After Effects - Part 4

In the last session of After Effects we were taught how to use multiple layers and keyframes, using images in photoshop and different layer sizes.

This Image has three different layers and all of them are different sizes and some are bigger than the composition, which is something to consider when i am doing my animation as it can make a big difference and is really simple and time affective.

The 'Toggle hold Keyframe' is really useful, by clicking on the second keyframe and using this, it holds the position so there is no chance of it changing the property of the keyframe.

The toggle hold keyframe is really useful e.g. this raindrop moves down (like a raindrop) but to make it repeatedly fall without After Effects automatically joining up the middle sod the keyframes, it now just does one movement of going from the top to the bottom.

Duplicating a layer is also really handy and a quick way of making a more skilled looking animation, for instance, i can copy and paste the same rain drop layer with the same keyframes and just change the size and frequency of drops and repeat again and again to make a full rain cloud.

when adding music or sound into After Effects, make sure to preview it on QuickTime Player first and make a note of what section of the audio you want to use.

If you click twice on the audio, it will then open in its own panel and you can edit it down to what ever section you want to use in your animation, then return to your composition and you can edit it even more there.

You can also apply keyframes to audio swell, changing the volume etc. and by using the waveform you can create keyframes for other layers to go in time with the music.

To group together layers so you can move them etc. and then using the parent column, attach layers to the name of the layer you want to parent.

I found this lesson really helpful, i now feel like i know enough to be able to go and create my animation, but also now i can plan my animation knowing what i can do it, which help me prepare my illustrations to go with it.