1. Click a shape in the comp panel to select its layer.
2. To the left of a layer, click the triangle to display its properties.
3. Click the stopwatch next to color under Contents > Fill.  This creates a keyframe at the current time.
4. Move the playhead to another time in the future.
5. In the layers panel, click the color swatch and change it to another color.  This automatically creates a new keyframe at the current time.
6. Click and drag the keyframes to adjust timing of color transitions.

1. Click a shape in the comp panel to select its layer.
2. Toggle down Contents and then Rectangle
3. You can then change the Roundness to go from a square to a circle.
4. Click and drag the keyframes to adjust timing of transitions.
5. Under Contents and then Transform:Rectangle 1 you can change the Skew or Rotation to get different shapes as well.

1. Click a shape in the comp panel to select its layer.
2. To the right of the Contents, click on the black arrow next to Add.
3. You can change the shape by choosing any number of the following: Pucker & Bloat, Rounded Corners, Twist, Trim Paths, Zig Zag
4. When you choose one, it will appear below the layer and you can keyframe/adjust the appropriate properties across the timeline to change the shape.
5. Click and drag the keyframes to adjust timing of scale transitions.

1. Go to Illustrator, draw a 220px perfect square.
2. Copy the path in Illustrator.
3. Return to After Effects and select a Shape Layer, Paste the path you copied in Illustrator. (This created a Mask)
4. Toggle the arrow next to the Shape Layer and then toggle the Mask layer open.
5. Enable the stopwatch next to Mask Path. (This set the beginning state of the transition as a square shape)
6. Return to Illustrator and draw a new path that fits within the 220px box. (This is your new shape that the first will transform into)
7. Copy the path in Illustrator.
8. Return to After Effects and move your playhead down the timeline.
9. Select the Mask Path in the Shape Layer and paste the path from Illustrator.
10. Now play the animation. If it plays back with a less than smooth morph, you may need to move the First Vertex Point.
11. The First Vertex Point is visible on one of the Mask points as a larger square. If this square isn’t the same on the two paths, then you need to make them match up. (For example, the bottom right point of the square and the bottom right point of a star should both visually have a larger point than the others and match up)
12. To do this, identify the larger square point in the first path, then move to the second path with the playhead and right-click the point that you want to be the First Vertex Point and go to Mask and Shape Path and choose Set First Vertex. 

1. File > Import > choose file type Footage. In After Effects, drag file to timeline and turn off the eyeball icon so we can’t see the video.

2. Different ways to interact with audio in After Effects:

• Command/Click-drag on playhead to scrub sound on timeline
• Hit LL on keyboard to see waveforms and audio levels. (You can then keyframe audio levels to fade if needed.)
• You can set markers on layers or the timeline to mark spots of what you are hearing at that time to help you organize. Go to Layer > Add Marker with either a layer selected for a layer or no layers selected to put one on the timeline. You can right-click it to give it a name in the comments box.
• When you render at the end, don’t forget to click on Lossless in the Render Queue and check Audio Output.

• Anticipation
• Follow Through
• Squash and Stretch
• Intro to Animation Curves in AE (bouncing ball at 13.:20)
• Using Value Graph (1:00-7:00 / adds follow-through at 3:50)
• Using Speed Graph (13:00-18:00)(18-25:00 adds squash and stretch. he says umm a lot.)
• Basic Easing Tutorial

Intro to After Effects Demo Video

1. Click a shape in the comp panel to select its layer.
2. To the left of a layer, click the triangle to display its properties.
3. Click the stopwatch next to opacity under Transform.  This creates a keyframe at the current time.
4. Move the playhead to another time in the future.
5. In the layers panel, click the yellow 100% link next to opacity and change it to a lower percent.  This automatically creates a new keyframe at the current time.
6. Click and drag the keyframes to adjust timing of opacity transitions.

1. Click a shape in the comp panel to select its layer.
2. To the left of a layer, click the triangle to display its properties.
3. Click the stopwatch next to scale under Transform.  This creates a keyframe at the current time.
4. Move the playhead to another time in the future.
5. In the layers panel, click the yellow 100% link next to scale and change it to a lower or higher percent.  This automatically creates a new keyframe at the current time.
6. Click and drag the keyframes to adjust timing of scale transitions.
7. In addition to scaling from the center of the square, you can also scale from any point by moving the Anchor Point. To move the Anchor Point, select the Pan Behind Tool from the top menu tool bar. Then you will see crosshairs on the center of your square appear and with this tool you can select the crosshairs and move them to any side or corner that you want to scale from.

1. Help with Easing: GreyScaleGorilla: Intro to Keyframing
2. From an existing animation, Right-Click on a keyframe.
3. Click Keyframe Assistant from the menu, then Easy Ease, Ease In, or Ease Out. Play around with the different ones and see what they do. Learn by experimenting.
4. This changes from a linear transition to a curved transition. The motion will appear more natural.
5. Another option for easing is by using the plug-in, Ease & Wizz. Go to Window and at the bottom of that menu click on Ease and Wizz.jsx.
6. Select the keyframes in which you want to apply ease.
7. In the Ease & Wizz panel adjust Easing, Type, the Keyframes, and hit Apply. Expo is the strongest, while Sine is the most gradual.

8. You can remove Ease & Wizz by toggling open the parameter you applied the ease to. Then you will see an icon that looks like an equal sign. Hold down the Option key while clicking on that equal sign icon and it removes it. 

1. You can permanently center the anchor point by going to Preferences > General > Center Anchor Point in Layer Content
2. To auto center the Anchor Point, you can right-click on the object and click on Transform > Center Anchor Point in Layer Content.
3. To move the Anchor Point manually, select the Pan Behind Tool from the top menu tool bar, which is the 6th tool from the left. Then you will see crosshairs on the center of your square appear and with this tool you can select the crosshairs and move them to any location on the object that you want to anchor from.

Exporting Demo Video

1. Go to Composition > Add to Render Queue
2. Click on the default Comp title next to Output To and rename file and choose where you want to save it.
3. When you are ready, click on Render in the top right of the panel.
4. Optional: You can also choose to Add to Adobe Media Encoder Queue and then Media Encoder will launch and you can choose to drag and drop the Vimeo or YouTube Preset onto your video which will appear in the the Media Encoder Queue. This will apply a H.264 Codec compression to your video to make it smaller. Click the green arrow when ready to render.

• GreyScaleGorilla: Guide to Keyframes in AE
• Learn AE in 18 Minutes
• Adobe Help: AE Tutorials
• Learn EVERYTHING About AE