In this course, Chris Meyer helps beginning After Effects artists take their animations to the next level. Chris shows how to refine animations to create elegant, coordinated movements with the minimum number of keyframes—as well as slam-downs, whip pans, and other attention-getters. Additional movies show how to reverse-engineer existing animations, create variations on a theme, and master other parts of the program. Even though this course is designed for beginners, even veterans should learn tricks that many experienced users are unaware of. Chris' friendly running commentary lets you in on his mental process as he works on an animation. Exercise files are included with the course.

Topics include:

• Understanding how keyframes work under the hood
• Controlling the Anchor Point to create more predictable animations
• Mastering the Graph Editor for the ultimate control over keyframes
• Animating parameters including motion paths
• Hand-drawing motion paths to simplify complex movements
• Applying and tweaking Motion Blur
• Using Hold keyframes