Adobe After Effects Notes

Composition Menu

Using the composition menu, allowed me to open a new composition, in which I could begin to make an animation, through this menu I can change the settings of the composition, such as frame rate, ratio and background colour.

 Using the layer menu, allowed me to create a shape layer, which would hold basic shapes that I would later animate. The other layer options allow you to add text, perspective and level editing to the composition.

Transform options

The Transform drop down option, allows you to actually move the object in the layer using key points, to determine when the movement starts and finishes.

• Anchor Point - Moving the Anchor Point of the object determines what angle the shape will rotate and move, when using the rest of the transform points.
• Position - This changes the location of the object, making it move from one side to the other, regarding the location of the last point. 
• Scale - This increases or decreases the size of the object with in the layer, which changes gradually over the space between the start and end point. 
• Rotation - Moves the shape in the angle you set, and repeats more than once if set. 
• Opacity - Changes the transparency of the object, good for fading the shape into black.

Example of the Key Points

The speed graph allows you to alter the velocity of the selected layer, by dragging the point further up the graph, increasing speed, or lowering the point, decreasing the speed.