Adobe After Effects CS6 v11

Tutorials

Tutorial: Getting Started with After Effects Text Animators Part 1

Trent Armstrong explains his simple formula for getting started with the Text Animators in After Effects. 

Studying 3D Camera Tracker - After Effects CS6

Tutorial by Maltaanon. This is a follow-up to the introduction to 3D Camera Tracker tutorial by Maltaanon. Learn the do's and don't's of the match-moving process in After Effects CS6.

Layer Space Transforms in After Effects, 6 Part Series!

Felt Tips, secret agent and VFX artist, gives a 90 minute, 6 part series about “Understanding Layer Space Transforms in AE and Manipulating 3D Space with Expressions”. Felt Tips gives a great presentation. He's very articulate and explains it with great care and interesting graphics. Good stuff!

Displacement and Deformation Techniques in Cinema 4D

In today’s tutorial, new Cgtuts+ author Mario Brajdic will introduce you to working with displacement and deformers in Cinema 4D and show you how this powerful combination can be used in conjunction with custom materials, lighting, and post effects to create some truly unique and visually stunning results.

Setting up Depth of Field Rendering in Cinema 4D and Compositing in After Effects, Nuke

Post by Joey Korenman at School of Motion: "Learn about the two most common methods of creating a depth-of-field effect on your renders. This tutorial goes through setting up your Cinema 4D scene, then shows you how to composite your renders in After Effects as well as Nuke."

Make a Chalkboard-Style Scribble and Smudge

By Jorrit Schulte at AEtuts+. "We’ll be looking at creating a chalk-style scribble based on an image. We’ll be creating masks to make the lines using both manual and automatic techniques. From there we’ll animate the drawing on, and create a wiping animation which leaves smudges on the screen."

 

How to Animate Retro Pixel Art in After Effects

In this tutorial Nik Morris will show you how to take animated pixel art and incorporate it into large HD videos while retaining the original quality!

Video Copilot: Explosive Training

Video Copilot has a brand new training series online and it is completely free!  It is one of the most advanced tutorial series that they have released to date! First Video Copilot shows you how to do compositing and Adobe After Effects, then they teach you how to build advanced 3D assets.

Use the Cinema 4D Exchange Plug-in to Make an Editable Football Highlight Graphic

Post by George Ahimeyer:

"Cinema 4d has the ability to generate a compositing file containing all passes that make up the specific image as well as sending all 3D information for a seamless composite. I watch a lot of sports shows and decided to create this graphic to transition into highlights by making a customizable jumbo tron animation."

Using RE:Vision Effects RE:Match:Pro; Matching Color From Separate Cameras/ Settings

RE:Match takes intuitive color and texture matching to a whole new level by addressing common problems on multiple shot, multicam and stereo shoots. RE:Match is a set of plug-ins to match one view of video or film to another so that it looks as if it was shot with the same camera and settings. RE:Match assumes that both image sequences are taken roughly at the same location but perhaps were not shot at the same time or from the same point-of-view.

Download a free trial for Adobe After Effects and Premiere!

Using RE:Vision Effects: Matching Color From Separate Cameras/ Settings

RE:Match takes intuitive color and texture matching to a whole new level by addressing common problems on multiple shot, multicam and stereo shoots. RE:Match is a set of plug-ins to match one view of video or film to another so that it looks as if it was shot with the same camera and settings. RE:Match assumes that both image sequences are taken roughly at the same location but perhaps were not shot at the same time or from the same point-of-view.

Download a free trial for Adobe After Effects and Premiere!

Create a Valentine’s Day Themed Animation in Cinema 4D & After Effects

Post by Stefan Surmabojov at CGtuts+ :  “In this tutorial we are going to create a Valentine’s Day themed animation in Cinema 4D and After Effects.... Use particles and forces in Cinema 4D, as well as MoDynamics and Effectors to put everything together to create our final animation. Finally we’ll add materials, light and render the scene before finishing it up in After Effects with some compositing and post effects."

Snow Mountain Titles with Element 3D and Cinema 4D

By VinhSon Nguyen at Creative Dojo. "In this in-depth tutorial, we’re going to explore how to quickly create a motion graphics style mountain titles using primarily After Effects and some Cinema 4D. We’re going to cover all sorts of things, from creating a basic landscape, to creating camera rigs and incorporating 3D elements within our scene. This is one of the longer tutorials I’ve done which was a rough run through, so I hope you’ll take your time and tweak it to perfection!"

Red Giant Holomatrix- Create a Holographic Look in After Effects

Getting Started and “Add Digital Distortion” Quick Tip from Aharon Rabinowitz. Save 10% Every Day on Red Giant Products at Toolfarm.

Using the Brainstorm Tool in After Effects

Post by John Dickinson / Motionworks. “The Brainstorm Tool was introduced in After Effects CS3 and has flown under many After Effects user’s radar ever since, including mine. In this short After Effects tip rediscover the power of brainstorming and how you can use it to accelerate experimentation in After Effects.”

5 After Effects Keyframe Tips

This is a good one for the newbies to Adobe After Effects: 5 tips to quickly and effectively create keyframes in After Effects.

Introduction to Trapcode Mir, Getting Started Parts 1 & 2

Check out these new tutorials on Trapcode Mir at Red Giant TV. Quick Walkthrough Introduction to Mir, and Getting Started Parts 1 & 2 by Peder Norrby of Trapcode. Trapcode Mir was released today, along with the new Trapcode Suite 12.

Adobe Dynamic Link Troubleshooting

Digital Rebellion gives some nice tips on workflows and fixing problems when dynamic linking between After Effects and Premiere Pro  doesn't go as expected.

Tips include:

1. Make sure your compositions have unique names
2. Don't add trailing numbers
3. Check your firewall
4. Disable simultaneous frame rendering
5. Clear caches and render files
6. Render as a movie file

WNM Design the Future!

In this series of tutorials, Colin breaks down the “Design the Future” Promo for WNM at Academy of Art University, in which he used Maxon CINEMA 4D and Adobe After Effects.

How to Automate a Stop Motion Photo Slideshow in After Effects

By Emanuele Fiorito at AEtuts+: "In this tutorial we will see how to work some expressions to create your own preset that you can apply to achieve a stop motion effect for hundreds of photos."

Use Video Copilot Metropolitan with Element 3D to Create a Realistic City Title

By Andrew Kramer/ Video Copilot: Use the new Metropolitan with Element 3D to create a realistic city title, Use Randomize Angle feature to distribute buildings into the scene

Snow White and the Huntsman - Aetuts+ Hollywood Movie Title Series

Today we’ll re-created the animation title style of movie Snow White & The Huntsman using Element 3D inside After Effects. We’ll start in Cinema 4d to model the letters of the title and then we’ll move over into AE for the stylistic aspects like color, lens flare and such.

At the end of this tutorial, you can learn how to draw and animate your own title with Element 3d inside After Effects. The actual example of the Snow White & The Huntsman movie title is just for training purposes and is not to be used in a final project without permission from the original creators.

Create a Shattering Glass Animation in Cinema 4D & AE – Part 3 Rendering

Post at CGtuts+: "Today’s lesson is all about prepping for rendering. You’ll start by finalizing the animation with some slight tweaks to the timing. Once done you’ll move onto the material setup and learn how to create realistic glass and metal shaders using Cinema 4D’s intuitive material editor. Finally, Cyril will walk you through lighting the scene. This lesson includes building a dynamic light rig using XPresso and fine tuning it’s position to generate correct caustics at render time."

Create a Shattering Glass Animation in Cinema 4D & AE – Part 2 Cameras & Pre-Viz

Post at CGtuts+: "In part two you’ll get an in-depth lesson on how real-world cameras work. Cyril provides detailed insight on working with focal length, aperture, depth of field and motion blur and how these principles and settings apply to your Cg cameras. Then it’s back to Cinema 4D where you’ll learn how to block out shot timing, and find the best camera positions for the animation by running through a detailed pre-visualization process."

Create a Shattering Glass Animation in Cinema 4D & AE – Part 1 Modeling & Animation

Post at CGtuts+: "Create a cool slow-motion shattering glass animation using Cinema 4D and After Effects. Over the course of this massive lecture, professional artist Cyril Kotecky will teach you the ins and outs of working with dynamics and what goes into creating such a shot. Including the benefits Pre-Viz can have in the early stages as you block out your shot timing and camera positions."

Tutorial: Introduction to After Effects Scripting

Dylan Winter explains the basics of scripting in After Effects. "Unlike expressions, scripts operate from the application level and are not locked down the a single parameter. They can be used to affect multiple properties of multiple layer simultaneously, as in this lesson where we'll increment through layers and rename them according to their indexes."

Create Cinema 4D Style Effectors in After Effects/ Dylan Winter

Dylan Winter demonstrates how you can expand After Effects towards the premise of Effectors in Cinema 4D. "If you ever wished that you could take advantage of some of Cinema 4D’s powerful effector tools while working in After Effects, your wish may now be granted. Using some clever scripting and a basic control system, we’re going to rig up our very own effectors within After Effects".

Set Up A Natural Unfolding Logo Reveal Or Transition – AEtuts+

 

How To Make A Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin In Cinema 4D

Chris and Nick at Greyscalegorilla will show you how to make a Jack-O-Lantern pumpkin scene in Cinema 4D.

Chris shows you how to model it using a Loft Nurb, the connect object, a boole for the face cutout, and displacers to make the pumpkin bumpy.

In part 2, Nick will show you how to light, texture, and render your pumpkin scene for compositing in After Effects.

Guide: The Secret Menu of Radio Waves in After Effects

By Satya Meka / Rowbyte: "So, where exactly is the secret menu? It is right in front of you, in the main Radio Waves Effects Panel, but it is hidden in the form of Frequency,Opacity,Fade-in and Fade-outs. Yes, with proper tweaking you can produce some amazing results using the Radio Waves plug-in. Let me give you some brief tips so that you can utilize, the plug-in much better. Remember, this is not a tutorial, but just a brief guide which helps you to create better organic forms using Radio Waves plug-in."

Creating Object buffers and Depth mattes in CINEMA 4D and using them within After Effects

Check out this tutorial from AE Templates about creating Object buffers and Depth mattes in CINEMA 4D and using them within AE.

Depth Compositing in After Effects

Post by Andrew Kramer/ Video Copilot: "In this tutorial we’ll use a technique called Depth Compositing to combine stock footage with 3D rendering and the use a Z-Depth pass. This method allows you to place 2D elements like stock footage into the depth of a 3D render. I also demonstrate how to export a Z-pass from 3D max, Cinema 4D and even use Element 3D to output a depth channel."

Creating Faux Shadows in Adobe After Effects by Eran Stern

Shadows sell the illusion that we are really in 3D space. This lesson demonstrates how to add depth to our scene with shadow effects. You'll also learn how to save the effects as an animation preset so they can be reused and matched to each element.

Depth Compositing in After Effects

In this tutorial we’ll use a technique called Depth Compositing to combine stock footage with 3D rendering and the use a Z-Depth pass. This method allows you to place 2D elements like stock footage into the depth of a 3D render. I also demonstrate how to export a Z-pass from 3D max, Cinema 4D and even use Element 3D to output a depth channel.

Alien Surface Set Extensions with Video Copilot Element 3D and Roto Brush Tool

Post by Andrew Kramer/ Video Copilot: "In this tutorial we will create a realistic set extension for the surface of a far away alien planet. With the help of the Matte Painting challenge we will be compositing the background along with adding 3D rocks with Element 3D and pulling out the Roto Brush tool."

Iron Man Interface Battle Widget – Parts 1 - 5

Post by Stefan Surmabojov at AEtuts+: "In this tutorial series we are going to go beyond basics using the true power of shape layers inside After Effects. As you can see we are going to dive into the magic of creating this Iron Man battle widget inspired from The Avengers movie. We are going to recreate the element from start to finish using various different techniques and learning some pretty cool workflow tips as well."

Parts 1 & 2

Parts 3, 4 & 5

Video Copilot: The Jungle

Create a overgrown jungle scene with rocky title. Move 2D layers into 3D space with floating particles. No third-party plug-ins needed, just After Effects.

Creating A Cool Broadcast Background In Cinema 4D & AE

By Stefan Surmabojov at CGuts+. Uses Maxon Cinema 4D and Adobe After Effects Optional: Video Copilot's Optical Flares :  "In this tutorial we are going to create a cool looking extruded globe in Cinema 4D using the best technique I was able to find (after endless attempts trying different ways of doing it.) With the globe model complete we’ll add some simple, yet stylish shaders and render out the animation before moving into After Effects to composite the sequence and add various effects to make it look even better!"

 

After Effects CS6 3D Camera Tracker

An overview/tutorial of the new 3D camera tracker in Adobe After Effects CS6 by Matt's Macintosh channel on YouTube. Good stuff.

Fantastic Facial Motion Capture in After Effects

Post by Matthew Perks/ AEtuts+. Use puppet pins tracked to motion data from dots on a face to animate a face or other objects in your scene.

Shape from Vectors in After Effects 6

Eran Stern shows you how make an instant Motion Graphics Promo using the new Create Shapes from Vector Layer in After Effects CS6.

Fantastic Facial Motion Capture in After Effects

Post by Matthew Perks/ AEtuts+ "In this tutorial, I will be sharing with you how to achieve 2D facial motion capture in After Effects. The technique involves acquiring motion data from dots on a face, and using that motion data to manipulate the position of puppet pins on an image that you want to animate. It’s a very useful way of quickly creating detailed animations, and characterizing inanimate objects, like the rock face in the intro. It’s also possible to do face replacement."

Using Image Lounge To Save Time Animating Shapes

Post by Alex / AEtuts+. "In this tutorial I’ll show you how to create a simple and fancy animation while playing with shapes and the Image Lounge plug-in from Red Giant Software."

Graffiti Comes to Life in After Effects

Post by Mathias Möhl/ Mamoworld: "In this tutorial you learn how to turn a graffiti painting on a wall into a living person. This effect is inspired by the Brush With Death clip."

After Effects CS6 – 3D Camera Tracking Tutorial

Maltaannon presents the new 3D Camera Tracker in After Effects CS6, a new feature to CS6.

How to Create a Security Sweeper effect in After Effects

RedGiantTv's Seth Worley shows you how to create this cool looking Sweeper Effect (Inspired by Ridley Scott’s new film Prometheus) in After Effects using Foundry’s Camera Tracker, Trapcode Particular and other techniques.

After Effects to Cinema 4d Tutorial by Tim Clapham / Luxx Part 1

Post at Luxx: "From Tim Clapham: In this third tutorial in the series, Tim takes us through the process of transferring your After Effects information over to CINEMA 4D. Using The Foundry Camera Tracker, you will track and solve some footage, resulting in an After Effects camera and reference nulls being created. This camera and null information will be exported from After Effects into CINEMA 4D and used to build some basic proxy geometry for catching shadows and reflecting the environment. This is then output using CINEMA 4D’s multipass rendering and composited back over the original footage in After Effects."

Taking you step by step through the process, the tutorial starts by covering the basic principles of working with multipass rendering and exporting 3D information from your Cinema4D scene over to your After Effects projects.

Uses Trapcode Particular, Video Copilot Optical Flares, and The Foundry CameraTracker for After Effects.

An A to Z of Building Projections in After Effects - Part 1

By ChrisZwar / ProVideoCoalition: "A behind the scenes look at two different building projection projects, including the largest building projection ever staged - the massive Alfa Bank show in Russia.  If you’ve ever wondered how these events are created then this is the video series for you…"

Part 1 is a general overview of building projections and offers some insight into the staging of two different sized building projection projects.

Uses Frischluft Taronites Zborn Toy

Mid-Air Emergency in After Effects by Video Copilot

Post by Andrew Kramer/ Video Copilot: "In this new tutorial we’ll composite the interior of an airplane as the wing bursts into flames. We’ll cover green screen keying, 3D tracking with Camera Tracker, particles and compositing live action elements. I’ve also included a dropping Oxygen mask in the project file for people that want to add an extra layer!"

Creating the Mission Impossible 4 Titles in Cinema 4D and After Effects

Post by Antonio Cerri at AEtuts+ : "In today’s tutorial we’ll be creating the Mission Impossible 4 title animation. In the first part, we’ll be in Cinema 4d to create and animate the logo, lights and materials. We will then continue to After Effects for the overall composition and all the graphic elements that characterize this particular animation. We’ll also explain how to make the fantastic ghost protocol effect."

How To Edit Together Night Time-Lapsed Videos in After Effects

By Grzegorz Rogala at AEtuts+. "This technique is ideal to demonstrate events that take substantial time to develop in seconds. Today’s tutorial will introduce you to a simple and effective workflow concerning time-lapse photography. It basically involves taking a series of photographs, maintaining the same interval between the shots, and compiling them into a movie clip."

Using Trapcode Form 2.0 with Cinema 4D

Post by Nick Campbell/Greyscalegorilla: "a video of Gavin Morrissey’s talk about integrating Cinema 4D and Trapcode Form 2.0" at Chicago C4D.

Animated Swirls in Adobe After Effects

Animated swirls are all the rage in the motion graphics world, and there are some pretty cool things that can be done with them. But creating and animating such elements is really not as difficult and time-consuming as it would seem, even if the shapes are detailed and intricate. Bring on the swirls!

Growing 3D Vines

Create Vines in only After Effects

Advanced Soft Keying using Keylight

Key out footage without eliminating the soft reflections. Composite in 32bpc for more realistic blending.

Animating Spray Paint and Stencil Effect in After Effects

Create a spray paint effect using After Effects. It’s a fairly simple process but I’ve got a few tricks that you may not have thought of.

Cosmodius - Creating a Retro Sci-fi Logo Animation

In this episode of Red Giant TV, Aharon Rabinowitz walks you through the process of creating a Retro Sci-Fi logo. In addition to creating the logo, he'll show you how to age the video to make it look like it came out of the early 80's.

Kinect MoCap Animation in After Effects — Part 1: Getting Started

Post by Victoria Nece. "Today I’m going to show you how to use your Kinect to animate a digital puppet like this one in After Effects. Once you’re up and running, you’re going to be using a Processing app called KinectToPin, written by the very talented animator Nick Fox-Gieg. That’s where you actually capture the tracking data, as well as where you convert it to keyframe information After Effects can understand."

Let it Flow: An In-depth Look at the Grid Emitter in Trapcode Particular

Post by Harry Frank at Red Giant: "Trapcode Particlar and Form are very similar in many ways. Sometimes, you might even want the organic look of Form with the 3D position control of Particular. We'll discuss how to get detailed control over particle grids to create something organic."

Inside the Nebulae by Peder Norrby/ Trapcode

"Actual images of nebulas taken with the Hubble space telescope were combined in After Effects with CG gas clouds and stars made using Trapcode Form and Starglow."

Funky Animations With CC Circle And Radio Waves

Post by Tibor Miklos at AEtuts+. Hello everyone! In this tutorial we’re gonna show you how you can create 3 awesome circle animations with a few simple steps and default plug-ins such as CC Circle and Radio Waves.

After Effects CS5.5 Changes from Video2Brain

Todd Kopriva of Adobe goes over changes in the CS5.5 version of Adobe After Effects. 1 hour 25 minutes. It's probably more of an overview than a tutorial, but you're guaranteed to learn something.

Achieving Realistic Depth Of Field In 3D Studio Max & After Effects

Post by Chandan Kumar at CGtuts+. "Depth Of Field is essential to add believability and realism to any 3d render. In this tutorial Chandan Kumar will explain how to achieve in camera DOF in 3d studio max, and how to improve quality and control focus using the camera’s target distance. In the second half of the tutorial we’ll move into After Effects where you’ll learn how Z-Depth can be used to control Depth of Field using AE’s Lens Blur Options and the benefits of doing this in post production."

Expression Shorts - Read External Text Document

David Torno's new series, Expression Shorts, kicks off with a tutorial called Read External Text Document.

Tracking an object that goes off screen in After Effects

Posted by Kert Gartner at VFX Haiku. "In this tutorial, we take a look at how to track an object that goes off screen with Adobe After Effects."

Comic Book Title Sequence at Red Giant TV

Posted by Aharon Rabinowitz at Red Giant TV. "Get ready to open a can of awesome, because in this Episode of Red Giant TV, Seth Worley shows you how to create an awesome 2.5D comic book-style title/credit sequence. Ka-Pow!"

Animating Wall-E Style LED Eyes In 3D Studio Max & After Effects

Posted by Mile Eror at CGtuts+. "In this tutorial you will learn how to create, animate and render LED style eyes for characters like robots or even some products while creating presentations. We start by setting up the 3d scene, jumping in to After Effects, setting up the project there and then head back to 3ds Max for the final animation and rendering."

Creating edge-blended Panoramic Projections in After Effects

By Robert Sarosi from erLab. ErLab_edgeBlender script for After effects helps make edge-blended panoramic projections for projector based images and panoramas.

How To Track Footage That Is Out Of Focus

Posted by Stefan Surmabojov on AEtuts+: "How to work with footage that is out of focus making if difficult to track. After we track it we are going to attach the camera interface elements and fake some depth of field to create the illusion that they are floating in space and shift in and out of focus like the rest of the scene."

Light A Simulated Flickering Candle Flame

By Chandan Kumar on AEtuts+. "In this tutorial we will see how to create and animate a candle flame inside After Effects using simple expressions and a few easy steps. "

How to Sync Motion Typography to Audio in After Effects

In After Effects, “Evan Abrams” provides some easy methods for synchronizing audio to motion graphics.

How to Make An Animated Title Sequence in Cinema 4D and After Effects

Posted by GreyscaleGorilla for the Vimeo School Series. "Vimeo asked me to do a tutorial for their excellent Vimeo School series and I said “heck yes!” It’s all about how to make a fun animated title using Cinema 4D and After Effects. In Lesson 1, we build the logo from a vector file and prepare it for render. In part 2, we composite it in After Effects using the built in Tracking Software, lens blur and color correction."

Creating a Christmas Tree with Trapcode Particular

Via Red Giant TV: In this episode of Red Giant TV, Michael Park returns to us with a fantastic tutorial on creating a Christmas tree (complete with lights and star at the top) with Trapcode Particular. You'll also use Trapcode Starglow to enhance the look.

Create And Composite A Mobile Phone App Demo Template

Posted by Carolin Sellman at AEtuts+. "In this tutorial you will learn the workflow on how to set up a scene for an animated pack shot of a phone in CINEMA 4D and composite it in After Effects. We’ll start off by setting up the scene in CINEMA 4D, animating the phone model and go through the necessary render settings for getting our files into After Effects. After that we’ll compose our scene in After Effects using luma and alpha mattes. We’ll also create a background and a reflection on the floor using a few simple steps."

 

Create an Elegant Concentric Rings Animation

Posted at AEtuts+ by Satya Meka: "Satya shows us how to use iterations of simple shape layers to create some beautiful procedural art. Satya also recreated the effect in Cinema 4D and has create a bonus addendum tutorial which in true Satya style is full of XPresso goodness."

Advanced Soft Keying

Posted by Andrew Kramer at Video Copilot. In this tutorial we will go beyond basic keying techniques with new tips to help preserve small details like dirt and reflections. • Key out footage without eliminating the soft reflections • Composite in 32bpc for more realistic blending

Kaleidoscope Of Dancing Veggies Using Echospace in After Effects

Posted by Ritika Jain at AEtuts+. A colorful motion graphic piece meant for a food show or cooking program. With the often forgotten Trapcode Echospace you can turn as many photos as you want into one cheerful looking animation.

Requirements: Adobe After Effects and Trapcode Echospace

 

 

Ocean Water Effect presentation by Aharon Rabinowitz

Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to create this ocean scene in Adobe After Effects with only the tools found in AE.

Magic Glass Breaking Time Freeze

Create a cool looking glass/window break. I’ll be talking through some basic compositing with Action Movie Essentials 2 and cover a little time remapping.

Automated Animation With Rig Cycles in After Effects

In this tutorial, we will rig and create cycle animation to breathe life into a still image of a Kangaroo. Then we’ll take the cycle render and animate it across our master scene, using null animation. We will also create a hint of parallax using camera projection. The techniques you’ll learn in this simple tutorial will open up loads of opportunities for your own creativity.

How to make a Cinemagraph with Photoshop and After Effects

An interesting technique where a portion of a still image is animated. Some are very cool, some are creepy! Animated GIFs live!!

Tutorial: How to Remove Banding Artifacts in After Effects

Posted by Nick Campbell/Greyscalegorilla.

"In this episode, I show you how to remove the banding from your videos rendered in After Effects. Banding happens when video is compressed and similar colors get posterized. This undesirable, visible bands of color that can be distracting, and in some cases downright ugly. Check out the video for some techniques to prevent this banding from happening."

Depth of Field in After Effects

In this video tutorial, Digieffects' Dustin Klein shows you how to create a depth map with one click while working in After Effects. Using the company's recent plug-in, Depth, Klein shows you how to add more accurate and photoreal results to your comps than you can create with the default tools inside AE. The Depth plug-in can turn an entire AE comp into a depth map based on the relative positions of layers in z-space.

The Importance of Compositing: A Layer By Layer Breakdown in After Effects

In this video, I wanted to show you how important compositing is for your 3D renders. A 3D render is never finished straight from Cinema 4D or any 3D package. Every shot needs and deserves some sort of compositing and color correction before it’s ready for prime time. Uploading a render straight from 3D is like uploading a raw image from your digital camera without any color correction. Rich Hinchcliffe was kind enough to allow me to show you his compositng file for this excelent animation for the latest Five Second Projects. I will show you how Rich used After Effects, color correction, blurs, RSMB Motion Blur, Frischluft Lens Care and Lens Flares to turn his simple grey primitive 3D animation into a beautiful, atmosphere rich finished composite.

After Effects Lip Sync Tutorial

Posted by Rob Moffett on Vimeo. Uses expressions to create a lip sync to audio.

Basic Head rotations using 3D Layers, Distortion Mesh & Expressions in After Effects

Posted by Daniel Gies on Vimeo: "This is a really quick overview of one method to approach head rotations and Blink animations. It is not a definitive method, but if your character design suites the process it can be quite effective.

I just skim over the expressions and property linking so if you need a more detailed overview of linking sliders to layer attributes check out my earlier tutorial on Using Sliders."

Tutorial: Transferring your After Effects CS5 plug-ins to After Effects CS5.5

Michele Yamazaki of Toolfarm shows you a quick way to get your plug-ins moved to Adobe After Effects CS5.5 from CS5. It will take 5 minutes and will not require you to download new installers.

On a Windows machine? Brandon Smith from Digieffects has a windows version of the tutorial for you here: http://youtu.be/KcNmIeFXS08

After Effects CS5.5: Stereo 3D Controls by Chris Meyer on Adobe TV

Chris Meyer, one of the world's foremost After Effects experts, teaches you how to take advantage of his favorite features from the CS5.5 release in this complete end-to-end training series.

Learn how the new stereoscopic 3D camera rig plus resulting chain of compositions in After Effects CS5.5 are manipulated by the Stereo 3D Controls effect, including setting camera separation (inter-axial distance) and the convergence options.

Super Slow Motion Effect Using Images in After Effects

Posted by by Michael DeVowe on Vimeo: "Create a super slow motion effect from images in After Effects! All you need is two or more photos to create this effect. Pixel Motion is used in After Effects."

Create a 3D DNA Strain in After Effects

Create a 3D DNA Strain in After Effects by Maltaannon- From the Archives at AETuts+. "Twice a month we revisit some of our reader’s favorite posts from back in the archives of Aetuts+. Today we’ll look at an amazing post from Maltaanon. This tutorial was first published in May 2009 and uses Trapcode Form to create something that would normally require a 3D application, but is accomplished entirely within After Effects."

Tutorial: Shoot Off A 3D Plexus Particle Stream on AEtuts+

Posted by Lloyd Alvarez on AEtuts+: "The tutorial is on how to create a “pseudo” particle stream using Plexus. I say pseudo because it’s not really a particle stream, it just appears as one. The tools involved are Cinema 4d and After Effects with these 3rd party plugins: Plexus, Trapcode Particular and VCP Optical Flares although Particular and Optical Flares could be substituted with Particle World and any lens flare but I used particular and optical flares in the tut."

Tutorial/Tip: Saving From After Effects CS5.5 to Older Version/CS5

Not only can you open an After Effects CS5 project in CS5.5, a new feature to CS5.5 is the ability to save your project back to an older version (CS5) using "File > Save As > Save A Copy As CS5". However, new features to CS5.5 will not be retained in this transfer. In this Adobe TV Episode Chris Meyer discusses this new feature, and tips to avoid conflicts in your project files when doing so.

What’s New and Changed in After Effects CS5.5

Free Videobrain training by Todd Kopriva-- What’s New and Changed in After Effects CS5.5 is a free new Video2brain workshop, with Adobe Technical Support Lead Todd Kopriva, who is the guide on the changes in After Effects CS5.5.

Video Copilot: Tutorial- 3D Set Extensions in After Effects

• Create a 3D set extension with fog using Stock Footage
• Use Camera Tracker to matchmove inside of AE

Building a Simple 3D Head and Eyes in AFX CS5 using FreeForm by Daniel Gies

Build and rig a 3D head using the FreeForm plugin included with After Effects CS5; covers expression controls to drive nested compositions such as eye blinks and head rotations eyes that follow a null object like a "Look At" point.

After Effects CS5.5: Stereo 3D Controls by Chris Meyer on Adobe TV

Learn how the new stereoscopic 3D camera rig plus resulting chain of compositions in After Effects CS5.5 are manipulated by the Stereo 3D Controls effect, including setting camera separation (inter-axial distance) and the convergence options.

Transfering your After Effects CS5 plug-ins to After Effects CS5.5, Mac version

Michele Yamazaki of Toolfarm shows you a quick way to get your plug-ins moved to Adobe After Effects CS5.5 from CS5. It will take 5 minutes and will not require you to download new installers.

How to Transfer CS5 Plug-ins to CS5.5 in Windows

Learn how to transfer your After Effects and Premiere Pro plug-ins from CS5 to CS5.5 in Windows without having to re-install your plug-ins!

Red Giant QuickTip #44: Creating a Rocket Ship Trail of Letters

In this QuickTip, Harry Frank guides you through the set-up and expressions required to emit a paragraph of letters from a moving After Effects layer.

Slow Motion From Pictures! After Effects Pixel Motion Tutorial

Create a super slow motion effect from images in After Effects! All you need is two or more photos to create this effect. Pixel Motion is used in After Effects.

Reviews

Adobe After Effects CS6 Review at Macworld 5/5

After Effects CS6 showcases rebuilt, enhanced compositing and motion graphics tools
Review By Jeff Foster, Macworld.com - May 28, 2012

"The release of Adobe After Effects CS6 is proof that Adobe actually listens to customer requests and stays current with the needs of today’s filmmakers, editors, and motion graphics artists. Beyond this release's impressive list of new features, there are much-needed and long-awaited performance improvements.

Adobe has implemented several structural developments like the new ray-traced 3D rendering engine and Global Performance Cache that it rebuilt from the ground up, providing not only faster performance, but increased professional capabilities. New tools such as the 3D Camera Tracker, Rolling Shutter Repair, and variable mask edge feathering are serious professional compositing tools. The enhanced integration between After Effects CS6 and other Adobe tools makes the workflow faster and more fluid than before.

Greatly improved performance

The Global Performance Cache feature is the newfound power under the hood that makes After Effects CS6 perform better—even on older Macs. This is a set of technologies that work together: a global RAM cache, a persistent disk cache, and a new graphics pipeline.
The global RAM cache employs reusable frames recognized anywhere on the timeline—not just adjacent frames—as well as duplicated layers or sub-comps. Cached frames are restored after an Undo/Redo operation, when layers are hidden or revealed, or when timeline settings return to a previous state. The feature allows users to experiment or “nudge” elements without a performance penalty should they change their mind or accidentally hit something that would normally wipe out the RAM preview and force a re-render."

Read the Full Review at Macworld