- About Classroom in a Book
- Prerequisites
- Installing After Effects
- Optimizing performance
- Restoring default preferences
- Copying the lesson files
- How to use these lessons
- Additional resources
- Adobe certification
- Getting to Know the Workflow
- 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 answers
- Review questions
Like this article? We recommend
Like this article? We recommend
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Adding effects and modifying layer properties
Now that your composition is set up, you can start having funâapplying effects, making transformations, and adding animation. You can add any combination of effects and modify any of a layerâs properties, such as size, placement, and opacity. Using effects, you can alter a layerâs appearance or sound, and even generate visual elements from scratch. The easiest way to start is to apply any of the hundreds of effects included with After Effects.
Preparing the layers
Youâll apply the effects to duplicates of selected layersâthe DJ layer and the kaleidoscope_waveforms layer. Working with duplicates lets you apply an effect to one layer and then use it in conjunction with the unmodified original.
- Select the first layer, DJ.mov, in the Timeline panel, and then choose Edit > Duplicate. A new layer with the same name appears at the top of the stack, so the first two layers are now both named DJ.mov.
- Select the second layer and rename it to avoid confusion: Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to make the name editable, and type DJ_with_effects. Then press Enter or Return again to accept the new name.
- Select the kaleidoscope_waveforms layer and make two duplicates. Then, rename the duplicates kaleidoscope_left and kaleidoscope_right.
- Drag if necessary to rearrange the layers in the Timeline panel so that theyâre in the order shown.
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Adding a Radial Blur effect
The Radial Blur effect creates blurs around a specific point in a layer, simulating the effects of a zooming or rotating camera. Youâll add a Radial Blur effect to the DJ.
- Select the DJ_with_effects layer in the Timeline panel. Notice that layer handles appear around the layer in the Composition panel.
- In the Effects & Presets panel at the right side of the application window, type radial blur in the search box.
After Effects searches for effects and presets that contain the letters you type, and displays the results interactively. Before you have finished typing, the Radial Blur effect, located in the Blur & Sharpen category, appears in the panel.
- Drag the Radial Blur effect onto the DJ_with_effects layer in the Timeline panel. After Effects applies the effect and automatically
opens the Effect Controls panel in the upper-left area of the workspace.
Now youâll customize the settings.
- In the Effect Controls panel, choose Zoom from the Type menu.
- In the Composition panel, move the center point of the blur lower by dragging the center cross-hair (
) down until itâs below the turntables. As you drag the cross-hair, the Center value updates in the Effect Controls panel.
The left and right values are x and y coordinates, respectively. Center the blur at approximately 375, 450.
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You can also type the x and y values directly into the coordinate fields in the Effect Controls panel, or you can position the pointer over the fields to see the double-arrow icon (
) and then drag right or left to increase or decrease the values, respectively. Dragging to change values is called scrubbing.
- Finally, increase the Amount to 200.
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Adding an exposure effect
To punch up the brightness of this layer, you will apply the Exposure color-correction effect. This effect lets you make tonal adjustments to footage. It simulates the result of modifying the exposure setting (in f-stops) of the camera that captured the image.
- Locate the Exposure effect in the Effects & Presets panel by doing one of the following:
- Type Exposure in the search box.
- Click the triangle next to Color Correction to expand the list of color-correction effects in alphabetical order.
- Drag the Exposure effect in the Color Correction category onto the DJ_with_effects layer name in the Timeline panel. After Effects adds the Exposure settings to the Effect Controls panel under the Radial Blur effect.
- In the Effect Controls panel, click the triangle next to the Radial Blur effect to collapse those settings so that you can see the Exposure settings more easily.
- For Master Exposure, enter 1.60. This will make everything brighter in the layer to simulate an overexposed image.
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Transforming layer properties
The DJ looks smashing, so you can turn your attention to the kaleidoscope waveforms that are part of the background. Youâll reposition the copies you created earlier to create an edgy effect.
- Select the kaleidoscope_left layer (layer 5) in the Timeline panel.
- Click the triangle to the left of the layer number to expand the layer, and then expand the layerâs Transform properties: Anchor Point, Position, Scale, Rotation, and Opacity.
- If you canât see the properties, scroll down the Timeline panel using the scroll bar at the right side of the panel. Better
yet, select the kaleidoscope_left layer name again and press P. This keyboard shortcut displays only the Position property, which is the only property you want to change for this exercise.
Youâll move this layer to the left about 200 pixels.
- Change the x coordinate for the Position property to 160. Leave the y coordinate at 243.
- Select the kaleidoscope_right layer (layer 6), and press P to display its Position property. You will move this layer to the right.
- Change the x coordinate for the kaleidoscope_right Position property to 560. Leave the y coordinate at 243. Now you can see the three waveformsâleft, center, and rightâin the Composition panel, hanging
like a beaded light curtain.
To contrast the left and right waveforms with the center waveform, you will reduce their opacity.
- Select the kaleidoscope_left layer in the Timeline panel and press T to reveal its Opacity property. Set it to 30%.
- Select the kaleidoscope_right layer in the Timeline panel, press T to reveal its Opacity property, and set it to 30%.
- Choose File > Save to save your work so far.
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