chapter two
the interface. so now that everyone has their photoshop files all laid out, were going onto the next big step. workspace and keyframes. as you will see here the basics are really not that hard.
part one: import your comp(psd) file
open up after affects. and select new project.
this will clear off everything and make sure were all on the same page.
next we want to import our psd comp so under file select import.
this window should pop up. where it says "IMPORT AS" select composition
and now your project window should look something like this.
go ahead and double click the lesson01 comp(your psd file) it should open up and be in your main work view. like this.
on a side note take a look at this icon here.
this is the transperentcy toggle. switch it on and off. this shows you whats see through. now lets move on to animating our first layer. select the top layer in your project and expand it out. like this.
now see this icon.
that kids is the ae stopwatch it is what we will be using to add and remove key frames. go ahead and click it for opacity. and set it to 0.
it should look something like this.
if you haven't figgured it out all you have to do is click on the number 100 and slide the value down to zero, or enter it in if you brought up the pop dialog. the key thing to pay attention too is that diamond shape thing on your timeline. this is a key frame. click ahead in the timeline to about 1 second or anywhere you want. you'll know your ahead if the slider moves along in the timeline. and change that value in the opacity slot from "0" too "100" notice it will automatically create a key frame for you. you only need to hit the stopwatch once if you want to let aftereffects know your animating a property.
thats it! congrats you have just animated your first layer. if your workspace looks anything like the picture above your animating! now to see what you have done. hit the "home" key on your keyboard. that should bring you to the begining or head of your animation. hit the "space bar" to preview your animation. if everything is done right it should fade up from nothing to something.
now it's time for you all to fly out on your own. anything with a stopwatch is aimatetable. thats position, size, and rotaion. play with all the layers ad save out your work as an attachment here. your homework for next week is to animate all three layers and post your workfile here. if any of you have questions please post i will answer as best as i can. the key here is to learn the interface. we can't go advanced yet. we need to learn to crawl before we walk and then run.
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AlexKim
,lol
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