Adobe After Effects.

File > Import > File.
The imported files will appear in the Project window on the left side of the screen.

Any time files are imported to After Effects, it thinks of it as a footage item, even if it's a still image. It'll take almost any file format into the programme.


File > Import > File.
When importing photoshop images, choose 'Import As: Composition' to keep the layers intact. When the second box that comes up, choose 'Editable layer styles' and press okay.


If you highlight the file in the project window, a preview of the footage will appear in the top left hand corner of the window. Underneath that, the first number is the resolution (640 x 480 - American TV broadcast format). Then there's the time of the clip underneath it, the amount of frames per second (fps) and other technical details about the footage.

After Effects needs to know where the original files are to be able to open them within the programme, as it doesn't save a copy the clips in the programme itself. Therefore you need to export it to be able to view it somewhere else.


File > Save.
It saves it as an .aep (After Effects Project) file.


Drag the selected files into the dark grey box underneath where it says 'Source Name' to drag the files into the timeline.


Composition > Composition Settings.
Change the Preset to 'NTSC DV' and press okay to make the photoshop composition the same quality as American Broadcast definition.


The order of the files in the timeline affects what the project looks like, and works like layers just as Photoshop or Final Cut. The top layer is displayed above the layers below it.


Composition > Composition Settings.
Change the Duration of the the composition to the length of the video clip to make it simply play the footage and loop round again.


If you click 'Source Name', it will change to 'Layer Name' instead, as we are now considering them as Layers and not Sources.


At the top of the screen, there's a little tool bar that will change the mouse to be doing a different job than being a usual pointer. Just click the cursor button to change it back to normal.


To duplicate a layer, click the layer, go to the edit menu then press the duplicate option.


Pressing enter whilst highlighting a layer will allow you to change it's name.


Highlight a layer that you have duplicated, and then look on the right hand side of the screen for the 'Effects and Presents' window.

By clicking 'Radial Blur' under 'Blur & Sharpen' and dragging it onto the same duplicated layer, it will add that effect onto that layer.

In the top left in the Project window, it changes to be the settings of the effect, and you can change things like the centre point, and how extreme the blur is, for example.


If you click the little eye symbol to the left of a layer, it will hide it so that you can see the layers below it without having to adjust the order at all.


If you click the triangle to the left of a layer, it'll open up a submenu that says 'Transform'. To edit the properties of a layer, click the triangle to the left of that and the properties will appear. If you change the coordinates of 'Position', it'll move the layer to whatever coordinates you entered.

If you click a layer and press 'T', it'll bring up an option for Opacity and will make the image more or less transparent.


If you double clip a file, it'll open up another window for that composition on it's own.

If you open the layered photoshop file in this way, it displays the layers within it. To replace the text within this, you need to make it editable, so click the file with the text then go to Layer > Convert To Editable Text which will make it changeable.

If you select the 'T' (Horizontal Type Text) in the tool bar panel and then drag it over the text in the composition window. Make sure the playhead is on zero before editing text though, otherwise it will become animated by changing wherever the play point currently is.

Go over to Effects & Presets again, and type 'Bubble' into the search box at the top of the panel. Then drag 'Zoom - bubble' over the text that is in the composition window. It may disappear, but don't panic. If you then press space, the text becomes animated and will appear on the screen.

Once again you can change the effects settings in the timeline panel, and click the little arrow to the left again. If you change the Transition Completion, it'll finish doing the effect sooner or later. If you click on the timeline when doing this, and then change the transition completion to 100%, it'll change it to finish at that point in the footage.


To change back to the original timeline with all the layers, simply click the 'Comp 1' (or whatever it is named) above the list of layers. The edited text will now appear on the timeline along with the other layers.


The little mountains with the slider bar between them zooms the timeline in or out.