After Effects for Beginners: Create Your First Animation in 5 Easy Steps

⬇️ Download the project files to follow along: https://www.meganfriesth.com/freebies/firstanimation
You’ll also get two cheat sheets: the 5 steps to creating any animation and the keyboard shortcuts worth learning first.

🎓 Ready to really learn After Effects? My beginner course walks you through 7 real-world projects that build into an explainer animation: https://link.animationexplained.com/aeexplained5

After Effects doesn't have to be overwhelming — you just need a clear place to start. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to use my 5-step animation framework for creating motion graphics.

By the end, you'll know how to set up a composition, import and organize assets, set keyframes to create movement, add effects and layer styles, and export (render) your finished animation. If After Effects has felt like a mystery until now, this is the video that makes it click.

In this video:
0:15 - Download project files
Step 1
0:48 - Create a composition
2:10 - Save files and stay organized
Step 2
2:55 - Import Files
4:13 - Create shapes, paths, and text in After Effects
5:59 - Bring artwork into composition
7:10 - Understanding layer visibility
7:50 - Arrange artwork within composition
Step 3
10:00 - Set keyframes
12:10 - Edit keyframes
12:51 - Add easing to keyframes
15:23 - Animate multiple layers at once
Step 4
18:14 - Add a text animator preset to a text layer
19:21 - Add an effect to a layer
21:05 - Apply Layer Styles
Step 5
22:25 - Render your animation as a video file

My website: https://www.animationexplained.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/animationexplained
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/explanimated/