New to AE

scotty

scotty

Ultimate Member
I just got my dirty little paws on After Effects. OOF! :)

I do a lot of work for animation doing everything from scripting and storyboarding through to the illustrative and graphic elements to pass on the those magical AE guys to bring to life.

I used to do a bit in Flash years back and I'd like to get back into making stuff move and I've been absorbing myself in loads of tutorials and lessons from the web and to be honest I'm not sure where to start now.

I've probably got loads of stuff that I could bring into AE and animate up to hopefully make a reel but I'm at the bottom of the hill with some super basic knowledge and I'm not sure where to start.

God I'm such a NOOOOOOB! :(
 
That's AWESOME Tony.

I had found some of those but spread around on YouTube so good to get them in one place.

I think I'm just a bit over awed by it all and want to do everything.

Need someone to slap me around the face and tell me to pull myself together.
 
It's a fun one to get involved with After Effects. I really wanted to get into the cartoon side of things, but trying to develop the illustration and the animation at the same time was practically impossible.
 
That's what I'm hoping to do Tony.

Think I might give those walk cycles a go as i set my vector characters up in that way for ease of animation.
I just need to take that other step.
 
*SLAP*
"Pull yourself together, man!!"

...

Sorry, I couldn't resist.
I've been told left right and centre "oh you should do animation!" but I class animation and illustration as two different (though overlapping) disciplines. Let us know how you get on Scotty!
 
Character animation, eh? This is the only guide you need: https://vimeo.com/41558459

I don't do much character animation, but the tutorials Tony posted look good. Another tool worth checking is DUIK: http://duduf.net/?page_id=151 it's a free plugin for AE and it's bloody brilliant. It makes IK (inverse kinematics) very easy, and IK is essential for most character rigging. It may sound and look scary but it's actually quite easy.

On the whole AE is a vastly powerful and incredibly broad toolset for motion-based work. Trying to 'learn it' is silly. Figure out exactly what you want to achieve/make, then go ahead and do it. If you try to approach it the other other way round (just aimlessly playing with no clear end-goal) it'll be slow and frustrating.

Good luck, share your progress and results!
 
I found the Adobe Classroom in series very effective for learning AE as well as a number of other Adobe products
 
@Jimlad

Thanks, I needed that. :)

@Mat

DUIK looks an AWESOME tool.

I'm going to download it now and give it a whirl.
Also I love that Animade clip and that baby is getting bookmarked for reference.

I've got a few things that I'm going to start on and you're right about doing that rather than just faffing about with it.
I started looking at AE tut's and just got totally overawed by what can be done and wanted to do anything and everything.

Think I'm going to start with a walk cycle and then do something with some type and then do some isometric and then.........
Pfffff! I'm doing it again. ;)

@Wac

I'll give Adobe Classroom a look so cheers for that mate.

I'll post up when I finally do something so cheers for the pointers fellas. :)
 
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