Learning After Effects...where do i start?

Inoran

Inoran

Well-known member
Hey guys!

It seems anymore after effects is becoming more and more of a demand (maybe even a requirement) to go along with video editing. The job market opens up so much more if i could be fluid in after effects...but its such a vast intimidating program. Where would I start? Is there any suggestions where I should begin?
 
Honestly, I've been working with AE for the past 2 months or so and I haven't even scratched the surface......it's a monster of a program but you can do anything in it.

Definitely get the Lynda.com tutorial video and after that, I would say, just go forth and create stuff.


The only true way to get good at AE is to just do things. If you get stuck and really need specific advice, you can post on a site or check youtube but honestly.............if I read a medical book I'm not going to become a doctor. AE is just one of those programs that you CANNOT learn by listening or reading (aside from the basics, of course).....you have to learn by DOING.

I would suggest that after Lynda.com, you look at some effects from other sites...movies...etc etc..and try to re-create them in AE.

After a while, common sense, logic, and math set in and it'll become easier and easier.


Adobe press also has a classroom in a book:

http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-After-E...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295768812&sr=8-1

Highly recommended for the basics and you can't go wrong for $37.79
 
Phil1076 said:
Honestly, I've been working with AE for the past 2 months or so and I haven't even scratched the surface......it's a monster of a program but you can do anything in it.

Definitely get the Lynda.com tutorial video and after that, I would say, just go forth and create stuff.


The only true way to get good at AE is to just do things. If you get stuck and really need specific advice, you can post on a site or check youtube but honestly.............if I read a medical book I'm not going to become a doctor. AE is just one of those programs that you CANNOT learn by listening or reading (aside from the basics, of course).....you have to learn by DOING.

I would suggest that after Lynda.com, you look at some effects from other sites...movies...etc etc..and try to re-create them in AE.

After a while, common sense, logic, and math set in and it'll become easier and easier.


Adobe press also has a classroom in a book:

http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-After-E...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295768812&sr=8-1

Highly recommended for the basics and you can't go wrong for $37.79
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You're giving mixed signals here, Phil. Should he read book or just dive right in?

I've been working in After Effects for about 4 or 5 years now, and (if you're suggesting you just dive right in) I'm going to have to disagree here. While reading a medical book won't make you a doctor, it's one of the steps to becoming a doctor.

I learned the way you're talking about, Phil, and I missed a lot of basic concepts that cost me a lot of time in the long run.

Inoran, I would recommend reading one of the recommended books, or even the "After Effects Apprentice" book. THEN go to videocopilot.net's basics, then start at the beginning of his tutorials. There are hundreds now, but you need to see things from the beginning. Andrew Kramer is known for not just adding an effect, but multiple effects per layer to get it to look as good as possible. You aren't going to learn this in a week, so pace yourself and follow along on the tutorials. THEN I would suggest diving in and trying things on your own.
 
Hawk Teflon said:
You're giving mixed signals here, Phil. Should he read book or just dive right in?

I've been working in After Effects for about 4 or 5 years now, and (if you're suggesting you just dive right in) I'm going to have to disagree here. While reading a medical book won't make you a doctor, it's one of the steps to becoming a doctor.

I learned the way you're talking about, Phil, and I missed a lot of basic concepts that cost me a lot of time in the long run.

Inoran, I would recommend reading one of the recommended books, or even the "After Effects Apprentice" book. THEN go to videocopilot.net's basics, then start at the beginning of his tutorials. There are hundreds now, but you need to see things from the beginning. Andrew Kramer is known for not just adding an effect, but multiple effects per layer to get it to look as good as possible. You aren't going to learn this in a week, so pace yourself and follow along on the tutorials. THEN I would suggest diving in and trying things on your own.
Click to expand...

I suppose different people approach learning differently. For me, I need to jump in first.....get a feel for the controls and layout and get used to where everything is. I will come up with an idea for a certain animation that I want to do and look up the instructions. Then, as I create it step by step, the processes sink in and I'm able to visualize applying them to other projects.

For me, the Lynda videos helped with the introduction and I was able to take it from there.
 
I agree with most people here. I did both, reading books and actually going my way and doing them. As I became a little bit more confident with the program I went to watch videos on Video Copilot. I did about 50 Tutorials from there and even though I was copying what Andrew was doing I was starting to get ideas of my own and later do them. That was the process that worked for me and I think Im still learning as of today so this seems to do the job for me.
Good luck Inoran.
 
++ videocopilot.net

All I know is that if you are going to learn via tutorials, which isn't (necessarily) a bad way to learn, you have to understand the underlying concepts that go in the tutorial. Sure, you can follow along with Andrew Kramer and disintegrate your buddy with a flaming comet or whatever. You could learn that tutorial front to back ten times over, but that's all you'll know how to do. You won't understand how it works, or why it works. You've got to learn the underlying concepts of the tutorials.

Mini-Rant:
Learn the underlying concepts in each tutorial. Then apply those underlying concepts to your own stuff. Nothing bugs me more than seeing a video/short/commercial (yes broadcast commercials) where a blatant ripoff of a VC tutorial is present.
/Rant

However, when I see something original, spiced up with maybe a little VC Twitch or Optical Flares, it's like finding an easter egg on your dvd. Neat-o!
 
Best way of doing tutorials is not to follow them word for word, and wherever you get the urge to go off the beaten track and have a play about DO IT. This way you're learning more about the program on your own as opposed to mimicking what someone does on a video.
 
Is it just me or is it really buggy when using a PC and non mac friendly formats like MXF? I am just using the trial and it seems damn impossible to do something even as simple as motion tracking a keyed video object onto a background video. I get weird errors half the time like for no reason the background video decides to rotate 20 degrees and even if I start from scratch it stays that way the 2nd time. Or tracking information refusing to apply to the target null.

After a dozen or so tries I have yet to produce a usable clip.

What I mean by mac friendly formats would be like some form of quicktime or mov.
 
I am also trying to learn AE CS5 and tried to dive in and feel I learned some stuff but not fully understanding why things are done they way they do them. Needless to say I am now at the bottom where the Titanic sits so I am interested in learning the "why things work way" do any of these tutorials mentioned have this? One thing I did do is go thru the VC basics and instead of using AK videos I went out and tried to shoot my own using the same idea. I seem to get a better understanding of how video is shot.
Any help from any one is greatly appreciated.
 
westmc45 said:
I am also trying to learn AE CS5 and tried to dive in and feel I learned some stuff but not fully understanding why things are done they way they do them. Needless to say I am now at the bottom where the Titanic sits so I am interested in learning the "why things work way" do any of these tutorials mentioned have this? One thing I did do is go thru the VC basics and instead of using AK videos I went out and tried to shoot my own using the same idea. I seem to get a better understanding of how video is shot.
Any help from any one is greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

I took a class after running though all of the VC tutorials and feeling pretty much the same way. The text we used was After Effects Apprentice It explains things well. It doesn't hurt that our teacher had his own VFX house in Hollywood for 20+ years (and some pretty cool big picture credits). I felt like I was stealing for the small amount of money I paid for the class compared to the knowledge I was able to get out of it.
 
After Effects Apprentice is a must have if you are learning After Effects. I have learned from Andrew Kramer but this book brought me much further than his basic training did. Trish and Chris Meyer know that program inside and out. Look them up on www.provideocoalition.com.
 
First post here! I've been a video editor with the Adobe suite for about 5-6 years now, but am just lately starting to learn AE (used mostly Premiere for all of my editing up til now). I've been through all of the Lynda basic training, Total Training's basic & advanced AE training, a lot of VC tuts + others.

My question: Would I benefit at all at this point from the After Effects Apprentice book, or should I just get Creating Motion Graphics with AE?
 
Whats a good place to learn color correction and grading. Not really looking to create effects, but more develop my style.
 
When it comes to learning AE there are many great resources for to learn from like Chris and Trish Meyer and VideoCopilot. The question you have to ask is what you want to get out of it and then it will become easier focus. After Effects is a program with limitless potential and has by far the biggest and best community of any software I have ever used. With any software, it will take awhile to do the fancy stuff but it's important to learn the fundamentals so when you get to the fancy stuff it wont scare. Those are my two cents
 
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