After effects Part 2

Key board shortcuts

Select the layer and press 'P' to reveal and hide position
a=anchor point
r= rotation
s= scale
t= opacity (transparency)

If working on 2 at once hold the shift key and then press any of the other short cuts to add.

Press 'O'- gets the time bar to the end of the time frame that you're working in.
Press 'I' - gets the time bar to the start

B and N = set where you're working

Select a layer and then press 'U' and it will show you everything that has been animated on that particular layer.
Press 'U' twice and it shows the changes

To move things as a group, select all layers.
Press 'P' to show position property of all the layers
Click the stopwatch on one layer, key frame is then added at the same point on every layer.
Then while they're all highlighted, change the position to make them all move at the same time.

To change the pace of an animated sequence- highlight layers, press "U" to see what has been animated so far, select all of the key frames.
The closer the key frames are together the faster the animation and vice versa.

Press and hold alt and move key frames. By selecting one of them to extend them all from a locked point, to keep the change relative but spread it out or shrink it down.

Key frame interpolation-
What happens in between each key frame. It can work on a curved line (bezier curves)
If you want to jump to a point on a straight line, select pen tool, to change curves to a line select the convert vertex tool in the one tool selection box and then select points that curve, makes the curve into a linear line.


Part 2 - Photoshop to after effects.

In photoshop open a new file,
File-new-preset-film and video
size- PAL D1/DV widescreen square pixel

Should appear like this above. Nothing significant can happen outside the rectangle, its the 'safe zone'.

Make things the largest you will need in photoshop and use after effects to make things smaller.

Can save files as psd, tiff or jpg. If possible, use a transparent background, so you only have the shape or image you're working with and not the white background which can block out other elements of the animation. When importing files into after effects, make sure they are opened as 'footage' files.