After Effects 3

We don't have top create a composition, all we have to do is open the file and it will become the composition.

When we open the file we use the option to retain layer sizes. This will allow us to have the most control over each individual element.

Wh need to go to composition settings and check the image size and then set the composition duration.

Hold shift to lock angles when moving objects using position key frames.

Copy and paste key franmes using cntrl C - cntrl V. Just select both key frames and move the time marker to the point that you want to create another movement.

Between the two movements the object returns to its original position. We need to edit this movement to make the animation work.

To do this we need to right click on a keyframe and select toggle hold keyframe. Hold key frame removes the movement between it and the next frame. Once the timeline reaches the next keyframe the movement will continue. It has removed the path between the two frames but the movement itself remains, making the object appear to jump from one position to another.

In this exercise we are animating rain so that we can have the same rain drop falling over and over again without creating a large amount of layers and taking a long time. So of the two frames we make to animate a rain drop falling the second one is the one we need to toggle hold then we can copy and paste as needed.

You can then duplicate the layer using cntrl D or selecting duplicate in the edit menu.

the problem we have now is that the two layers of rain drops are on top of each other. 

We need to select all keyframes by clicking on the word position and then lining up the time marker with any key frame using the arrows in the layers panel. All we have to do now is change the X value 9the first of the two position numbers in the layers panel).

I then alter the key frames on each timeline to make the timing of the rain less uniform. First I moved all the keyframes on each layer all together to offset each layer then altered individual key frames to create individual variations in timings of the drops.

  

We are going to learn how to group objects or layers together

in the layers panel there is a header called parent with a drop down menu for each layer. You can either choose the parent layer from the drop down menu's or use the pick whip and drag the layers to the one you want to make their parent. Now if we change the the scale or position of the parent layer all connected layers will do the same. The only effect it does not work with is transparency.

I was hoping there was a way to do this. I want my animation to scroll sideways across the pages of my book. I was wondering if I would have to try and match up the movement of the other layers to the background. 

I you double click on a layer you view that layer in its own window, this has a variety of uses, in this case it allows us to view the entire image as it is must bigger than the frame.

Audio

We can use 3 file formats

mp3

aiff or aif

wav

We need to chose audio that is royalty free for this project.

We can find royalty free music by simply googling it.

we have sound booths in the college if we want to record our own music or a voice over. We can book these by visiting the computer resource office.

We import audio files the same way we add images. 

The audio appears as a layer in the layers panel but as it is audio it does not matter where it is.

We will need to edit the audio to fit the composition.

Double click on the audio layer, the new window displays a time ruler with the entire duration of the audio file. To edit this we can simply click and drag on the ends until we have the correct size. This allows us to select any section of the file that we want. 

If we click the arrows on the audio layer it will open up the audio properties, this allows us to change the levels or the volume of the soundtrack. 

We can apply keyframes to our audio to fade in or fade out the music. This works in the same way as with the visual elements.

If we are using multiple audio tracks we can use the levels options to make sure one sound isn't too loud or quiet compared to the others.