Articles: Sort By Article Type: Tutorial: Adobe After Effects: The Basics

	Creating a Heart Monitor by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow leader Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to build your own EKG Machine in the Comfort of Your Own Home (or Office). (Flatline not included)

	Creating a Magnifying Glass Effect in AE by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow leader Aharon Rabinowitz shows you a technique for creating a magnifying glass in After Effects.

	Working With the Scribble Effect - Part 2 by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow leader Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to use Auto-Trace and Illustrator to create complex scribble animation in AE.

	Working With the Scribble Effect - Part 1 by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to create Scribble-like animation with shapes and text in After Effects.

	Learning Basic AE Tips while Creating a Genie and Lamp: Part 3 by Joe Chao Article Type: Tutorial In this tutorial, CreativeCOW Contributing Editor Joe Chao finishes up his Genie in a lamp series by adding a light stream and a few other final lighting effects.

	Basic Lighting Effects by Joe Chao Article Type: Tutorial In this tutorial, CreativeCOW Contributing Editor Joe Chao demonstrates creating some light effects. This is part two of Joe's Genie in a Lamp series.

	Creating Multi-Color Gradient Ramps by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to create simple and complex multicolored gradient ramps in AE.

	Expression Controls #3 by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow leader Aharon Rabinowitz takes a look at some advanced uses of expression controls, and shows you how you can make your expression more dynamic.

	Expression Controls #2 by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow leader Aharon Rabinowitz explores most of the expression controls, showing you how they can be used to enhance your projects and save time.

	Expression Controls #1 by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow leader Aharon Rabinowitz introduces you to expression controls, a series of effects designed only for use with After Effects expression.

	Expression Tips #1 by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this video tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz shows you some basic expression principles and shares a very useful expression that can be used to convert one set of values to another.

	AE Text Tips # 1: Working with Photoshop and Illustrator Files by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this video tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz shares tips on working with Photoshop and Illustrator Text, as well as a few other text-related hints.

	AE Workflow Tips #7: Importing Projects by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this video tutorial, Creative Cow leader Aharon Rabinowitz shares tips on the many uses of importing After Effects Projects, and how you can recover corrupt AE files.

	Animating a TV Turning on and Off by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this video tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz revisits one of his first AE tutorials (the Old TV Look) and shows you how to animate the TV turning on and off.

	Bending Mode Tips #1 by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this video tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz shares some hints for working with layer blending modes in After Effects.

	Animating a Signature - Part 2 by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz revisits his earlier tutorial on animating a signature and shows you how to add a pen writing the signature in After Effects 3D.

	Using CC Filters and Displacement Maps to Create Fire by Joe Chao Article Type: Tutorial In this tutorial, CreativeCOW Contributing Editor Joe Chao creates ethereal fire using some of the CC filters and displacement maps in After Effects.

	AE Workflow Tips #6: Drag and Drop by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how dragging and dropping can speed up importing footage, rendering video, and exporting files.

	Nesting and Pre-Composing - Part 2 by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz explains when and why you would want to nest compositions and pre-compose layers in After Effects.

	Nesting and Pre-Composing - Part 1 by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz explains the basics of nesting and pre-composing compositions in After Effects.

	Creating Custom Client Review Systems by Aanarav Sareen Article Type: Tutorial In today's rapidly moving editing and post-production world, faster methods of client review have become an absolute necessity. In this article, CreativeCOW leader Aanarav Sareen demonstrates how to create custom client review systems using Adobe Captivate.

	Combining Effects with AE's Fractal Noise Effect by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz examines how to be more creative by combining different effects with AE's Fractal Noise.

	AE Keyframe Boomerang Effect, Part 2 by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz explores another instance of the boomerang effect and its causes, as well as several solutions for preventing it.

Using After Effects 7 on Intel MacPro Computers by Graham Jones Article Type: Tutorial Creative Cow member Graham Jones was the very first guy we have found who came up with a successful way that works for most users who want to use After Effects 7 on the new Intel-based MacPro computers. While it is not guaranteed to work for everyone, if you have been wanting to use AE7 on a MacPro, Graham gives you his recipe.

	AE Keyframe Boomerang Effect, Part 1 by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to handle the annoying (and sometimes crippling) boomerang effect, in which a layer moves randomly between two spatial keyframes that are exactly the same.

	Looping Fractal Noise by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial IIn this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz show you how to create seamlessly looping fractal background animations by using AE's Fractal Noise effect.

	AE Workflow Tips #5: How to Find Missing Footage by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to locate missing footage and other elements in your After Effects project.

	Force Motion Blur by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow leader Aharon rabinowitz shows you how to add a motion blur to effects that don't support this feature. Also covered is adding blur to video footage that has been sped up, and an introduction to CyCore's updated Effects - CyCore FX HD.

	AE Workflow Tips #4: Renaming & More by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz discusses methods of renaming layers, compositions, footage and effects. Also discussed are a couple of hidden buttons in AE that will make life a little easier.

	Animating a Signature by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to animate a signature appearing on screen, and a few tricks to make it look more realistic.

	AE Workflow Tips #3: Open in Editor by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz discusses the ''Open Editor'' command and how it can help you streamline your workflow. Also covered is preparation for getting this command to work for you with all image, video and audio formats.

	Learning Basic AE Tips while Creating a Genie and Lamp by Joe Chao Article Type: Tutorial In this tutorial, CreativeCOW Contributing Editor Joe Chao demonstrates a few useful tips for AE beginners by creating a genie in a lamp. Joe will take what seems like a complex project and will break it down into 'bite-sized, easy to manage' concepts.

Background Creation Tips and Tricks: Futuristic by Dean Velez Article Type: Tutorial There are many ways to create backgrounds in After Effects and many of us have our own special ways of doing this. Please join Dean Velez creator of ''The Anvel Training Program for Motion Graphics'' in a 5 part series as he shares some of his different methods. In this part five of the series, Dean uses the polygon lasso tool in Photoshop to create a wide odd shaped polygon in the center of the screen for each new layer with varying sizes, green tones, blend modes and overlap. He then imports the psd into After Effects to create a futuristic background.

Background Creation Tips and Tricks: Fire by Dean Velez Article Type: Tutorial There are many ways to create backgrounds in After Effects and many of us have our own special ways of doing this. Please join Dean Velez creator of ''The Anvel Training Program for Motion Graphics'' in a 5 part series as he shares some of his different methods. In this part four of the series, Dean uses a big X created in Photoshop and uses a variety of blend modes, effects, and adjustment layers in After Effects to create a fiery background.

Background Creation Tips and Tricks: Starfield by Dean Velez Article Type: Tutorial There are many ways to create backgrounds in After Effects and many of us have our own special ways of doing this. Please join Dean Velez creator of The Anvel Training Program for Motion Graphics in a 5 part series as he shares some of his different methods.In this part three of the series, Dean uses cloud layers created in Photoshop and applies filters to create a starfield background.

Background Creation Tips and Tricks:The RAGE Background by Dean Velez Article Type: Tutorial There are many ways to create backgrounds in After Effects and many of us have our own special ways of doing this. Please join Dean Velez creator of The Anvel Training Program for Motion Graphics in a 5 part series as he shares some of his different methods. In this part two, Dean uses cloud layers created in Photoshop and applies filters to create an interesting red and black, almost fiery look. He calls it Rage.

	Expressions Without the Math by Doug Bassett Article Type: Tutorial Recently Doug Bassett was working on a promo and tried to follow Fred Lewis' connection scripts but couldn't follow the math. In this article, Doug demonstrates a new approach which uses expressions but without the math...and he finished the promo in a minimal amount of time.

	Basic Shatter: Introduction to the Shatter Effect by Ben Unguren Article Type: Tutorial Now that Shatter is included in the filter set of After Effects 5.5, many users are asking how to use this effect. In this tutorial, Ben Unguren demonstrates a very simple technique to help get you started with Shatter.

AE 5.5: Masks, Transfer Modes, Track Mattes, Time Remapping by Dave LaRonde Article Type: Tutorial Dave LaRonde shares his experiences with upgrading from AE 3.1 to AE 5.5, and the production bundle no less. What would he do first? He gave himself an assignment: A fictional client arrives with a starfield and two animations, both movies of a planet and a moon rotating on their axes. My task: the moon must revolve around the planet, and it must look CONVINCING, as if it were a time lapse from the Hubble Space Telescope. Armed only with the manual, he demonstrates both the old and the new: Masks, Transfer Modes, Track Mattes, Time Remapping for a little bit of fun, and as it turns outÉ Expressions!

	nesting compositions - 1 by Ben Unguren Article Type: Tutorial In this tutorial, Ben Unguren gives COW members a simple introduction to the concept of nesting. He assumes you have an understanding of what keyframes, layers and compositions are. This is in the Basics of After Effects Series.

Motion Sketch and the Smoother: The Racing Course by Ben Unguren Article Type: Tutorial By using motion sketch and the smoother, you can acheive a less ''computer-generated'' motion in your animations, and in less time. This tutorial introduces you to the basic techniques involved with motion sketch and the smoother. This is by no means a complete demonstration of what you can do with motion sketch or the smoother. This simply introduces you to how to use them.

Animating with the Parenting Features in AE 5.5 by Serge Hamad Article Type: Tutorial An easy way to make any number of layers follow the movements of a single layer is to use the Parenting feature in After Effects 5.5. In this article, Serge Hamad demonstrates the power of parenting in some of the different situations you may encounter in your production studio instead of the usual robotic animation exercises that you may have seen elsewhere.

Using Post Render Actions to Pre-render elements and create proxies in AE 5.5 by Serge Hamad Article Type: Tutorial One of the best ways of speeding your work in AE is to use low- resolutions proxies to substitute your original footage. This will increase the speed while previewing or rendering your work tremendously, especially if you are working with 3D. A proxy can be a lower resolution still or movie and you can replace it by the original footage at any time just by clicking on the respective proxy button on your footage window. In this article, Serge Hamad explains the procedure while creating a 3d ride through a corridor.

Expressions are FUN! by Ben Unguren Article Type: Tutorial In this tutorial, Ben Unguren will show you one way to control expressions in Adobe After Effects 5, by using another layer as a 'controller' of a layer with a simple wiggling expression, giving you a great deal more control. If you are unfamiliar with expressions in After Effects 5, you may want to read the chapter 'Creating Expressions' in the After Effects 5.0 manual before continuing with this tutorial.