After Effects Induction 2

For this Tutorial, we were given several assets to work with. The Teacher gave us instructions on how to use them, and we were given a tutorial on how to do it. We were also shown how to give our assets parent animations and make them follow different assets. I decided to do a part of the project slightly different and the teacher said he would see how it looked when it was done. After he said that what I tried was a success and it looked good in addition to the rest of the project. This induction was really interesting as well as fun.

After Effects Induction 1

Today we learned how to use the basics of After Effects. We learned how to do basic transitions using different effects like opacity, position, rotation, scale, and anchor points. We also learned how to use the shortcut buttons for all of these assets. We used shape layers and made squares move around the screen in various ways. We also learned how to highlight parts of our animation and focus in on that part to edit. Since I've never actually used After Effects before this, this was a good introduction to how it works. I hope the next induction is just as informative, if not more so.

Animation Sizing

Yesterday I made the mistake of turning 4k files into an animation, then saving it as an animation archive. It was over 18 gigabytes in size and it wouldn't play right. One of the teachers showed me how to change it to a more reasonable file format. I'm still new to using After Effects and making videos so her input was helpful. I'm looking forward to learning how to use Adobe After Effects in the Future.

Illustrator Intro

Today the class was introduced to Adobe Illustrator. I've had two years practice in Illustrator, so I doodled while the class learned how to use the pen tool. Before I came here I was in an art high school and I focused on Graphic Design. Most of these introductions are pretty pointless for me, but its nice to have a refresher course once in a while. They also went over how to put gradients on shapes and paths, a very useful tool for illustrator.

It was entertaining to mess around with Illustrator after a month or so of not using it.

Video Timeline Intro

Today the class learned how to use the video function of the timeline. We used Onion skins to see before and after our current frame so we could better align our animation. This class was somewhat useful for me, since I already knew how to use onion skinning and the video timeline, this was more of a review if anything. Still, it was nice to go over it after a summer of barely using it. I was slightly agitated for some of the day though, not that that was a big deal. I'll be happy to be able to relax after school today.

Timeline Intro

Today the class learned how to make animations using the timeline function in Photoshop. I learned this skill 2 years ago in my graphic design class. It took an annoyingly long time to scan all the pictures so i could make the animation, id much rather just draw it all on the computer in the future. I did learn how to change the function of the timeline from video to frame by frame, which I couldn't find last week, so thats useful. It was fun getting my animation to look just right on the computer, which is pretty nice. The teacher is a very good instructor, the teacher that originally taught me how to do it was painfully vague so at least I learned what exactly to do.

Masking and Selecting

The class learned how to mask out objects to create convincing blends of pictures. I learned this my 4th year of high school. We also learned how to use the magic wand tool, which I learned how to do in grade 7. They learned how to colour mask pictures and edit photos that way, which is already second nature to me. Altogether this class was slightly educational, but it just let me brush up on some skills I already have. The class was however, engaging. The one thing it did let me do was learn how to use a tablet more proficiently.