After Effects Basics

Asset files

• Start by saving your project
• To begin editing in After Effects, you need to create a comp
  • Drag any media assets down to the New comp icon in the project panel to create a comp with the parameters of the media
    • Video will inherit FPS, length and aspect ratio
    • Image will inherit aspect ratio and last time settings
  • Create a new comp Compostion=>New Composition
    A composition is a container that stores layers of video, audio, text, etc. Compositions are essentially independent timelines, so you can think of each composition as being a separate movie project.
    • Presets will auto fill values
    • Determines:
      • FPS
      • Aspect ratio
      • Square Pixels or set standard (It is always best to work with square pixels. For most projects today this means HD.)
      • Duration
      • Background
        
      • You can now add media to the timeline:
        • Images
        • Video
        • Shapes
        • Text
        • Other Comps (pre-comp)