- After Effects User Guide
- Beta releases
- Getting started
- Workspaces
- Projects and compositions
- Importing footage
- Text and Graphics
- Text
- Motion Graphics
- Work with Motion Graphics templates in After Effects
- Use expressions to create drop-down lists in Motion Graphics templates
- Work with Essential Properties to create Motion Graphics templates
- Replace images and videos in Motion Graphics templates and Essential Properties
- Animate faster and easier using the Properties panel
- Drawing, Painting, and Paths
- Overview of shape layers, paths, and vector graphics
- Paint tools: Brush, Clone Stamp, and Eraser
- Taper shape strokes
- Shape attributes, paint operations, and path operations for shape layers
- Use Offset Paths shape effect to alter shapes
- Creating shapes
- Create masks
- Remove objects from your videos with the Content-Aware Fill panel
- Roto Brush and Refine Matte
- Layers, Markers, and Camera
- Animation, Keyframes, Motion Tracking, and Keying
- Animation
- Keyframe
- Motion tracking
- Keying
- Transparency and Compositing
- Adjusting color
- Effects and Animation Presets
- Effects and animation presets overview
- Effect list
- Effect Manager
- Simulation effects
- Stylize effects
- Audio effects
- Distort effects
- Perspective effects
- Channel effects
- Generate effects
- Time effects
- Transition effects
- The Rolling Shutter Repair effect
- Blur and Sharpen effects
- 3D Channel effects
- Utility effects
- Matte effects
- Noise and Grain effects
- Detail-preserving Upscale effect
- Obsolete effects
- Expressions and Automation
- Expressions
- Expression basics
- Understanding the expression language
- Using expression controls
- Syntax differences between the JavaScript and Legacy ExtendScript expression engines
- Editing expressions
- Expression errors
- Using the Expressions editor
- Use expressions to edit and access text properties
- Expression language reference
- Expression examples
- Automation
- Expressions
- Immersive video, VR, and 3D
- Construct VR environments in After Effects
- Apply immersive video effects
- Compositing tools for VR/360 videos
- Advanced 3D Renderer
- Import and add 3D models to your composition
- Import 3D models from Creative Cloud Libraries
- Image-Based Lighting
- Extract and animate lights and cameras from 3D models
- Tracking 3D camera movement
- Cast and accept shadows
- Embedded 3D model animations
- Shadow Catcher
- 3D depth data extraction
- Modify materials properties of a 3D layer
- Work in 3D Design Space
- 3D Transform Gizmos
- Do more with 3D animation
- Preview changes to 3D designs real time with the Mercury 3D engine
- Add responsive design to your graphics
- Views and Previews
- Rendering and Exporting
- Basics of rendering and exporting
- H.264 Encoding in After Effects
- Export an After Effects project as an Adobe Premiere Pro project
- Converting movies
- Multi-frame rendering
- Automated rendering and network rendering
- Rendering and exporting still images and still-image sequences
- Using the GoPro CineForm codec in After Effects
- Working with other applications
- Collaboration: Frame.io, and Team Projects
- Memory, storage, performance
- Knowledge Base
Compositing overview
To create a composite from multiple images, you can make parts of one or more of the images transparent so that other images can show through. You can make portions of a layer transparent using any of several features in After Effects, including the following:
Roto Brush and Refine Edge tools in CC ( See Roto Brush and Refine Edge)
Masks (See About masks and Rotoscoping introduction and resources.)
Mattes (See Track mattes and traveling mattes.)
Painting on the alpha channel (See Paint with the Brush tool.)
The Preserve Underlying Transparency layer option (See Preserve underlying transparency during compositing.)
Keying effects (See Keying.)
To make an entire layer uniformly transparent or semi-transparent, modify its Opacity property.
Layers can also be composited together without modifying the transparency of the layers themselves. For example, you can use blending modes or some of the Channel effects to blend image data from multiple layers into a composite. (See Blending modes and layer styles and Channel effects.)
After Effects also includes the mocha shape for After Effects (mocha shape AE) plug-in, which converts paths from mocha-AE into mattes in After Effects. (See Resources for Imagineer mocha shape for After Effects.)
Adobe Photoshop is an excellent application for performing many compositing tasks, including defining areas of transparency using its selection and painting tools. You can use Adobe Photoshop together with After Effects for optimum efficiency and best results when doing compositing work.
Online resources for compositing
Mark Christiansen provides a detailed overview of compositing—covering masks, mattes, blending modes, and alpha channels—in a chapter from his After Effects Studio Techniques book posted on the Adobe Press website.
Rich Young collects tutorials and resources for creating light wraps on the After Effects Portal website.
Rich Young collects resources and tutorials for various methods of creating vignettes.
Chris Zwar provides tips on color keying and compositing on his website.
Compositing fire, explosions, muzzle flashes
Mark Christiansen provides tips and detailed techniques for creating and compositing fire, explosions, muzzle flashes, bullet hits, and energy blasts in the “Pyrotechnics: Creating Fire, Explosions, and Energy Phenomena in After Effects” chapter of After Effects Studio Techniques on the Peachpit Press website.
Compositing fog, smoke, and clouds
Mark Christiansen provides tips and detailed techniques for creating and compositing fog, smoke, mist, rain, and snow in the “Climate: Air, Water, Smoke, Clouds in After Effects” chapter of After Effects Studio Techniques on the Peachpit Press website.
Daniel Broadway provides tips for compositing fog or mist into a scene on his website.
