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Adobe After Effects CS4

Beginning to Intermediate

Adobe After Effects CS4 is a powerful software tool

for visual effects and motion graphics. You can use
After Effects’ tools to create dynamic designs for
commercial video and motion picture production
to CD-ROM title development. This course will help
you to understand the fundamental concepts and
features to master the program. It includes many
advanced features, including tips and tricks using
the latest version. We also recommend this course
for those planning to obtain the Adobe Certified
Expert status.

Lumenbrite’s courses are taught by experienced

developers and designers that have been certified
by Adobe as expert trainers. We use official Adobe
training curriculum and also add supplemental
courseware to offer a truly unique training expe-
rience. Our courses are offered monthly at our
regular locations as well as customer-site locations
throughout the United States. We can customize
training for your organization to meet your specific
needs. We encourage you to bring in your work
projects so that we can answer any questions you
may have.

Recommended Prerequisites: Basic computer skills

on Windows or Mac
Duration: 3 Days

Please. Don’t print unless you really need to. Page 1

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Adobe After Effects CS4

Beginning to Intermediate
Lesson Plan

LESSON 1 LESSON 3
Basic Animation Layer Control
Creating folders in the project panel Layers and stacking order
Creating a new composition Moving layers in time
Importing files and folders Trimming layers
Adding layers to the Comp panel Slip editing
Changing the background color Sequence Layers assistant
Animating position Looping footage
Navigating between keyframes Image sequences
Dragging footage to the Timeline panel Changing the frame rate
Aligning and distributing layers Time Stretch
Editing spatial keyframes, motion paths Blending Modes
Auto orientation Effects and solids
Adding effects Effect motion path
Importing layered Photoshop/Illustrator files Effects & Presets panel
Rendering Searching for effects
Animation presets
LESSON 2 Behavior presets
Advanced Animation Adjustment Layers
Working with Adobe Bridge Non-square pixels
Template Projects
Viewing animated properties LESSON 4
Graph editor overview Creating Transparency
Panning and zooming time Rectangular Mask tool
Editing graph curves Free Transform Points
Easing animations Masking in the Layer panel
Editing multiple keyframes Mask Feather
Motion sketch Animating a Mask Shape
Using the smoother Masking with the Pen tool
Motion Blur Effecting a mask area
Roving Keyframes Mask Opacity
Time-Reverse Keyframes Audio Spectrum effect
Anchor Point overview Alpha Track Matte
Pan Behind tool Effects and track mattes
Motion control moves Luma Track Matte
Hold keyframes Mask shapes in CS4
Time display and timecode

*Lesson plan subject to change at the discretion of Lumenbrite Training without notice. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns regarding this disclaimer. Page 2
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Adobe After Effects CS4 LESSON 7

Beginning to Intermediate Expressions and Time
Lesson Plan Continued Using the pick whip to create expressions
Altering expressions
Stabilizing shadows
Looping keyframes
LESSON 5 The wiggle expression
Type and Music Creating a master controller
Creating basic text Converting sound to keyframes
Creating Text Animators Frame blending
Animating text properties Pixel motion
Creating cascading text Stop motion tricks
Animating by words Preserve Frame Rate
Title safe areas Creating freeze frames
Animating text Blur and Tracking Time Remapping
Text on a path
Rendering with an alpha channel LESSON 8
Field rendering 3D Space and Dimension
Adding sound to a comp Enabling layers for 3D
Add comp and layer markers Moving layers in 3D space
Customizing presets 3D rotation and orientation
Editing Photoshop Text Layers 3D motion paths
Camera track and orbit tools
LESSON 6 3D lights and Vignettes
Parenting and Nesting Animating lights
Parenting, Nesting, and Expressions Casting shadows
Assigning a parent Adding dimension to stills
Parenting, opacity, and effects Editing stills for 3D
Parenting with Null Objects
Using guides LESSON 9
Nesting comps Track and Key
Editing precomps Creating track points
Nesting a common source Important tracker options
Sizing precomps Applying stabilization
Locking panels Fixing bad tracks
Precompositing a group of layers Tracking interlaced footage
Render order explained Motion tracking
Using precomposing to re-order Radio Waves effect
Applying tracks to effect points
Perspective corner pin tracking
Bezier Warp effect
Working with high-defi nition footage
Keying using the Keylight effect
Improving keyed composites
Creating garbage mattes

*Lesson plan subject to change at the discretion of Lumenbrite Training without notice. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns regarding this disclaimer. Page 3
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Adobe After Effects CS4

Beginning to Intermediate
Lesson Plan Continued

LESSON 10
Using Paint and Vector Paint
Basic painting
Erasing strokes
Paint Channels
Paint Blending Modes
Brush duration bar
Animating strokes
Revealing a layer
Creating organic textures
Tablet settings
Cloning
Transforming strokes
Vector Paint overview
Wiggle Control
Onion Skin mode
Playback modes

LESSON 11
New Features in After Effects CS4
Using Brainstorm
Brainstorm with keyframes
Puppet Pin tool
Animating Puppet pins
Puppet Overlap tool
Recording Puppet Animation
Creating a Shape layer
Shape Stroke and Fill settings
Editing shapes
Multiple shapes
Even-Odd Fill
Shape Effects
Shape Repeater
Compound Paths
Shape Gradients
Shape Pen Paths
Advanced Strokes
Animating a Stroke

*Lesson plan subject to change at the discretion of Lumenbrite Training without notice. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns regarding this disclaimer. Rev: 4/08 Page 4