After effects!

Welcome back one and all.

Today's session will provide you with a very basic introduction to After effects.
After effects is a state-of-the-art piece of animation software.
Most cartoons, title sequences and adverts are put together in After effects.

This will hopefully give you a basic introduction to some techniques which can later be transfered to "Flash", which is similar, yet interactive and therefore great for web design.

Task for the day

Today, you will be producing a title sequence for your class.
This will be made of moving text and images, and hopefully set to music (time permitting).

How it's done

Open up After effects from applications.

*Select new composition

*Ensure that pixels are set to square

*Select import> files, and choose any pictures that you might need off your computer
-(Remember to keep all images in the same folder, otherwise chaos breaks loose!)

*The box in the top left is where the cast of your production live.

*Drag an image down to the long box at the bottom of the screen, this is your "time-line".
A Jpeg will be a solid block. This is OK for a background.
For a "floatng" image, make sure you use a PSD with the background layer cut out so that it has checkerboard surrounding it.

*The time-line is, like the rest of the Adobe software (Photoshop, Illustrator...) based around layers and the same rules apply, the layer at the top is closest to you.

THE ALL IMPORTANT ARROW!

*Under the name of the cast member you have imported in the time line, there is a tiny drop down menu.
-This reveals a series of options: anchor point, position, scale, opacity.

*click all these on.

*Move the timeline on a few seconds, then alter the settings, or drag your image across the screen, expand it, shrink it, fade it out.

*Move the time line back to the start, and press "spacebar". You image should move- it won't be at full speed until you export it.

*Add text to the composition. This can be changed in exactly the same way.

*Repeat, experiment, learn!
Try using multiple layers. If you are feeling brave, have a play with the effects / filters menu.

*When you are happy with your animation, export it as a "quicktime" file.

*Don't forget to save your composition!