressing the small arrow expands the tab to reveal more settings (below)

Keyframes can be added by pressing the little stopwatch icon

The timeline shows where our keyframes are positioned and to what value they are attributed, here I have changed the scale and position of the white solid to make it move across the screen and change shape as it does so.

We added test by selecting the 'T' icon and simply clicking on the black canvas, as with photoshop we are able to change the font and size of the text

We added a mask by selecting the square shape icon and dragging it out to our preferred size

The mask too can be keyframed to move.

I think After Effects so far translates well from photoshop in some places, like the manipulation of text, and even keyframes are quite similar to Premiere Pro. It is however still a lot of new to take in, the experiment below took much longer than it would for someone experienced with the program and I have come to realize that I will have to pool a lot of time into After Effects for me to become sufficiently proficient with it. I have already found some tutorials and intend to do them on a daily basis in order for it to become second nature, similar to the relationship I've developed with other Adobe programs.