Adobe After Effects(Animation)

If you are brand new to the program, the Adobe Website has many resources to help you learn After Effects. The tutorials on their page will introduce you to the basics of the program: setting up your first project, the interface, and importing assets to work with. Be sure to download the sample files they provide so you can try out these techniques yourself.

Here is a guide to the windows and important buttons in the AE interface (thank you to Kalika K. Sharma for this!)

Adobe provides tutorials for  The basics of creating a composition and positioning layers in both space and time. 

Much of the same material is covered in this custom tutorial below created for our own site, which guides you through the process of animating a bat drawn in Photoshop. This was created some years back on an older version of the software, but the techniques covered haven’t changed.

Files for the tutorial video below

The key to doing stuff quickly (and spending more time creating and less working the program) is to learn some very useful basic shortcuts for navigating, trimming and rearranging layers and the workspace, etc.

They are all covered in this old but excellent tutorial from Creative Cow (another great resource to find answers to questions.)

All shortcuts in AE can be viewed (and modified) by choosing Edit → Keyboard Shortcuts from the menu.

The shortcut to shortcuts is opt+⌘+’ (that’s the apostrophe).

Here is a condensed list of common shortcuts to get you started:

 This is a LinkedIn Learning  sequencing layers in After Effects tutorial that covers all the features you'll need to know. 

Important: Remember to log into the NYU Home Portal using your net ID first. Then enter LinkedIn Learning via the tile on the Work tab. By logging in via the NYU portal you have access to all tutorials and files on LinkedIn Learning, which normally require a subscription.

Character animation in After Effects is a deep and complex topic; if you are feeling comfortable with After Effects and want to dive deeper, check out George Maestri’s extensive tutorial on Creating Animated Characters in After Effects in LinkedIn Learning, This course is a few years old but very thorough, starting with how to create characters for cut-out and puppet style animation and animate them in AE, and moving to more advanced topics.

For an introduction to 3D layers, lights and camera in After Effects, check out this excellent blog entry from Frame.io.

The Beginner’s Guide to Working in 3D Space in Adobe After Effects

There are lots of other great video tutorials that will help you get started using Adobe After Effects. Here are a few resources:

• Adobe.tv

• Trish and Chris Meyer authored the classic book on learning AE. They have numerous tutorials on LinkedIn Learning. After Effects Apprentice 02 Basic Animation is a good starting place.

• Video Copilot's After Effects Basic Training

• Creative Cow has an extensive set of forums with questions and answers on many programs and topics, including After Effects. You can create a login for free and post your own questions too, and there’s a good chance someone with some expertise will provide an answer.