Article Focus:
In this tutorial, Ben Unguren gives AE newbies 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.
This tutorial is intended to be a simple introduction to the concept of nesting. I am assuming you have an understanding of what keyframes, layers, and compositions are.
here is a sample of what we are going to make (428 KB)
WHAT IS NESTING?
"When creating an elaborate composition, you may find it easier to organize the layers that make up the composition by using a technique called nesting--putting one or more compositions into another composition. You can create many levels of nesting."
-After Effects Online Help, "Nesting a Composition"
UNDERSTANDING THE PROJECT
For our project, while we are "zooming in" on Europe, we will fade in country borders, highlight France, and have the word "FRANCE" appear. The "zooming" trick is achieved by animating the scale attribute.
The difficulty of this move is matching the motion of all the elements while the scaling takes place. Timing the scale and position of the various layers while they are all moving would be extremely frustrating work. However, thanks to nesting, we can do this animation in a jiffy and without much headache at all.
Open the file that you just downloaded and unstuffed.
Examine all the layers in the BIG EUROPE COMP composition.
Make a new Composition (Composition New Composition...)
Name your new comp France, choose the Medium, 320x240 preset, change the Frame Rate to 15 Frames per second, and set your duration to about 10 seconds:
From the Project Window, drag the BIG EUROPE COMP composition into the France composition Time Layout Window (this is known as nesting):
you are nesting the BIG EUROPE COMP composition in the France composition
In the France composition, animate the BIG EUROPE COMP layer's position, rotation, and scale (scale it from around 60% to 100%) to "move the camera in" on France. Make the move last about three seconds:
(196 KB) The BIG EUROPE COMP is nested in the France comp. Instead of animating each layer in the BIG EUROPE COMP composition, we only need to animate the nested BIG EUROPE COMP layer.
Virtual 3D Sets with After Effects Play Video Rob Mize demonstrates techniques for creating a virtual set in 3D space. He shows how you can build sophisticated, detailed environments, where your actors appear to interact with their 3 dimensional surroundings. Build the set of your dreams using nothing more than After Effects, a few textures and your creativity.
Lite Bite for After Effects: The Tilt Shift Effect Play Video In this tutorial, Martin Ainsworth will demonstrate the "Tilt Shift" effect also known as "Toy Town Look" using Abobe After Effect. This simple yet very power technique can add an extra dimension to an opening introduction.
Lite Bite for After Effects: How do I create a simple Light Wrap? Play Video "Lite Bites" are short no-frills tutorials giving quick answers for busy people. In this first AE Lite Bite tutorial, Andrew Devis shows how to make a quick 'light wrap' effect for a keyed item so that the edge or alpha channel of the keyed item includes some of the pixels from the background element so that it starts to look as if the two items really belong together.
Using the Scribble & Stroke Effects Play Video The "Scribble" and the "Stroke" effects are often overlooked due to the fact that it isn't immediately obvious how they work as they won't work unless applied in a very particular way. In this in-depth tutorial, Andrew Devis explains how to apply these effects and then goes through the many options in each effect which can make them very powerful and able to produce a surprisingly large variety of results.
Character Design and Animation in AE: Part One Play Video Rob Mize demonstrates the process of designing, creating and animating a character entirely in After Effects. Part 1 focuses on the design and creation of the character using nothing more than AE shapes.
With Creative Cloud, Adobe is switching from a model of software as a product to Software as a Service (SaS). By early 2012, Adobe Creative Cloud is expected to include such applications as After Effects, Premiere and Photoshop. Creative Cloud includes a hub for viewing, sharing and syncing of files, and a subscription with 20GB of cloud storage.