Many of the coolest graphic animation effects you see on television or on the web are created using Adobe AfterEffects. This is an extremely versatile program, but it is also very complex. The best way to learn this (or any other) program is through tutorials in which you apply the tools and techniques to a particular project.

1. Open AfterEffects. Select “Composition” and click “New Composition.” In the dialog box, select the size you want to use from the presets, such as NTSC DVD or HD. Then set the “Duration.” For example, you might choose “Web Video,” which is 320 x 240, and make it five seconds long. Name the project and click “OK.”
2. Step 2

   Select “Layer,” then “New” and click “Solid.” In the dialog box, make the size of the solid 200 x 200 and change the color to white. This creates a new layer in the “Layer” panel. Select the layer and hit “S” on your keyboard. This brings up the “Scale Control,” which lets you change the size of the solid.

3. Step 3

   Go to the timeline on the right and drag the timeline arrow to two seconds. Click on the little stopwatch to add a keyframe. Now drag the arrow back to the first frame, go back to the layers, and change the Scale to “0.” Now, if you click “0″ on the number pad, the video will play, and you will see the solid getting larger (or closer). Drag the blue timeline slider over to the keyframe you inserted so that you will only play the part you are working on. To make the animation run more smoothly, highlight both keyframes and hit “F9″ on the keyboard.

4. Step 4

   Select the layer and go to “Edit” and click “Duplicate.” Offset the new layer in the timeline one frame by clicking on the layer in the timelime and dragging it. Click on the “Toggle” switch at the bottom of the screen. Then click on the “None” menu under “TrkMat” and select “Invert Alpha.” Now the top layer solid (which appears smaller in each frame because it is offset) is functioning as a mask for the other frame, which now appears to have a hole in it.

5. Step 5

   Highlight both layers and duplicate them. Select the second layer down. Select “Layer” and click “Solid Settings.” In the dialog box, change the color to whatever you want. Select the top two frames and move them two frames over in the timeline. Now, when you play the video, you see two nested colored squares becoming larger.

Adobe After effects is one of the most powerful video editing programs available today. It has a host of features which allows the user to create almost any postwork video effect he chooses. After Effects can be used to create a video photo montage. This sort of montage might be used during the opening credits of a television show to show the main characters, or it might be used in a dramatic way to show the changes in a single person over time. But there are several important aspects to creating such a montage in After Effects.

Scanning Images

1. Before creating an After Effects montage, you need to gather and organize the images you want to use. If these images are in print format, scan them in using a scanner set to a high resolution (600 or so). This will help to reduce the moire noise pattern effect that you sometimes get with scanned in images (especially printed magazine images). The images are saved to a folder for later use.

Transferring Images

2. If the images are in digital format, the CD, Flash drive or UBS cord of the camcorder is connected to the computer, and the files are transferred to a folder on the computer.

Importing Files

3. To create a montage in After Effects, you need to get the images into the scene. This is done by opening the program and clicking on “File.” From the listed options, select “Import Multiple Files.” In the dialog box that pops up, browse to the “Montage” folder and select one of the files you want to import. It will be placed in the collections bin in the upper left for use, but the dialog will remain open, and you can continue selecting files.

Importing PSD Files

4. If one of the files is a Photoshop document with multiple layers, another dialog box will open asking if you want to import with the layers merged or choose a layer. When you have finished importing all the images you need, you close the dialog by hitting “Done.”

Using the Images

5. The images in the bin are dragged one by one to the “Composition” viewer. With each one that is brought in, select its layer in the “Timeline” panel and click to open the layer ad to access the “Scale” function. Reduce the size of the image to what you want it to be for the montage. Repeat this process for each of the images you place in the montage.

Using Adobe Photoshop is a fun way to create edited images that will amaze family and friends, but once you bring those photos into Adobe After Effects, you can make the photos come alive. When Halloween approaches, you can create cool effects, including making somebody’s head float around the screen.

Adobe Photoshop

1. Step 1

   Load a photo in Adobe Photoshop. The ideal picture for this project should be a straight forward picture with good lighting and nothing blocking the way of the head.

2. Step 2

   Use the pen tool to draw around the whole head, just stopping right above the neck. When you have completed the highlighting, right click in the middle of the head and press the “Make Selection” button. Press “OK” on the “Make Selection” pop-up screen.

3. Step 3

   Press “Ctrl” and “X” to cut the head out of the picture. Create a new layer by going to “Layer,” “New Layer” and Pressing “OK.” Highlight the new layer and press “Ctrl” and “V” to paste the head in this layer.

4. Step 4

   Adjust the head so it is back in its original position. Click on the background layer once again and use the pen tool to highlight the complete body. Right-click the mouse, select the “Make Selection” button and press “OK.” Click on the selection tool and then right-click anywhere in the picture and select the option that says “Select Inverse”. Press the delete key to clear everything surrounding the body.

5. Step 5

   Save the picture as a Photoshop file and load up Adobe After Effects.

Adobe After Effects

6. Step 1

   Load the picture into the program by dragging the file from a folder or finding it by using the “File” and “Import” option.

7. Step 2

   Find a picture of a haunted house or other Halloween theme to use as a background. You can also use just a plain black background. Drag this background down into the “timeline” window.

8. Step 3

   Drag the person’s Photoshop file into the project as well. You will see that each layer from Photoshop has a separate spot on the timeline.

9. Step 4

   
   

   Make sure that the background picture is below the person picture so the person is always on top.

10. Step 5

    Hold control and click on both layers of the Photoshop file. Adjust the size of the person in preview window to an appropriate size that is viewable.

11. Step 6

    Drag the timeline arrow two seconds into the video. Press the arrow to the left of the head layer in the Photoshop file. Press the “Clock” button on the position arrow to start the Key Frames. Key Frames are the points that the animations begin and end.

12. Step 7

    Move the timeline arrow over a couple of seconds and then click and drag the head to a position. Repeat this process until there are several head movements. End the video around the 20-second mark and end in the original position or somewhere else on the screen.

13. Step 8

    Test the video by going to the “Time Control” window and pressing the “RAM Preview” option. Go to “File” and “Export” and choose a file format for exporting your video.

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Animating your own drawings is a time-intensive, but not impossible, process. As important as learning how to animate a still image is preparing that image for animation. Drawings, images or cartoons should be saved as a document with a transparent background, and they will likely need several layers to effectively portray movement, depending on your ultimate objective.

1. Scan your images into a photo editing program. If you have the capability to scan your image with a transparent background, do so. If you do not scan your image with a transparent background, you must select the positive areas of your image and paste into a new document with a transparent background.
2. Step 2

   Select the positive areas of your image. If your image is all one color or tone, this is easily accomplished with the selection tool known as the “Magic Wand” tool. Click on the tool and the click on the image itself. Depending on your “tolerance” settings for the tool, the entire image should be selected. Adjust your tolerance setting to a higher number if your entire image is not selected. If you have a more complex image to select, use the “Lasso” tool. This tool allows you to draw a perimeter around the area you want selected.

3. Step 3

   Press your CTRL key and then the letter “C” to copy.

4. Step 4

   Create a new image with a transparent background. Go to the File menu and then “New.” Choose the appropriate size and resolution and make the background contents transparent.

5. Step 5

   Press your CTRL key and then the letter “V” to paste your image.

6. Step 6

   Save your image in a format that does not automatically flatten the layers, such as a PSD or TIFF file.

7. Step 7

   Select any area of your image that you want to “animate” or move independently of the main part of the image. For example, if you have an image of man and you want to animate him waving, you will need to select his arm.

8. Step 8

   Create another new image with a transparent background and paste the arm into it. This is known as a secondary layer. Save this image independently of the main image. You are now ready to create a simple animation in After Effects with these layers.

A wedding slide show can be a celebration of the cherished moments during a relationship. Although the traditional slide show is good, using After Effects to create stunning visual effects can create a slide show that people will be talking about for years to come. With Adobe After Effects, a single, flat two-dimensional picture gives way to the three-dimensional depth that picture originally captured.

Photoshop Preparation.

1. Step 1

   Drag a picture into Photoshop. Pick one object or person you want to highlight. For simplicity of explanation, imagine a portrait of a bride.

2. Step 2

   Make a selection around the bride with the Lasso tool.

3. Step 3

   Copy and paste the selection. This should automatically create another layer above your original one for you, but with the highlighted bride image alone. For future use, call this layer “Bride” and the original layer “Background” by clicking on the layers in the Layer Panel.

4. Step 4

   Select and use the Clone stamp tool to erase the object from the original layer. Make sure Background layer is highlighted on the Layers Panel.

5. Step 5

   Hold down the Option or Alt button and select an area from which you can copy. Now paint over the original bride image that you have just made a copy of. You are “erasing” the original bride from the Background layer. It is better to do it in small strokes and constantly reselect new areas to copy from. Save the image once you are done as a .PSD file.

   After Effects Wedding Slideshow

6. Step 1

   Open After Effects. Go to File>Import>File, then find the PSD file you saved in step 5. Click on it and press “OK.”

7. Step 2

   Select composition-cropped layers from the Import Kind scroll down menu from this new window.

8. Step 3

   Select the Editable Layer Styles, then press OK. This will create a composition in your Project panel with a folder.

9. Step 4

   Double-click on the composition in your Project panel. This will open the composition in the time line.

10. Step 5

    Make both layers 3D by highlighting the first (“Bride”) and shift-clicking the second (“Background”). Right-click the layers. A floating window should pop up. Select 3D Layer. The layers now can be moved in 3D space.

11. Step 6

    Select the Bride layer and twirl down the scroll down menu by clicking on the white triangle next to the Bride layer name. Twirl down the Transform menu as well.

12. Step 7

    Find Position and notice three coordinates. The last one is the z-space coordinate. Type in “-100″ here so that it is farther away from the original layer. This will move the bride image away from the picture, giving the image depth. The next few steps, if performed correctly, can give the image movement. Once you learn how to do the next steps, play with them until you are satisfied with the outcome.

13. Step 8

    Go to Layer>New>Camera. Press OK when the Camera Settings window appears.

14. Step 9

    Move the camera back in z-space as well. This is easier if you change the one-view mode in the composition window to a two-view mode. Select one of the windows and change the Active Camera mode to top view.

15. Step 10

    Select the Camera layer again and move the camera back in the top-view window.

16. Step 11

    Move the Camera on its x-axis to the left.

17. Step 12

    Click on both the Position and Point of Interest stopwatch icons to the left of these. This should add a key frame.

18. Step 13

    Move the Current Time Indicator to the right 2 seconds.

19. Step 14

    Move the Camera to the right on its x-axis. A key frame should appear.

20. Step 15

    Press the spacebar to see this animate. Do the same for the other photos. Each will be in its own composition, and these can be faded out by using the Opacity stopwatch icons.