This excellent tutorial shows you how easy it is to make a crowd out of a few people. Using the Trapcode plug-in particular, Mike Goedecke from the design firm Belief, teaches us how to do it. Turn a small group into a mass of people.
The Camera tool in After Effects can be used to create or help create all sorts of cool effects. This video will show you how to use it to create some simple 3D text effects for titles. You'll be some other effects and particles as well.
People like shiny things. Especially titles it would seem, since so many modern titles seem to have had shine effects put on them using After Effects. Now you can do so at home! This two-part video will show you how to create shine effects in After Effects without downloading any expensive plugins like Shine. It does use some custom presets which are available for download below and should help you speed up the process.
We don't always have a tripod handy when we need to grab some footage for our latest video project, but shaky footage can ruin an otherwise great video. Thankfully, After Effects has a 'stabilize motion' tool that you can apply to your recording to prevent headaches brought on by a shaky camera.
The Trapcode suite is a set of plug-ins for After Effects that allow video artists to create a variety of effects for inclusion in video and film productions. This particular guide demonstrates the power of Trapcode Particular and Trapcode 3D Stroke. Specifically, Wes Ball from OddBall Animation reveals how Trapcode was used in the creation of 'Eye of the Storm' - a music video by Lovett which can be seen here.
A lot of people use Flash for 2D cartoon animation, but Adobe After Effects is another great tool to create some very cool cartoon animation. This how to gives you a clear idea of the steps to take to use AE as a cartoon creation device. This short video tutorial will demonstrate how to properly export character animation from Flash and import it into After Effects to combine with background and foreground elements. It also gives a handy trick of how to duplicate a character animation clip to...
Start a complex animation that only has a few keyframes by using precomping! This is a simple yet powerful technique that can really open up your ability to get the most out of creating fun animations using Adobe After Effects.
If you've seen the films "Name of the Rose" and "Kingdom of Heaven", you're familiar with the medieval period, and if you want to create an animated intro in After Effects with a medieval style to it, follow along with Laurence Grayson in this three-part AE tutorial where he creates his own intro title sequence called "The Order". Learn how to quickly create a red wax seal, parchment paper and animated calligraphic text using only the standard toolset in Adobe After Effects (CS3, CS4 or CS5).
This After Effects tutorial will show how to create a nice, smooth animated text effect, which turns your icy font into a frozen font. This is a great animation that can be easily learned, whether you're an AE pro or novice. Laurence Grayson chills out as he shows you how to create this ice texture effect, glassy text and a frozen text animation - all using just the standard effects that come in CS3, CS4 or CS5.
You may not recognize the term "checker plate", but you've more than likely encountered it many times before. It's more commonly referred to as "diamond plate" and is the hardwearing, lightweight, non-slip metal stock with raised diamonds (or lines) that frequently adorn flight cases, stage decking and metal stair treads. This video will show you how to recreate that grungy look in After Effects.
If you're looking to learn how to use Adobe After Effects, which for anyone doing film or graphics work, it's important that you do learn how to use this amazing program, you've come to the right place. In this two-part tutorial you will learn the absolute basics of using Adobe After Effects, enough to get you started on doing your own projects!
Can't afford a high-speed camera? Fake it! In this clip, you'll learn how to achieve a slow-mo frame-blending effect with Adobe After Effects CS4 or CS5 and two digital photos of your choice. Whether you're new to Adobe's popular motion graphics and compositing software or a seasoned video professional just looking to better acquaint yourself with the program and its various features and filters, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, including detailed, s...
Making titles in After Effects is fun, relatively easy, and sure to make your film make a better first impression. This video will show you how to make a cool light ray text swipe effect with particles, like the one in the thumbnail. This isn't too hard as far as our After Effects titles tutorials, so try it out!
There is not limit to the amount of cool title effects that you can create for you film using After Effects. This video will show you how to create a cool digital futuristic title effect by making use of a plane of particles animated based on your audio levels with the Fractal Field options.
Are you getting better at using After Effects and finding that you want to create your own custom particles instead of using the default ones? Then this video is for you. It will show you how to create custom animated particles which can be used to create all manner of cool effects like the one created as an example for this video. Don't keep using clublets of particles, make them do what you want them to do.
Very few effects can be considered standard in After Effects, many are unique creations made by combining After Effects many tools. This video will show you how to create one such effect, an audio particle spray that will looks very cool in either titles or ending credits for a film. It is pretty easy to make and looks very, very cool.
After Effects contains all manner of cool tools that you can use to create really appealing title effects for your films. This video will show you how to create one quick easy text effect in this powerful software suite by using a camera, null object, 3D text layers, and a particular background, all keyed to the music levels. The result is very cool and sure to impress your audiences.
Making really attractive titles for your films is just one of the way that you can dramatically improve them using After Effects. This video will help you make them by showing you how to create a pulse or pulsating wave effect from whence your titles can emerge. They look great, and will make your movie (especially horror or sci-fi movie) look much more professional right from the beginning.
Creating an abstract wave effect in After Effects will allow you to make graphics like those in the thumbnail, basically clouds of particles with that smokey / silky effect like they used in James Bond titles. This video will show you how to make this effect yourself in After Effects in two parts. Apply this technique to your titles and they should be much, much sexier.
Particles are very useful for digital artists who want to create liquids, gasses, or clouds of small solids that react naturally. This video tutorial will show you how to use the twisting particle field effect to create a very cool title shown at the beginning of the first video. This particular particle effect is especially great for making galaxies and other fantastic images.
Shooting good footage with handheld cameras that wiggle, bounce, and fall onto rocks on a regular basis is tough. Sometimes, though, you may want to make it appear as if film that you've shot with tripods and such was actually shot with a handheld, like in some horror films. This video will show you how to create a fake camera movement effect in After Effects, giving your professionally-shot film just enough of that vérité quality.
If you've seen Sin City, what you probably remember most is the way color isolation was used throughout the film to reveal single colors in otherwise black-and-white scenes. This video will show you how to create the same effect for your own film in After Effects. Using this beautiful bunch of roses an an example, you will learn how to apply color isolation to film and maybe, just maybe, give Robert Rodriguez a run for his money.
If you've ever played through Valve's amazing first-person puzzle game Portal, you probably have dreams and nightmares about orange and blue portals appearing in the walls around you. Do you want to recreate the effect in a film? This video will show you how to create your very own colored wall portals on film using After Effects.
X-Ray vision is one of the most memorable of Superman's many distinctive powers (he was so unfairly strong wasn't he?) and one that would be very useful to modern spies and voyeurs. This video will show you how to create an X-Ray vision special effect for your movie using After Effects. Whether your characters are looking into a girls' locker room or a secret Soviet meeting, the effect at least will be very cool.
If you've ever wanted to make an even slightly fantasy-flavored film, you've probably wanted to make one of your characters fly. Unless you're working with a bird or some really crazy rigging, you're going to need to make this special effect happen in After Effects, or whatever compositing software you use. This video will show you how to create a flying effect with a sonic boom on takeoff in After Effects, and following it's instructions will help you learn a lot about how to use After Effec...
Apple's iconic silhouette people-dancing-against-colored-background iPod commercials may not rule the airwaves anymore, but they still look really cool. This video will show you how to recreate the effect of these commercials in After Effects using greenscreens. Now all you have to do is learn how to dance and you can film your own little iPod commercial!
The film Jumper may not have been critically acclaimed, but few can argue with how awesome the special effects that allowed the characters to teleport at will are. They looked great and were applied with great aplomb. This video will show you how to mimic that effect in After Effects, allowing you to make your own teleportation-happy films. I bet you can make one better than Jumper!
Half-Life 2 and it's brilliantly creative baby Portal refuse to die, offering the same great gameplay today that they did when they were released in 2004. This video will show you how to mimic, in After Effects, a very cool effect from the game called a portal storm. It basically looks like lightning on steroids, and will give any movie that you are compositing in After Effects some really legit sci-fi flair.
Motion tracking a movie scene in After Effects is a royal pain in the butt. It takes a long time, depends largely on the suitability of the footage you are working with, and is rather confusing. This video is here to shed some light on the subject, offering many tips and tricks for basic motion tracking in After Effects. If you're having trouble getting your own scum-sucking monster to wander the desert realistically, watch this video!
A LOT of movies have featured talking animals. Especially now that the technology is readily available to even low-budget filmmakers to make animals appear to be talking very realistically. If you've wanted to make your own talking-animal film, this video is here to help. It wills show you how to make animals talk using After Effects, creating and syncing mouth movements to fit your sound and leaving you with one charismatic cat, dog, fish, or marmoset.
In this clip, learn how to save and work with animation presets within Adobe After Effects. Whether you're new to Adobe's popular motion graphics and compositing software or a seasoned video professional just looking to better acquaint yourself with the program and its various features and filters, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, including detailed, step-by-step instructions, watch this free video guide.
To bring demons back from the dead is tricky business, and what you need to do is get some candles, a blanket, and a book of spells. Also, possibly some snacks in case you do bring those demons into the living world, because they're going to be hungry, and you don't want them to eat you, do you? And where you need to go is a graveyard, and you have to go at night. Also, bring a friend, because dying alone is horrible, if it comes to that.
Nick Campbell shows us how to avoid the wobbly keyframe in After Effects. When you are animating logos and want them to come onto the screen, stop for a few seconds, and then continue off the screen. To fix it, highlight your key frames and then right click on "keyframe interpolation". Now, where it says "temporal interpolation" click to make it say "linear" next to it. Save this change and now the wobbly effect should have gone away. This can come up in a number of different moves, no matter...
Not TOO many Western people want to see the United States nuked into the stone age. Some do, but not too many. Now you can simulate the effect on your computer! This video will show you how to use After Effects to simulate the effect of a nuclear blast or other major explosive catastrophe on a map of the US in 2D. This effect is used in many video games and movies, so master it yourself and we promise that you'll find cause to use it again at some point.
CCTV's (closed-circuit televisions) are more common than ever before, and have become more and more popular to depict in films and in video games like Manhunt. This video will teach you how to create a CCTV monitor effect akin to what a security guard would see on their camera monitor using After Effects. This will work great for any horror movie that you might be shooting, the effect is very creepy.
In case the name didn't give it away, After Effects has all kinds of... effects... that can be applied to your video... after... you've shot it. This video will teach you how to create and use an RGB split in a video. The RGB split causes the colors in the video to separate and shift, giving it a nightmare / drug-trip-like quality.
After Effects allows you to do all sorts of amazing things to your videos and images, but it cannot do it all alone. This video will show you how to use an After Effects plugin called Normality 3 to make lighting adjustments to 3D assets on the fly, having already rendered out a normal pass using either Cinema 4D or Modo (you can use other 3D software too, but those two are both shown as examples in the video). It will also demonstrate how to render out the normal passes.
Stroke overlays allow you to put semi-transparent lines over you video while it is playing, creating a cool artistic look. This two-part video tutorial will teach you how to use apply stroke overlays to an image using the Adobe Premiere Pro video editing software. This is a very popular technique for fashion videos, so if you are involved in making those then this video should be very useful to you.
Most people don't think of After Effects as a program that can be used to create 3D images. That's Cinema 4D and 3DS MAX territory. No more! This video will show you how to use Photoshop and After Effects in conjunction with a free plugin called 3D Invigorator to create 3D titles without ever opening a 3D modeling program. Simple, but very easy and useful!
Need help wrapping your head around how layer order effects visibility in After Effects when using 2D and 3D layers? This clip explains it all. With After Effects, it's easy. Whether you're new to Adobe's popular motion graphics and compositing software or a seasoned video professional just looking to better acquaint yourself with the program and its various features and filters, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, including detailed, step-by-step instr...
