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Adobe After Effects 5.0 User Guide for Windows and Macintosh

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Introduction Registration 1

Installing Adobe After Effects 1

Learning Adobe After Effects 1

Using Web resources 3

Other learning resources 5

Customer support 5

An Overview of Adobe After Effects Superior Adobe product integration 9

Powerful masking 12

2D & 3D compositing 12

Extensive motion controls 13

Leading-edge video and audio effects 14

Flexible media handling 15

Web delivery 18

Production Bundle features 19

What’s New in After Effects 5.0 Precise control 27

Enhanced productivity 28

Versatile output options 31

Working with Projects, Windows, and Palettes Chapter 1 Working in a project 35

Planning your project 37

Time basics 41

Setting up a project 44

Correcting mistakes 46

Selecting 16-bpc color depth (PB only) 46

Setting preferences 47

Customizing the workspace 48

Using context menus 49

Using windows 49

Composition, Layer, and Footage window controls 53

Toolbox 61

Info palette 62

Preparing and Importing Footage

Chapter 2

How After Effects works with imported files 65

Preparing a still-image file for import into After Effects 65

Importing files into a project 68

Importing a sequence of still-image files 70

Importing footage containing an alpha channel 72

Importing Adobe Photoshop files 74

Importing an Adobe Illustrator, PDF, or EPS file 77

Importing an After Effects project 80

Importing Adobe Premiere projects 81

Importing 3D-image files 81

Importing an audio file 82

Importing Cineon files 82

Preparing motion footage for import 83

Using interlaced video in After Effects 85

Removing 3:2 pulldown from video transferred from film 87

Setting pixel aspect ratio 88

Building a Composition Chapter 3 Working with imported footage 93

Replacing and substituting footage 97

Creating a composition 101

Understanding basic composition settings 103

Understanding advanced composition settings 108

Adding footage items to a composition 109

Nesting a composition 111

Using the Composition window 112

Using the Timeline window 115

Managing Layers Chapter 4 Adding layers to compositions 125

Creating new layers 126

Rearranging layers 130

Customizing layer work and views 135

Understanding trimming 139

Using markers 142

About After Effects Audio/Video switches 146

Altering appearances on the layer level 148

Using audio layers 153

Animating Layers Chapter 5 About layer properties 159

Understanding keyframes 160

Setting keyframes 163

Moving and copying keyframes 166

Moving keyframes 166

Determining where to set and modify keyframes 170

Setting layer position 171

Modifying a motion path 172

Changing the number of visible motion-path keyframes 175

Using Motion Sketch to draw a motion path 175

Smoothing motion and velocity 177

Creating motion paths with masks 178

Setting layer size 179

Flipping a layer using Scale property keyframes 179

Setting layer opacity 180

Setting layer rotation 180

Rotating a layer along a motion path 181

Setting and animating an anchor point 182

Understanding parent layers 184

Setting and animating a layer property in the Timeline window 187

Setting and animating mask properties 188

Setting and animating effects 188

Setting preview options 189

Setting Video Preview preferences 190

Previewing animation 191

Fine-tuning Animation Chapter 6

Controlling change through interpolation 199

Comparing interpolation methods 201

Changing the interpolation method 204

Using the Value graph to change a layer property value 210

Adding keyframes to a Value graph 211

Factors affecting speed 211

Controlling speed along a motion path 213

Fine-tuning speed 215

Time-stretching a layer 222

Using the Time-Reverse Keyframes keyframe assistant 224

Reversing the playback direction of a layer 225

About time-remapping 226

Working with Masks and Transparency Chapter 7 Using a footage item with an alpha channel 238

Working with masks 238

Creating masks 238

Drawing rectangular and oval masks 240

About Mask Paths 241

Drawing a Bezier mask with the pen tool 242

Selecting masks and control points 244

Scaling and rotating selected masks or points 245

Changing the shape of a mask 247

Feathering mask edges 249

Adjusting the edges of a mask 250

Adjusting the opacity of a mask 250

Specifying which parts of a mask are inside and outside 251

Moving a mask and panning a layer behind a mask 251

Specifying one mask as the target for animation 253

Animating a mask 253

Importing masks from Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop 255

Applying effects to a mask 256

Creating visible lines and solid shapes from masks 256

Controlling how masks in the same layer interact 256

Using mask modes 257

Modifying multiple masks 258

Locking a mask 259

Reusing a mask 259

Creating track mattes and traveling mattes 260

Using layer modes 261

Creating transparency using keying 265

Applying Effects Chapter 8 Learning about specific effects 269

Working with effects 269

Changing effect property values 273

Placing an effect using effect points 274

Changing effects over time 275

Positioning effects on layers 275

Applying an effect to several layers with an adjustment layer 276

Changing rendering order 276

Using audio effects 276

Using cameras and lights with effects 277

Using Adobe Photoshop layer styles in After Effects 277

Using keying effects 278

Effects included with After Effects 278

3D Compositing Chapter 9 Understanding 3D 283

Understanding 3D compositing in After Effects 284

Working with 3D layers 284

Understanding 3D Transform properties 287

Understanding 3D views 291

Using cameras 292

Using lights 298

Using 3D compositing with effects 301

Using 3D compositing with masks 302

Using third-party files with depth information 302

Previewing 3D 302

3D rendering 303

Creating Expressions Chapter 10

Using expressions 309

Creating expressions 310

Creating expressions with the pick whip 312

Writing your own expressions 315

Understanding the expression language 317

Using the expression language menu 321

Sample expressions 322

After Effects expression language guide 324

Managing Projects Effectively Chapter 11 Visualizing organization with Flowchart View 339

Organizing a project using nesting 342

Creating animations by nesting compositions 345

Saving time by prerendering nested compositions 347

Understanding precomposing 348

Reducing the project 350

Rendering a Movie Chapter 12 Understanding rendering and compression 354

Making (rendering) a movie 354

Using the Render Queue window 355

Changing render settings 358

Creating and using render settings templates 360

Changing output module settings 361

Creating and using output module templates 364

Exporting to Macromedia Flash (SWF) format 365

Saving a RAM preview as a rendered movie 368

Exporting footage using QuickTime components 369

Rendering an item to multiple formats 369

Choosing compression options 370

Exporting a single frame of a composition 373

Creating a filmstrip file for editing in Photoshop 374

Rendering frames as a sequence of still images 375

Rendering cross-platform movies and stills 376

Collecting files in one location 376

Rendering using a watch folder (PB only) 378

Working with overflow volumes 383

Rendering movies at different sizes 384

Creating low-resolution movies for testing motion 387

Testing the field-rendering order 387

Using Property and Tracking Controls (PB only) Chapter 13 Adding randomness 391

Simulating a zoom lens 393

About tracking motion 393

Tracking different types of motion 399

Tracking a moving region or object 404

Stabilizing motion 407

Using Motion Math (PB only) Chapter 14 Using Expressions instead of Motion Math 411

Working in the Motion Math window 412

Motion Math scripts included with the Production Bundle 413

Running and editing existing scripts 414

Writing your own scripts 416

Learning more about Motion Math 416

Using Vector Paint (PB only) Chapter 15 Selecting and modifying paint tools 421

Editing your paint work 424

Selecting Composite Paint options 427

Playing back your painting 430

Setting Wiggle Control options 435

Selecting viewing options 439

Configuring a stylus for Vector Paint 439

Index 443

elcome to the Adobe® After Effects® 5.0 application, the ultimate software tool for motion graphics and visual effects After Effects is widely used for digital postproduction of film, motion graphics, video multimedia, and the Web

Registration

Adobe is confident you will find that its software greatly increases your productivity So that Adobe can continue to provide you with the highest quality software, offer technical support, and inform you about new After Effects software developments, please register your application

When you first start the After Effects application, you’re prompted to register online You can choose to submit the form directly or fax a printed copy You can also register by filling out and returning the registration card included with your software package

When you register, several additional effects become available from the Adobe Web site, adobe.com, for download For information, see “Effects included with After Effects” on page 278

Installing Adobe After Effects

You must install the After Effects application from the Adobe After Effects CD onto your hard drive; you cannot run the program from the CD

Follow the on-screen installation instructions For more detailed information, see the

How_to_Install.wri (Windows) or How_to_Install.txt (Mac OS) file on the CD

Learning Adobe After Effects

Adobe provides a variety of options for you to learn After Effects, including online Help and tool tips You can also use the Adobe Web site to easily access a host of continually updated Web resources for learning After Effects, from tips and tutorials to technical support information

W

Adobe Acrobat® Reader™ software, included on the After Effects CD, makes it possible to view Adobe PDF files Many of the files on the Adobe Web site are in PDF format.The phrase “PB only” means that the feature is available only in the Production Bundle version of After Effects.

Using online Help

The Adobe After Effects 5.0 application includes complete documentation in an based help system It contains essential information on using all of the After Effects commands, features, and tools, as well as keyboard shortcuts and full-color illustrations The HTML format provides easy navigation online Individual topics can also be printed out to provide a handy desktop reference

HTML-The online Help assumes you have a working knowledge of your computer and its operating conventions, including how to use a mouse and standard menus and commands It also assumes you know how to open, save, and close files For help with any

of these techniques, please see your Microsoft Windows® or Mac OS™ documentation

To start online Help:

Do one of the following:

• Choose Help > After Effects Help

• Press F1 (Windows)

Using tool tips

Use the tool tips feature to display the names of tools, buttons, or controls

To identify a tool, button, or control:

Position the pointer over a tool, button, or control, and pause A tool tip appears showing the name and keyboard shortcut (if any) for the item

Note: Tool tips are not available in most dialog boxes.

Using Web resources

If you have an Internet connection and a Web browser installed on your system, you can access additional resources for learning After Effects located on the Adobe Systems home page on the World Wide Web These resources are continually updated

To access the Adobe home page for your region:

1 Open the Adobe U.S home page at www.adobe.com

2 From the Adobe Sites menu, choose your geographical region The Adobe home page

is customized for several geographical regions

Using the After Effects product section of the Adobe Web site

The After Effects product section of the Adobe Web site provides a central source for tered After Effects users to access the latest Web content for After Effects Here you’ll find the following:

regis-• Step-by-step tutorials

• Quick tips that provide fast answers to common problems

• Updates, patches, and plug-ins

• After Effects Top Issues, containing the latest After Effects technical support solutions

• Technical guides

• A searchable database of answers to technical questions

• Links to user forums

To use the After Effects product section on the Adobe Web site:

1 Go to the Adobe home page and search for After Effects

2 Register your copy of After Effects

3 Once you have completed the registration process, follow the link back to After Effects

Using Adobe Online

Adobe Online provides access to the latest products and features that expand your cation’s power, including professional services from Adobe and our partners Bookmarks are also included to take you quickly to noteworthy Adobe- and After Effects–related sites Adobe Online is constantly changing, so you should refresh before you use it Refreshing through Adobe Online updates bookmarks and buttons so you can quickly access the most current content available You can use preferences to automatically refresh Adobe Online daily, weekly, or monthly

appli-When you set up Adobe Online to connect to your Web browser, Adobe can either notify you whenever new information for Adobe Online is available or automatically download that information to your hard disk and install it If you choose not to use the automatic download feature, you can still view and download new Adobe Online files whenever they are available by using the Refresh command

To use Adobe Online:

1 In After Effects, choose Help > Adobe Online, or click the icon in the Adobe Online toolbar

Note: You must have an Internet connection and an Internet browser installed Adobe Online will launch your browser using your default Internet configuration.

2 Do any of the following:

• Click Refresh to make sure you have the latest version of the Adobe Online window and its buttons, as well as the latest bookmarks It is important to refresh the screen so that the current options are available for you to choose from

• Click Preferences to specify connection options General preferences affect how Adobe Online interacts with all Adobe products installed on your system, and Application prefer-ences affect how Adobe Online interacts with After Effects To see an explanation of each preference option, click Setup and follow the prompts You also can set up an automatic refresh using the Update Options

• Click any button in the Adobe Online window to open the Web page to which the button

is linked

• Click the bookmark button ( ) to view suggested Web sites related to After Effects and Adobe These bookmarks are automatically updated as new Web sites become available

• Click Close to return to After Effects

Other learning resources

Other Adobe learning resources are available but are not included with your application

Classroom in a Book Is the official training series for Adobe graphics and publishing software This book is developed by experts at Adobe and published by Adobe Press The

Adobe After Effects Classroom in a Book includes lessons about using After Effects For information on purchasing Adobe After Effects Classroom in a Book, visit the Adobe Web site or contact your local book distributor

The Adobe Certification program Offers users, instructors, and training centers the opportunity to demonstrate their product proficiency and promote their software skills as Adobe Certified Experts, Adobe Certified Instructors, or Adobe Authorized Learning Providers Certification is available for several different geographical regions Visit the Partnering with Adobe Web site at www.partners.adobe.com to learn how you can become certified

Customer support

When you register your product, you may be entitled to technical support for up to 90 days from the date of your first call Terms may vary depending on the country of residence For more information, refer to the technical support card provided with the After Effects software package

Customer support on Adobe Online

Adobe Online provides access to FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) and troubleshooting information that provides solutions to common problems

Additional customer support resources

Adobe Systems provides several forms of automated technical support:

• See the ReadMe file installed with the program for information that became available after this guide went to press

• Explore the extensive customer support information on Adobe’s World Wide Web site (www.adobe.com) To access the Adobe Web site from After Effects, choose Help > Adobe Online or click the icon in the Adobe Online toolbar (See “Using Web resources” on page 3.)

An Overview of Adobe After Effects

This overview introduces you to the key features of After Effects If you’re an experienced After Effects user, you may want to scan this overview and then skip to “What’s New in After Effects 5.0.”

After Effects is available in two versions The Standard version provides the core 2D/3D compositing, animation, and effects tools that motion graphics professionals, Web design-ers, and video professionals need The Production Bundle version meets the needs of visual effects professionals, and includes all of the tools in the Standard Version plus addi-tional keying, motion control, and distortion tools, audio effects, 3D channel effects, 16-bit-per-channel color, vector paint, and support for network rendering

Superior Adobe product integration

After Effects features the award-winning Adobe user interface, familiar to anyone who uses Adobe Photoshop®, Adobe Illustrator®, or Adobe Premiere® The tabbed windows—

along with Adobe’s popular tabbed palettes, similar tools, and common keyboard cuts—make it possible to work more efficiently and move among the programs with ease

short-After Effects, Premiere, and Adobe LiveMotion™ use a similar time-based interface, so moving among the applications is a snap Productivity-boosting features such as the pen tool, Align palette, rulers and guides, editing tools, and free transform mode work in After Effects just as they do in other popular Adobe products

Adobe Photoshop

You can transform layered Photoshop images into animations with complete ease Import Photoshop files as compositions one at a time or in batches After Effects preserves layers, common layer effects, adjustment layers, alpha channels, transfer modes, vector masks, and more You can then apply visual effects to color-correct, stylize, or manipulate each layer, and animate these layers over time Use Photoshop paths as mask or motion points Move easily between Photoshop and After Effects to complete your work

When you import a layered Photoshop file as a composition, After Effects retains layers and other key Photoshop settings.

Adobe Illustrator

Want to add first-rate typography or eye-catching graphics to your motion graphics and visual effects? Simply import layered files as compositions one at a time or in batches Choose whether After Effects preserves the layers or merges them on import Then resize the Illustrator layers to any resolution without losing detail, and animate them with complete control Copy paths in Illustrator and paste them in After Effects as masks or motion points With Illustrator 9 files, you can preserve transparency and transfer modes

In addition, you can continuously rasterize Illustrator layers in both 2D and 3D

Adobe Premiere

After Effects can import Premiere projects as compositions Each video, audio, and image clip appears on its own layer, arranged in the correct time-based sequence in the Time Layout window You can then manipulate these clips to create the sophisticated effects and animations best produced in After Effects If you use the After Effects filters included with Premiere 6, those effects and their associated keyframes are also imported

still-In addition, you can embed a link in the After Effects movies you output so that you can use the Edit Original command in Premiere to open the original project

Adobe GoLive

When creating a marker in After Effects, you can add a URL link that will be embedded in rendered movies When these movies are included in Web pages created by applications such as Adobe GoLive®, the embedded URL is recognized during playback, initiating a jump to the specified URL You can even target a specific frame within the Web page

Powerful masking

Extensive masking capabilities give you extraordinary control in After Effects You can create, edit, and animate as many as 127 masks on every layer Draw paths to create trans-parencies or to add new objects to an animation, such as stroked lines—even animate text along a mask path Combine paths to make unusual shapes using Boolean operations such

as Add, Subtract, and Intersect Rotate and scale masks, and apply opacity settings to make masks appear and disappear over time Lock masks to protect them from change You can even copy and paste masks into your compositions from Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop

After Effects 5 allows multiple masks per layer; you can edit masks

in the Composition window or in Layer windows.

2D & 3D compositing

You can work in either 2D or 3D, or mix and match on a layer-by-layer basis Use the 3D Layer switch to toggle a layer between 2D and 3D at any time While both types of layers can move horizontally or vertically, 3D layers can also animate numerous properties—

such as z-position, xyz-rotation, and orientation—in 3D space while interacting with lights, shadows, and cameras

Choose a light type to create a specific look For example, spot lights provide dramatic lighting effects by pointing a cone of light at the point you define Unparalleled shadow controls determine whether lights cast shadows when they interact with other layers

Create as many lights as you need, and then adjust and animate each light’s properties, controlling its shadow and illumination Create as many cameras as you need to produce the results you envision Enable a Depth of Field setting to automatically change camera focus between foreground and background information You can then animate camera properties such as zoom and focal length, move cameras in space, and cut between cameras.

Animate layers, cameras, and lights in 3D space.

Extensive motion controls

For impeccable animations, rely on the powerful motion controls in After Effects Instantly stagger selected layers over a timeframe with the Sequence Layers Keyframe Assistant Then add unlimited keyframes to animate any layer attribute, including position, rotation, scale, anchor point, and opacity Position your layers with subpixel accuracy Refine the look and movement of your motion paths using roving keyframes When animating static images, apply Motion Blur to create more realistic movement Use Time Remapping to make frames stutter, play backward, move in slow motion, or freeze Create sophisticated anima-tions by defining a parent-child relationship between layers Use expressions to define rela-tionships between parameters so that you can create procedural-type animations without using keyframes

Animate layers by setting keyframes for the layer’s properties at different points in time

Keyframes mark the point in time where you’ve set layer property values For example,

if you want a layer to expand as the clip plays, you would set two or more keyframes containing different scale property values

Motion Sketch and Smoother

Draw animation paths as easily as sketching with a pencil on paper using the Motion Sketch tool Simply select the tool and draw the animation path on-screen Adjust your drawing speed to vary the velocity of the path After Effects automatically creates the keyframes for you Then use the Smoother tool to smooth the shape of the path and fine-tune it until the animation moves exactly as you want

Leading-edge video and audio effects

After Effects delivers powerful, precise tools for creating a limitless range of visual and audio effects You can stylize, enhance, and manipulate layers using a wide array of effects plug-ins; categories include Blur & Sharpen, Channel manipulation, Distortion, Keying, Perspective, Render, Stylize, Transition, and Audio Apply an unlimited number of visual effects to every layer, and animate every control Save your most frequently used effects (including keyframes) as Favorites, which you can apply instantly and share with col-leagues Expand your effects toolkit even further with numerous third-party plug-ins

Use the Path Text effect to move text along a Bezier path and animate text attributes such as tracking.

In addition to applying a number of audio effects to your footage files, you can change the volume levels of audio layers, preview them at a specified quality, and identify and mark locations Use the familiar Audio palette to set the volume levels of an audio layer, or use the Timeline window to view the waveform values and apply time remapping.

Flexible media handling

Take advantage of previewing capabilities in After Effects to see results as you work, instead of waiting to render movies With RAM preview, dynamic preview, intelligent caching, and other preview enhancements, you can specify the quality and speed of your playback to maximize efficiency

When you’re ready to convert your final composition for playback on the medium of your choice, use the versatile Render Queue to render the composition into a finished movie If you’re using the Production Bundle version, you can render using a network of computers

RAM Preview

One of the big challenges in designing motion graphics and visual effects is imagining how they will look in their final form Playback controls help, but they don’t really capture the final experience That’s what makes the RAM Preview feature so exciting You can play back your compositions in real time without having to render them You can even preview audio along with the video If you like the segment that you played back in RAM Preview, you can save it to a file directly

RAM Preview lets you play a preview at the frame rate of your composition, or as fast as your system allows.

To improve performance, you can narrow the region of interest in the Composition window so that only the specified area of your composition is previewed

Dynamic preview

Get better visual feedback as you work in the Composition window Instead of defaulting

to a wireframe view when you move, rotate, scale, or otherwise change elements in a composition, After Effects transforms layers interactively, displaying results as you make changes If the image can’t be updated quickly enough, After Effects temporarily reduces image resolution to maintain optimal interactivity

Intelligent caching

When you view your work in the Composition window—either by scrubbing along the timeline or using the RAM Preview option—After Effects stores, or caches, frames in mem-ory Cached frames are saved until you make an edit to the composition that renders them obsolete, allowing for faster previews For example, changing a single keyframe now causes only cached frames between the keyframe you modified and adjacent ones to be invalidated

A green bar beneath the time scale in the Timeline window indicates cached frames

Resolution independence

You can mix file resolutions from tiny thumbnails up to 30,000-x-30,000-pixel frames within a composition For example, you could import a high-resolution Adobe Photoshop image into a lower-resolution composition to create a panning background When you’re done, you can output files at any resolution—from the small sizes preferred for animated GIF files to the high-resolution output required for film

Render queue

Using the Render queue, you can prepare your files once and then output them to film, video, multimedia, or the Web with equal ease Perform multiple renders of a composition

in various sizes and formats simultaneously, or batch-render any number of different

compositions You can even save render templates for future use

In addition, the Collect Files command helps you gather files for rendering or archiving

This command automatically copies a project and all of its associated source footage to a single location, along with a report that lists the footage, effects, and fonts necessary to render the project

Web delivery

After Effects includes several features that optimize output for Web delivery, including romedia Flash support, embedded URLs, audio compression, and QuickTime streaming

Mac-Macromedia Flash (SWF) support

Export compositions, including audio, as compact, vector-based Flash (SWF) files for use

on the Web You can control whether effects are rasterized as JPEG frames or ignored; you can also generate an HTML report that provides details on the elements that were skipped

Embed URLs in Web output

Create URL flips in exported Flash files and QuickTime movies by associating an embedded URL with a layer marker

If you install new QuickTime export components as they become available from Apple or other third parties, those modules appear on the File > Export submenu in After Effects

Production Bundle features

To meet the needs of different audiences, After Effects is available in two versions—the Standard version and the Production Bundle version

Visual effects

After Effects offers a variety of exciting types of visual effects including Warping and Particle Playground You can warp images over time using Bézier Warp, Mesh Warp, and Reshape effects; displace pixels from one layer to another using Displacement Map;

or apply the Glow effect to create a diffuse halo along an object’s edge With Particle Playground, you can animate a large number of objects (dots, images, or text) so that they move independently and yet produce consistent group behavior Use Fractal Noise to create textures and objects that cannot be described using simple geometric shapes Other effects include Corner Pin, Lightning, Scatter, Ripple, Bulge, Wave Warp, Optics Compensation, and Twirl

The Displacement Map effect was applied to the fish’s shadow to make it move realistically over the ocean floor.

Keying effects

The Production Bundle of After Effects delivers sophisticated keying controls for producing precise composites The Linear Color Key uses the RGB, hue, or chroma information you specify to create transparency from a key color With the Color Difference key, you can produce combination mattes to control hard-to-key images such as smoke, shadows, or glass The Spill Suppressor makes it easy to remove key-color traces from light reflecting off

a screen and onto your subject Create clean mattes with the Simple Choker, or choke and spread the matte to create clean edges with the Matte Choker The Inner/Outer Key effect makes it easy to extract an object from its background And you can perform other special-ized keying tasks with the Extract, Difference Matte, Color Range, and Alpha Levels keys

After Effects color keying lets you isolate objects from a colored background for compositing with different layers.

Motion tools

From reducing unwanted motion to creating natural-looking zoom effects, After Effects delivers the tools you need to produce the highest-quality animations Use the Motion Tracker to isolate a moving element on one layer and precisely track it to a moving element on another layer The Motion Stabilizer tracks a single element on a layer to stabilize unwanted motion With the Wiggler, you can simulate more realistic motion by adding random changes to any property over time

Automate the creation of motion and effects by writing custom scripts with the Motion Math tool—or run the Motion Math scripts included with After Effects You can even simulate the accelerating effect of a zoom lens using the Exponential Scale tool, which converts linear scaling of a layer to exponential scaling.

Audio effects

The Production Bundle expands the range of high-quality audio effects you can porate into a composition Add depth and character to a sound with Flange, or make one voice or instrument sound like many with Chorus Apply Parametric EQ to isolate and fine-tune specific ranges of sound With Reverb, simulate a spacious, acoustically live interior

incor-Create simple tonal sounds (such as a doorbell) by applying Tone, or use Modulator to precisely control audio delay and modulation, creating echo and chorus effects You can also enhance sounds by removing high and low frequencies with the High-Low Pass filter

3D Channel effects

Use the 3D Channel effects to create effects with the auxiliary channel information stored

in imported 3D files, including RLA, Softimage PIC/ZPIC, and ElectricImage EI/EIZ files

Use the Depth Matte effect to read the z-depth information in a 3D file, and then slice the image along the z-axis to insert other objects The Depth of Field Blur effect simulates a

camera that focuses on one area in a 3D scene while allowing other areas to blur The ID Matte isolates objects in a 3D scene for editing The 3D Fog effect applies a fog effect along

the z-axis, so that distant parts of a 3D scene look hazier or even disappear The 3D

Channel Extract effect makes auxiliary channels visible as either grayscale or multichannel color images, which you can use as image maps or in other specialized effects

The 3D fog effect applies a fog effect along the z-axis of the 3D file.

Render Engine

Take advantage of network rendering using the Render Engine, which includes an ited license Install multiple copies to streamline your rendering process Each Render Engine can monitor a Watch folder on a network If you use the Collect Files command to copy projects (and their associated footage) to this Watch folder, each Render Engine starts rendering those projects as soon as they appear You can monitor the progress using a stan-dard Web browser

unlim-When you save an After Effects project to a Watch folder, multiple computers can render individual frames and compositions of the project.

16-bit-per-channel color

Deep color support means that you get higher-quality output After Effects 5.0 can work

in 16-bit-per-channel mode, making a larger range of colors available And when you work with high-resolution images that use a narrow range of colors, such as when you’re creating film effects or output for HDTV, the difference is easily visible: transitions between colors are smoother with less visible banding, and more detail is preserved

You can choose whether to work in 8-bit-per-channel or 16-bit-per-channel color mode for each project You can directly import 16-bit images, including those from Photoshop, and you can composite and color-correct footage in 16-bit mode; the Info palette displays 16-bit color values with exact precision To optimize performance, quickly rough out a compo-sition in 8-bit color mode, and then finalize and output 16-bit files for maximum quality.

Vector paint tools

The nondestructive vector paint tools in After Effects 5.0 open up a host of new creative sibilities, from strokes that reveal an image over time to animated cartoons and painted tex-tures that change from frame to frame Use brush controls to specify exactly how the strokes you paint will look Characteristics such as brush radius, color, and opacity can be modified

pos-to get the exact desired look Use the Onion Skin mode pos-to paint strokes frame by frame Take advantage of numerous options to control how the paint strokes interact with the layer they appear on For more control over the final results, you can also choose whether strokes con-tinuously paint or are recorded to the current frame, to sequential frames, or in real time

Vector Paint lets you paint strokes over time.

What’s New in After Effects 5.0

After Effects is a powerful upgrade to the award-winning motion graphics and visual effects software Its versatile and powerful new features enable a flexible workflow tailored

to your needs

Precise control

New features such as 3D compositing, layer parenting, vector paint tools, and expressions open creative possibilities Masking enhancements and dozens of new effects offer creative control

3D compositing

Built-in support for 3D compositing means you can add new depth to your creative ideas

Mix 2D and 3D layers in a single composition, create and animate lights and cameras, define shadow characteristics, control how 3D layers interact with light sources, and much more

Parenting

Animate layers hierarchically by defining a parent-child relationship between any two layers The child layer automatically inherits all of the transformations applied to the parent

Vector paint tools (Production Bundle only)

Use nondestructive vector paint tools to reveal an image over time, draw animated cartoons, and much more Select brush options; choose whether strokes are recorded to the current frame, to sequential frames, in real time, or continuously; and specify how strokes are played back Wiggle controls make it easy to create a hand-animated look or a variety of special effects

Define relationships between parameters to create procedural animations without using keyframes You can now link the behavior of one property in a composition to almost any other property on any other layer—a powerful new capability that’s also easy to use You can also use JavaScript to modify expressions

New effects

After Effects 5.0 includes powerful new effects that offer new creative options Use the Shatter effect to extrude a layer into 3D space and then demolish it in a variety of ways Create radio waves, pond ripples, and the like with the Radio Waves effect Easily extract

an object from its background with the Inner/Outer Key effect (Production Bundle only) Use the Vegas effect to outline elements with casino-style running lights or flashes Create compositions that pulse with color using the Colorama effect Simulate organic

backgrounds and create fractal-based displacement maps, textures, and mattes with the Fractal Noise effect (Production Bundle only) Add or remove lens distortions with the Optics Compensation effect (Production Bundle only)

Masking enhancements

Create masks on the fly by drawing them directly in the Composition window, assign colors to masks for easy identification, and use the new Mask Expansion property to adjust the inner or outer feather of a mask by insetting or outsetting the mask edge from the mask shape

Enhanced productivity

Smart performance enhancements mean that creating and refining your work is faster than ever Dozens of interface enhancements introduce significant improvements that provide a more efficient and streamlined workflow Plus, After Effects delivers tighter integration with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere

Intelligent caching

When you make changes to a composition, only the cached frames affected by the edit are invalidated—so only those frames need to be re-rendered when you preview the compo-sition This uses RAM more efficiently and results in much faster previewing A thin green bar beneath the time scale in the Timeline window indicates cached frames, so you can see

at a glance how many are currently cached

Dynamic previews

After Effects now previews layers interactively so you see results as you make changes To maintain optimal interactivity, After Effects may temporarily drop image resolution

Improved RAM Previews

Define a Region of Interest that displays just a portion of the composition in order to create longer previews more quickly View RAM Previews in the Footage and Layer windows or in full-screen mode; specify whether to preview a continuous loop, a single segment, or a palindrome; and define two different sets of RAM Preview options to get the preview quality most relevant to your work

Enhanced integration with Adobe software

Work with vector masks and preserve 16-bit color info when you import Adobe Photoshop 6 files When you import Adobe Illustrator 9 files using the PDF file format, transparency settings and transfer modes can be preserved Embed a link in the After Effects movies you output so that you can use the Edit Original command in Adobe Premiere to open the original project

Property values are scrubbable hot text

Enter values directly in the Timeline and Effects Control windows or scrub across a value (scrub hot text) to interactively preview property value settings

Unified Import dialog

Use a single dialog box for footage, projects, multilayered Photoshop and Illustrator files, and more

More flexible composition settings

Specify a different starting timecode for each composition, and save frequently used composition settings as custom presets Specify Motion Blur shutter angles up to 720 degrees and set phase controls that determine when the shutter opens relative to the start

of each frame

Streamlined media management

Manage complex projects with ease The order in which you select footage in the Project window now determines the stacking order of layers when you drag items to the Timeline window, and you can now drag footage into position in the layer stacking order or on the timeline Use the new Find command to locate source files in the Project window, and the new Reveal command to locate source files on disk Clear unused source files and compo-sitions from the project with the Reduce Project command, and shrink the duration of a composition to the current work area with the Trim Comp to Work Area command

New editing tools

Streamline the process of constructing and refining compositions with new Ripple Insert, Overlay, Lift Work Area, and Extract Work Area commands Slip-edit a trimmed footage layer simply by dragging the trimmed portion of the layer left or right

Easier to learn

Access commands for basic tasks, such as setting keyframes, from the main menus, and use richer context-sensitive menus Expanded tool tips and a Tip of the Day help new users get up to speed fast