We are learning the basics to Adobe After Effects. The layout across Adobe software tends to be similar. For After Effects, the main ones feature as follows:

Project Panel

This panel is where any imported work goes. This can include video, sound, PSD files etc. It is important to keep this area organised as, if you move or delete files, you’ll have to reload them to be able to access them in your work.

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During this task, we came across an example of having to relocate files. You will know if it needs to be relinked as the image beside it will look like bars of colour.

To fix this, you must go to the missing file, right-click and go to Replace Footage > File before locating that image in your library. If the rest of the missing images are in the same folder then they will also be recovered.

Composition Panel

The composition panel is the workspace in which you complete your work, similar to how you have a canvas in Adobe Illustrator and a stage in Adobe Animate.

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Preview Panel

The timeline is where you access the playback controls when working.

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Timeline

The timeline is where you handle frames and keyframes. You can also edit your files in various ways here.

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Here are some shortcuts that are used for basic processes frequently:

S – scale (use this to change the size of images)

P – position (use this to change the position of images)

R – rotation (use this to alter the rotation of images)

T – transparency (use this to change the opacity of images)

A – anchor point (use this to change the anchor point of images in the timeline)

Y – pan behind camera tool (change the anchor point of images)

CMD + D – duplicate (use this to duplicate content)

CMD + . – play audio in the timeline

CMD + Alt + F – scale to composition (use this to scale images to fit the size of the composition)

CMD + N – create a new composition

Ctrl+Shift+/ – add to render queue (add a composition to the render queue)

Animation: The process

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To begin, we animated a swarm of bees. To do this, select the composition folder in the project panel and make a new composition with the shortcut CMD + N or by going to Composition > New Composition in the menu bar. A composition is an animation within the scene.

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Then, a dialogue box will open. Ensure that the preset is HDTV 1080 25 and that the frame rate is set to 25 before selecting ok. Name the composition ‘bees animation’.

This new composition will appear in the project panel so you need to double click to go into it and start working. From the jpeg folder, choose a bee and drag it on the composition panel.

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To make a swarm, select the bee and use the shortcut CMD + D to duplicate it. Arrange them in a formation that you like.

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Next, you animate the bees using rotation. To do so, go to the layers in the timeline and select a bee before pressing R to open the rotation function.

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Press the stopwatch to create the starting keyframe on the timeline and drag the playhead until it reaches one frame. At this point use the diamonds on the rotation control to change the rotation – this will automatically create a new keyframe. If you then press play on the keyframe panel, you will see the bee rotate from its initial position to the one you altered it to. Repeat this once more, rotating the bee back to its original position and then, you can select the 3 keyframes and copy (CMD + C) and paste (CMD + V) them on the timeline to create the sequence more efficiently.

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To save repeating this process for each individual bee, you can open to rotation tool on each one and paste the sequence of keyframes onto the other bees and offset them so that they don’t all move in unison.

To add some more variation to the swarm, you can change the size of each bee by selecting it and using the scale tool (shortcut S) to change the size.

Now that the bee composition is complete, you need the background on which they will be active. Go to the project panel and double click the master composition to go into it. Find the sunflower image in the PNG folder and drag it onto the composition panel. It is likely that the image will not fit the composition perfectly so use CMD + Alt + F to scale the image to the composition automatically.

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With the background set up, drag the bees animation composition onto the timeline. Here, they work like layers and so you’ll need to move the bees composition above the sunflower image so that it is visible.

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In order to animate the bees moving across the scene, select them and use the shortcut P to open the position settings in the timeline. Press the stopwatch to create the starting keyframe and move the bees to where you want them to start flying from. Drag the playhead to 3 seconds and then move the bees across the screen to where you want them to stop. At this point, a new keyframe will be created and if you press play, you’ll see the bees move across the screen and stop at that point.

To add some perspective, you can use the scale tool to make it seem as though the bees move closer to the camera as they fly. Select the bees animation composition and drag the playhead until the bees reach the middle of their path. Now, use shortcut S to open the scale tool and enlarge the size of the bees. Finally, drag the playhead until the bees reach their endpoint and reduce the size back the original so that when played, the bees gradually increase and decrease in size in the duration of the animation.

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Lastly, to create some atmosphere, find the bee sound effect in the sound folder of the project panel and drag it into the timeline. Duplicate it a few times to give the illusion of a swarm of bees and offset them so that it sounds more realistic.

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You should now change the duration of the animation by adjusting the length of the work area on the timeline so that the animation doesn’t run on unnecessarily after the bees have made and finished their appearance.

To export your finished animation, go to File > Export > Add to Render Queue and Render Queue should show up as a directory on the timeline. Go into it and you will see that your animation is queued for rendering.

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For the Output Module option, click on Lossless and a dialogue box should open. In Main Options, ensure that the format is set to Quicktime before selecting Format Options under Video Output.

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In this dialogue box, set the Video Codec to DVCPRO HD 1080p25 and select ok. Where it says ‘Output to’ in the render queue, select the Not yet specified and choose where you want to save your animation. Finally, select render to successfully render your video.

Here is the result of my work:

I feel that my animation flowed well but there could’ve been more aspects added to the animation to make it more interesting. I could’ve placed some bees on screen already, picking at the flower to make it into more of a scene – giving the viewers something more to focus on seeing as the mobile bees don’t have much screen time.