LESSON 1
Getting to Know the Workflow
Creating a project and importing footage
Creating a composition and arranging layers
Adding effects and modifying layer properties
Animating the composition
Previewing your work
Optimizing performance in After Effects
Rendering and exporting your composition
Customizing workspaces
Controlling the brightness of the user interface
Finding resources for using After Effects
Checking for updates

LESSON 2
Creating a Basic Animation Using Effects and Presets
Importing footage using Adobe Bridge
Creating a new composition
Working with imported Illustrator layers
Applying effects to a layer
Applying an animation preset
Previewing the effects
Adding transparency
Rendering the composition

LESSON 3
Animating Text
About text layers
Creating and formatting point text
Using a text animation preset
Animating with scale keyframes
Animating using parenting
Animating imported Photoshop text
Animating text using a path animation preset
Animating type tracking
Animating text opacity
Using a text animator group
Cleaning up the path animation
Animating a nontext layer along a motion path
Adding motion blur
Exporting to Adobe Flash Professional CS5

LESSON 4
Working with Shape Layers
Adding a shape layer
Creating custom shapes
Creating stars
Incorporating video and audio layers
Applying a Cartoon effect
Adding a title bar
Using Brainstorm to experiment

LESSON 5
Animating a Multimedia Presentation
Animating the scenery using parenting
Adjusting an anchor point
Masking video using vector shapes
Keyframing a motion path
Animating additional elements
Applying an effect
Creating an animated slide show
Adding an audio track
Zooming in for a final close-up

LESSON 6
Animating Layers
Simulating lighting changes
Duplicating an animation using the pick whip
Animating movement in the scenery
Adjusting the layers and creating a track matte
Animating the shadows
Adding a lens flare effect
Animating the clock
Retiming the composition

LESSON 7
Working with Masks
Creating a mask with the Pen tool
Editing a mask
Feathering the edges of a mask
Replacing the content of the mask
Adding a reflection
Creating a vignette
Adjusting the color

LESSON 8
Distorting Objects with the Puppet Tools
About the Puppet tools
Adding Deform pins
Defining areas of overlap
Stiffening an area
Animating pin positions
Recording animation

LESSON 9
Using the Roto Brush Tool
About rotoscoping
Getting started
Creating a segmentation boundary
Fine-tuning the matte
Creating a transition from the full clip to the foreground
Creating the logo
Animating text
Adding a background image
Adding audio

LESSON 10
Performing Color Correction
Adjusting color balance
Replacing the background
Removing unwanted elements
Correcting a range of colors
Warming colors with the Photo Filter effect

LESSON 11
Building 3D Objects
Working with a null object
Working with 3D text
Creating a backdrop for 3D animation
Nesting a 3D composition
Adding a camera
Completing the scene

LESSON 12
Using 3D Features
Animating 3D objects
Adding reflections to 3D objects
Animating a camera
Adjusting layer timing
Using 3D lights
Adding effects
Adding motion blur
Previewing the entire animation

LESSON 13
Advanced Editing Techniques
Using motion stabilization
Using single-point motion tracking
Using multipoint tracking
Creating a particle simulation
Retiming playback using the Timewarp effect

LESSON 14
Rendering and Outputting
Creating templates for the rendering process
Creating templates for output modules
Exporting to different output media
LESSON 15
Color Management in After Effects CS5
About color management
Using color management in After Effects CS5