1 - Getting to know your workflow

• 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

2 - Creating a basic animation using After Effects and Presets

• Importing footage using Adobe Bridge
• Creating the composition
• Working with imported Illustrator layers
• Applying effects to a layer
• Applying an animation preset
• Previewing the effects
• Adding transparency
• Rendering the composition

3 - Animating text

• About text layers
• Creating and formatting point text
• Using text animation preset
• Animating with scale key frames
• 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 non text layer along a motion path
• Adding motion blur
• Exporting to Adobe Flash Professional CS5

4 - Working with shape layers

• Adding a shape layer
• Creating custom shapes
• Incorporating video and audio layers
• Applying a Cartoon effect
• Adding a title bar
• Using Brainstorm to experiment

5 - Animating a multimedia presentation

• Animating the scenery using parenting
• Adjusting an anchor point
• Masking video using vector shapes
• Key Framing 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

6 - Simulating lighting change

• 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
• Re-Timing the composition

7 - Working with masks

• Creating a mask with the Pen tool
• Editing a mask
• Feathering the edges of a mask
• Replacing the content of a mask
• Adding a reflection
• Creating a vignette
• Adjusting the color

8 - Distorting objects with the Puppet tools

• Adding a Deform pins
• Defining areas of overlap
• Stiffening an area
• Animating pin positions
• Recording animation

9 - Using the Roto Brush tool

• Creating a segmentation boundary
• Fine-tuning the matte
• Creating a transition from the full clip to the foreground
• Creating a logo
• Animating text
• Adding a background image
• Adding Audio

10 - Performing color correction

• Adjusting color balance
• Replacing the background
• Removing unwanted elements
• Correcting a range of color
• Warming colors with the Photo Filter effect

11 - Building a 3D object

• Brainstorm with key frames
• Working with a null object
• Working with 3D text
• Creating a backdrop for 3D text
• Nesting a 3D composition
• Adding a camera
• Completing the scene

12 - Using 3D features

• Animating 3D objects
• Adding reflections to 3D objects
• Animating a camera
• Adjusting a layer timing
• Using 3D lights
• Adding effects
• Adding a motion blur
• Previewing the entire animation

13 - Advanced editing techniques

• Using motion stabilization
• Using single-point motion tracking
• Using multi point tracking
• Creating a particle simulation
• Re-Timing playback using the Timewarp effect

14 - Rendering and outputting

• Creating templates for the rendering process
• Creating templates for output modules
• Exporting to different output media