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Tour the After Effects interface and create a new composition
Overview
Name of explainer: Tour the After Effects interface and create a new composition
Creative theme: Beginning Adobe After Effects
Software used : Adobe After Effects
User level: BEGINNER
This is explainer 1 of 5 in this series
This series includes:
- Tour the Adobe After Effects interface and create a new composition
- Animate text using built-in animation presets
- Animate text using keyframes and easy ease
- Add an expression to make the video flicker and animate a light flare
- Export the animated composition as an mp4 video
This series is also available as a FREE, short online course!*
If you’d prefer to work through this series in a short online course format, where you can track your progress and receive a PDF certificate of completion, it will be available from December 2024* on our sister site pixelsofcourse.
The Software
This series of explainers uses Adobe After Effects, an application designed for creating motion graphics:
After Effects is a PAID applications. A FREE trial is available, after which ongoing use will require an ongoing subscription. For the latest information and pricing, see Adobe’s current pricing information. If you’ve never used After Effects before, create a free account, download the trial and let’s get started!
What are motion graphics?
TV idents (like these classic idents from Channel 4 in the UK) are an example of motion graphics:
Animated movie and TV titles (like this example from the recent BBC series ‘Sherwood’) are motion graphics. This animated ‘Sherwood’ title text is similar to what we’ll create for a dystopian AI movie title sequence in this series.
Entire animations, like this amazing animated photo-movie are motion graphics…
…and we use After Effects to create the animations for the start of every video explainer:
How to generate video clips using LTX Studio
We used the online AI storyboarding tool LTX Studio to generate the short video clips for our trailer, including generating a soundtrack and voiceover. If you don’t have clips of your own this is a great way to create resources to fit your creative vision! Here are the main steps we followed in LTX Studio:
1: The LTX Studio dashboard shows options to start ‘with an idea’ or start ‘with a script’.
2: Enter the general ‘idea’ for the movie. We used an AI generated ‘voiceover’ from chatgpt as our idea prompt:
3: LTX Studio generates a storyboard with individual scenes and a thumbnail image for each. You can regenerate a scene by changing the prompt and shot-type at any time:
4: Select the shot editor tab at the top of the window to regenerate an individual video clip. Four candidates are generated to select between:
5: Add an appropriate soundtrack and a voiceover for the perfect cinematic experience!
6: Export the sequence of scenes as a single video file. The sequence is below (The audio was retimed in post to better match the duration of the sequence).
More motion graphics inspiration!
If you’re interested in the ‘story’ of motion graphics, here’s Adobe’s own introduction:
https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/animation/discover/motion-graphics.html
‘Best motion graphics in adverts 2024’:
https://www.yansmedia.com/blog/best-motion-graphics-ads-examples
More brilliant examples of motion graphics!
The animated trailer sequence at the end of this series
This is the movie trailer at the end of this explainer series. This is the FULL trailer which includes additional video clips (and a soundtrack) generated in LTX Studio (see section above). In this series we use After Effects to create the animated text sequence at the end of the trailer.
Screenshots taken from the start, middle and end of the title sequence. The movie title ‘Models’ zooms in over the video clip. As it comes to rest, the subtitle ‘Sentient Shadow’ flickers in below the main text:
The pre-requisities
This is a BEGINNER Adobe After Effects explainer series. After Effects is complex animation software and is not recommended for new computer users.
Why would I do this?
Everyone has to start somewhere! Your After Effects journey begins with a tour of the main interface and how to create your first project and composition. We then add a single video clip to the new composition.
Let’s do it!
Click the play icon to watch this explainer video. Subtitles are available – Click the settings cog at the bottom right for options. You can watch this video full-screen by clicking the full-screen icon at the bottom right.
Video Transcript
Here is the full transcript for explainer one above.
00:15
Welcome to you.
00:16
In this explainer, I’ll introduce the Adobe After Effects interface and create a new composition.
00:22
In this series, we’ll create this short animated sequence, which will be added at the end of a movie trailer.
00:29
This is a great project if you’re just starting out with After Effects as it introduces the basics including creating a composition, importing assets, creating and animating text, working with key frames, and applying some of the built in effects.
00:48
When you open After Effects, you’re invited to take a look at Adobe’s resources including their training videos.
00:55
Click on new project at the top left.
00:59
At the moment this new project doesn’t have a name.
01:01
I’ll go to File, Save As.
01:06
I’ll title my project Trailer Text Animation.
01:09
After Effects is very powerful and a lot of its functionality is hidden from view by default.
01:16
Click on the window menu and you can see this long list of all the panels you could add to the interface.
01:21
As a beginner, you’re only going to need a few of them.
01:24
I’ll select workspace, small screen.
01:28
This gives an arrangement of panels ideal for starting out using a standard 14 or 16 inch laptop screen.
01:35
You can resize each panel as needed.
01:38
For example, to make the preview panel larger so you can actually see what you’re doing.
01:43
An after effects project is made up of compositions in just the same way a video project could include many separate video sequences.
01:51
I’m given the choice to create a new composition or a new composition from footage.
01:57
I’ll select to create a new composition from scratch so we can view the options.
02:02
I’ll title this composition title text version 1.
02:07
This is where I can set the output resolution and frame rates for my title animation.
02:13
There are lots of presets available including the default HD 1920 by 10 80 at 30 frames per second.
02:21
This setting will be ideal for this project as my trailer is going to be viewed on YouTube and other video sites.
02:28
I’ll set the duration of the composition to be 10 seconds as this will be long enough for the movie title models to zoom in, the subtitle to animate in at the end, and the whole title card to stay on screen for a few seconds.
02:43
Any of these settings can be changed later if needed.
02:46
You don’t need to worry about the other options here for now.
02:49
Click on okay.
02:50
The new composition has been created.
02:53
This is the video clip I’m going to display behind my title text animation.
02:58
I used ltxstudio to generate video clips for my trailer for a movie about a dystopian AI led future.
03:06
If you don’t have your own video clips to work with, it’s quick and easy to use AI video generation tools like lcxstudio or runway to create some.
03:19
I only need to bring video clip 5 at the end of my trailer into After Effects as this is the one I’m going to animate my text over.
03:27
So I’ll drag and drop it into the project panel at the top left.
03:31
I could import all my trailer video clips such as I’m only going to add effects and text over clip 5.
03:37
I don’t need to import the other clips.
03:40
Think of this project panel at the top left as the asset library for your current project.
03:45
Running along the lower section of the window is the timeline panel.
03:49
This is very similar to a timeline in a video editor.
I’ll drag and drop the video clip onto the start of the timeline like this.
03:58
The clip displays in the preview panel.
04:01
I can scrub along the clip by dragging the playhead left and right as I hold down my left mouse button just like in a video editor.
04:09
I can also play the current sequence by pressing my space bar.
04:13
If the playback stutters, you can change the resolution of the preview here.
04:18
This should only be an issue when you start to add lots of complex effects to a clip.
04:22
The basic properties of the currently selected clip are shown in the properties panel towards the top right of the window.
04:31
I’d like this video clip to fill my 10 80p composition.
04:34
This is a low res video clip exported from ltx studio.
04:39
I’ll increase the scale by holding down my left mouse button over one of the scale fields.
04:45
You can also manually enter values in any field.
04:49
I can also do this directly in the preview window.
04:52
Make sure the selection tool is selected on the toolbar and drag one of the handles like toolbar and drag one of the handles like this.
04:58
Obviously, you’ll normally work with video clips with a resolution that’s at least equal to your composition, assuming you want them to fill the entire screen.
05:07
Notice after effects isn’t constraining the proportions of the clip as I drag.
05:12
Hold down the shift key on your keyboard as you drag to constrain these proportions.
05:17
I do not stretch or squash the shape.
05:19
This applies to most assets including images and shapes.
05:23
Practice navigating the panels and making simple adjustments to a video clip.
05:28
In the next explainer I’m going to add the movie title text.
Good to know
Adobe provides lots of help resources to assist with learning After Effects. When you open After Effects, you’re offered a range of help including hands-on tutorials:
You can also add a ‘learn’ panel to the main interface. Select ‘Learn’ from the Window menu:
To view Adobe’s online tutorials, select ‘After Effects Online Tutorials’ from the Help menu:
To create a new composition based on the resolution and framerate of a specific video file, you can click ‘New Composition from footage’ instead of ‘New Composition’. This saves having to set the resolution and framerate manually when you know your output is going to match the resolution and frame-rate of a specific imported clip:
Compositions Overview from Adobe:
Where to next?
You may find this video useful as you start your journey with motion design and After Effects!
In the next explainer we’ll create a text layer, add the text ‘Models’ centrally in the workspace and animate it using built-in effects.
Remember, this is part of a series of explainers – Join us again for the other explainers in the series 🙂
Notes and updates
There are no notes or advisories at this time. This video explainer was last updated in October 2024. This page was last updated in October 2024.
We at pixels.cool are not responsible for the content of any external webpages or software downloaded from third party sites. Any links are included in good faith at the time of writing. All explainer content is compiled in good faith using processes and methods used by the team. Modern software provides users with many ways to accomplish a task, and for reasons of clarity we choose not to refer to multiple options. All computer users must run up to date virus / security software at all times to minimise risks of data loss.
This is number 1 of 5 explainer videos in this series. Make sure you join us for the others!
