After Effects Bootcamp

Self-paced lessons

Watch free previews and explore the lessons included with enrollment at Noble Desktop.

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  Course Files & Project Overview

  Lesson 1: Creating a Social Media Ad

  5:03

  Organize your project by creating a composition in After Effects, importing pre-made media files (images, audio, video), and layering them to animate elements like text, photos, and effects according to a structured folder system.

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  Getting Started

  Lesson 1: Creating a Social Media Ad

  3:20

  Close the start screen, switch to the Standard workspace, and reset it to ensure a consistent panel layout.

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  Social Media Ad

  Lesson 1: Creating a Social Media Ad

  11:56

  Learn how to set up an After Effects project to create a square-format social media ad using imported images, video, and audio, starting with planning via a storyboard and building a new composition with specific dimensions, duration, and frame rate.

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  Importing Media

  Lesson 1: Creating a Social Media Ad

  6:46

  Import media files properly by using the correct import method, manage and rename folders carefully, and avoid accidental double-clicks that isolate elements.

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  Adding Footage to a Composition

  Lesson 1: Creating a Social Media Ad

  3:16

  Drag footage into the timeline to add it to a composition, rename layers freely, but avoid renaming or moving source files on your computer to prevent broken links.

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  Transform Properties and Layer Management

  Lesson 1: Creating a Social Media Ad

  6:18

  Use the Properties panel or the Timeline to adjust layer settings like position, scale, and rotation, keeping in mind that layer order affects visibility and selection may require using the timeline or right-click menu.

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  Relinking Missing FIles

  Lesson 1: Creating a Social Media Ad

  5:08

  Open the starter project from page 25, reconnect missing media files using "Replace Footage File," and avoid renaming, moving, or deleting source files after import.

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  Importing Audio

  Lesson 1: Creating a Social Media Ad

  8:04

  Add an audio file to the After Effects timeline, reveal its waveform using the LL shortcut, and trim or reposition the layer to align with the desired start time.

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  Animation and Keyframes Part 1

  Lesson 1: Creating a Social Media Ad

  15:47

  Animate layers in After Effects by enabling the stopwatch to create keyframes for properties like position and rotation, adjusting their values over time on the timeline, and using easing for smoother transitions.

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  Animation and Keyframes Part 2

  Lesson 1: Creating a Social Media Ad

  13:56

  Understand how to animate by setting keyframes, shift layers in time using shortcuts, duplicate animated layers, and replace their content while ensuring correct selection and precise timing.

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  Using the Type Tool

  Lesson 2: Finalizing and Exporting the Social Media Ad

  5:08

  Use the horizontal type tool to create and format a text layer using either the Properties panel after typing or the Character and Paragraph panels before typing.

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  Animating Text and Layer Styles

  Lesson 2: Finalizing and Exporting the Social Media Ad

  15:13

  Understand how to control and adjust layer anchor points, styles, and effects in animation software to ensure proper rotation, scaling, and appearance across text, image, and video layers.

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  Working with Video Layers

  Lesson 2: Finalizing and Exporting the Social Media Ad

  8:35

  Hide all properties using Command-Tilde after selecting all layers, then import and position a video layer, scale it to fit comp height, align it if needed, and adjust contrast to enhance visual clarity.

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  Blending Modes and Effects

  Lesson 2: Finalizing and Exporting the Social Media Ad

  10:00

  Learn how to use blending modes, effects, and time manipulation in a graphics program to create and customize layered smoke visuals.

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  Parent and Link

  Lesson 2: Finalizing and Exporting the Social Media Ad

  9:07

  Use parenting with a null object layer to control and animate multiple layers simultaneously by assigning them as children, reducing keyframes and simplifying adjustments.

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  Adding a Linear Wipe

  Lesson 2: Finalizing and Exporting the Social Media Ad

  7:59

  Apply a linear wipe to the oversized background layer to fade out its right side, then add and animate the company logo PNG to slide in from the right while duplicating it into white and black versions for visual layering.

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  Additional Child Layers and Animating Opacity

  Lesson 2: Finalizing and Exporting the Social Media Ad

  7:28

  Follow the timing instructions precisely to properly parent layers and copy opacity animations, ensuring synced transitions and visibility.

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  Preparing for Export

  Lesson 3: Creating an Infographic Animation

  8:34

  Use the work area bar in After Effects to control preview and export ranges, then manually animate opacity and audio levels to create fade-ins and fade-outs.

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  Exporting the Project

  Lesson 3: Creating an Infographic Animation

  2:49

  Export the composition by adding it to the Render Queue, setting quality and output settings, choosing a save location, and clicking Render.

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  Project Overview & Getting Started

  Lesson 3: Creating an Infographic Animation

  9:22

  Learn how to import layered Illustrator and Photoshop files into After Effects to create and animate infographic scenes using a scene-based workflow.

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  Importing Illustrator Files

  Lesson 3: Creating an Infographic Animation

  10:13

  Import Illustrator or Photoshop files as compositions with retained layer sizes after creating a dummy composition to ensure correct settings.

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  Organizing the Timeline

  Lesson 3: Creating an Infographic Animation

  5:42

  Organize and color-code layers, edit original files, and isolate or solo elements in the timeline to manage complex compositions.

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  Starting the Animation

  Lesson 3: Creating an Infographic Animation

  16:42

  Animate layers efficiently by creating a dummy composition, overestimating duration, using consistent keyframe techniques like overshoot and ease, and timing staggered animations with shortcuts to avoid tedious manual adjustments.

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  Animating Position

  Lesson 3: Creating an Infographic Animation

  2:22

  Animate the position of layer 22 starting at frame 25, trimming its visibility to sync with the shield’s scaling using Option + left bracket.

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  Finalizing the First Animation

  Lesson 3: Creating an Infographic Animation

  3:52

  Understand how animation properties like scale, opacity, and rotation can be copied relative to their layers, while position must be manually adjusted due to its document-based reference, and apply overshoot techniques thoughtfully for more dynamic motion.

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  Overview of Masks

  Lesson 4: Logo & Title Animation

  9:55

  Open the provided project file, split the social media headline into two masked layers using vector paths, animate each with an overshoot motion, and prepare for manual sequencing in the timeline.

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  Setting Guides and Grids

  Lesson 4: Logo & Title Animation

  4:35

  Use visual aids like rulers, guidelines, title/action safe areas, proportional grids, and document grids to organize and align elements accurately in your composition.

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  Adding Masks to Layers

  Lesson 4: Logo & Title Animation

  5:36

  Create and adjust a 10-frame animation by keyframing position changes, using easing for smoother motion, duplicating layers with masks, and refining mask visibility and properties for compositing.

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  Adding a Track Matte & FInalizing the Animation

  Lesson 4: Logo & Title Animation

  10:00

  Use a track matte layer positioned above to reveal text only when it enters a defined visible area.

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  A Note on Track Mattes

  Lesson 4: Logo & Title Animation

  4:00

  Understand that masks are bound to a layer and transform with it, while track mats use separate layers allowing independent animation, often based on alpha (transparency) or luma (brightness), and are widely used in text, shape, and video animations for reveal effects.

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  Re creating Text in After Effects

  Lesson 4: Logo & Title Animation

  11:17

  Use live text layers to animate editable text instead of static image-based text when fonts are available.

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  Adding Text Animators

  Lesson 4: Logo & Title Animation

  10:00

  Animate text properties like position, scale, and rotation per character, word, or line using the Add Animator button in the Properties panel.

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  A Note on Text Animators

  Lesson 4: Logo & Title Animation

  11:26

  Animate text in After Effects by applying animators to live text layers using range selectors to control properties like opacity on a character, word, or line basis.

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  Working with Nested Compositions

  Lesson 5: Medical Animation

  10:00

  Combine multiple compositions (pre-comps) into a single comp to manage layers, apply effects uniformly, and streamline complex scenes.

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  A Note on Transitions

  Lesson 5: Medical Animation

  2:02

  Animate transitions using layers or effects like fades or zooms, optionally enhance realism with motion blur, which appears only during movement and impacts preview performance but still renders on export.

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  Logo Animation Getting Started

  Lesson 5: Medical Animation

  6:06

  Animate multiple identical layers simultaneously, then use the sequencing command to stagger their start times evenly across the timeline.

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  Using the Shy Switch

  Lesson 5: Medical Animation

  3:30

  Use the Shy switch and layer lock to hide and protect layers in the timeline while maintaining comp visibility.

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  Animating Transform Properties

  Lesson 5: Medical Animation

  13:55

  Animate multiple layers by selecting them in order, setting relative keyframes using arrow keys or dragging, applying easing, shortening layer durations, sequencing them with Keyframe Assistant, and adjusting stagger timing by trimming and resequencing layers as needed.

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  Adding Multiple Text Animators

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  10:00

  Animate a title in After Effects by using a linear wipe effect on a shape layer line, apply position animators to text layers for movement, use a solid as a track matte for reveal effects, and set text animation to occur word-by-word with range selectors.

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  The Write On Effect Part 1

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  10:00

  Animate text using the Write-On effect by drawing open mask paths on each layer, applying the Stroke effect, and using keyboard shortcuts like U and UU to reveal keyframes and modified properties.

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  The Write On Effect Part 2

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  7:32

  Apply the Stroke effect to a masked layer, animate the End property to create a write-on text effect, then copy and paste the effect to other layers and manually sequence their timing.

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  A Note on Start and End Points

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  5:52

  Animate the stroke's start or end based on the direction the path was drawn, as start and end define animation direction relative to the path or text.

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  Importing Photoshop Files

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  9:07

  Import and animate a looping red blood cell video, Photoshop-painted vein graphics, and heartbeat audio into After Effects, ensuring grouped layers are flattened to avoid unwanted pre-comps.

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  Curving Motion Paths

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  10:56

  Understand how Photoshop and After Effects handle layer-based imports, noting support for opacity and blending modes but not clipping masks or smart objects, and manage timeline elements like layer color coding, footage interpretation, and looping settings.

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  loopOut Expression

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  7:38

  Use the loopOut() expression in After Effects to repeat an animation indefinitely using only three keyframes.

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  Adding the Echo Effect

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  10:00

  Precompose animated layers to create reusable comps, ensuring "Move all attributes" is selected, then apply the Echo effect to generate time-delayed visual duplicates for motion trail effects.

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  Project Overview and Adding Guides

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  10:07

  Create a simple bar graph using shape and text layers, apply track mattes and animation presets, align elements with guides, and manually build layered components based on a reference image.

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  Creating Shape Layers and Text

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  7:30

  Create text labels first to position them correctly, then draw and name bar-shaped rectangles with consistent anchor points and dimensions, ensuring proper alignment and visibility beneath the text.

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  Creating Graph Frame and Grid

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  7:34

  Build a simple square graph with an outline, tick mark, grid using the Grid effect, labeled text layers, a headline, and a background image.

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  Animating the Headline

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  5:35

  Animate the headline using the "Blinking Cursor Typewriter Console" preset, scale the bars into view, reveal country labels with a track matte, draw the outline using Trim Paths, and apply Gradient Wipe to animate the grid.

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  Animating the Bars

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  4:19

  Animate bar layers by adjusting scale and anchor points using the pan behind tool, search properties depending on layer selection, and apply presets cautiously to avoid conflicts.

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  Revealing the Country Labels

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  8:46

  Animate text and shapes using track mattes, shape layer effects like trim paths, and gradient wipes based on grayscale layers, while managing anchor points limitations in predefined shapes.

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  A Note on Assets

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  4:03

  Understand that most graphics for animation are created and prepped in Illustrator, as After Effects is not ideal for drawing or editing complex assets.

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  Green Screen Removal

  Lesson 6: Shapes, Animation & Compositing

  13:13

  Understand how After Effects is used primarily for motion graphics animation and video compositing, including techniques like motion tracking and green screen removal using presets such as Keylight.

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