Book description
Visual effects and motion graphics pros of all stripes - from broadcast professionals to VFX supervisors to Web designers who need to produce occasional video segments - will welcome the dramatically accelerated features provided in the brand-new After Effects CS4. This best-selling book has been revised to cover all that's new in this upgrade: the ability to import 3D layers from Photoshop; the Cartoon effect that converts live-action footage into stylized imagery; Adobe Device Central CS4, which lets you preview and test animations for mobile devices, and more. Designed around a single complex project that’s broken down into manageable lessons, this book-and-DVD package mimics a real-world workflow - but one that readers tackle at their own pace. The DVD contains all the lesson files and footage readers need to complete the lessons.
Table of contents
- Copyright
- What’s on the Disc
- Getting Started
-
1. Getting to Know the Workflow
- Lesson overview
- Getting started
- Creating a project and importing footage
- Creating a composition and arranging layers
- Adding effects and modifying layer properties
- Animating the composition
- Previewing your work
- Optimizing performance in After Effects
- Rendering and exporting your composition
- Customizing the workspace
- Controlling the brightness of the user interface
- Finding resources for using After Effects
- Checking for updates
- Review questions
- Review answers
- 2. Creating a Basic Animation Using Effects and Presets
-
3. Animating Text
- Lesson overview
- Getting started
- About text layers
- Creating and formatting point text
- Using a text animation preset
- Animating with scale keyframes
- Animating using parenting
- Animating imported Photoshop text
- Animating text using a path animation preset
- Animating type tracking
- Animating text opacity
- Using a text animator group
- Cleaning up the path animation
- Animating a nontext layer along a motion path
- Adding motion blur
- Exporting to Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
- Review questions
- Review answers
- 4. Working with Shape Layers
-
5. Animating a Multimedia Presentation
- Lesson overview
- Getting started
- Animating the scenery using parenting
- Adjusting an anchor point
- Masking video using vector shapes
- Keyframing a motion path
- Animating additional elements
- Applying an effect
- Creating an animated slide show
- Adding an audio track
- Zooming in for a final close-up
- Sending the project to reviewers
- Review questions
- Review answers
-
6. Animating Layers
- Lesson overview
- Getting started
- Simulating lighting changes
- Duplicating an animation using the pick whip
- Animating movement in the scenery
- Adjusting the layers and creating a track matte
- Animating the shadows
- Adding a lens flare effect
- Animating the clock
- Retiming the composition
- Review questions
- Review answers
- 7. Working with Masks
- 8. Distorting Objects with the Puppet Tools
-
9. Keying
- Lesson overview
- About keying
- Getting started
- Creating compositions in Device Central
- Changing the background color
- Adding the foreground subject
- Using garbage masks
- Applying the Color Difference Key effect
- Choking the matte
- Removing spill
- Adjusting contrast
- Adding the background animation
- Adding text
- Preparing the composition for mobile devices
- Review questions
- Review answers
- 10. Performing Color Correction
- 11. Building 3D Objects
- 12. Using 3D Features
- 13. Advanced Editing Techniques
- 14. Rendering and Outputting
- Color Management in After Effects CS4
- Contributors
Product information
- Title: Adobe After Effects CS4 Classroom in a Book
- Author(s):
- Release date: December 2008
- Publisher(s): Adobe Press
- ISBN: 9780321626615
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