If you’re wondering how to cut in After Effects, you’ve come to the right place. In this tutorial, we’ll show you a few different methods for cutting in After Effects, so you can choose the one that best suits your needs.
Checkout this video:
Introduction
This guide will show you how to cut in After Effects. You will learn how to set up your composition, create your first keyframe, and then render your composition.
In this example we will be using a clip of a cat playing with a ball of yarn. We will first set up our composition by adding the cat clip to the Timeline panel. Next, we will create a keyframe on the cat layer at the 1 second mark. Finally, we will render our composition byGoing to Composition > Add to Render Queue.
Now let’s get started!
The Basics of After Effects
After Effects is a digital visual effects and motion graphics application developed by Adobe Systems and used in the post-production process of film making and television production. Among other things, After Effects can be used for keying, tracking, compositing, and animation. It also functions as a very basic non-linear editor, audio editor, and media transcoder.
What is After Effects?
After Effects is a tool for compositing, animation, and effects used in the post-production process of film making and television production. It is often used in conjunction with other software such as Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and Final Cut Pro. After Effects can be used to create 2D or 3D visuals using Text, Images, Videos, and Animation.
The interface
After Effects is a digital visual effects and motion graphics application. It is used for composing, animating and effecting footage. To start using After Effects, you need to understand the interface. The interface is the window where all the magic happens. This is where you will see your footage, create your layers and add your effects.
The interface is divided into four main sections: the project panel, the composition panel, the timeline and the toolbox.
The project panel is where you imported your footage and it shows up as files and folders. You can rearrange these files and folders by dragging and dropping them.
The composition panel is where you will actually see your footage in action. This is also where you add your layers and apply your effects.
The timeline is where you will control the timing of your animation or effects. You can add keyframes to the timeline to control when an effect starts or stops.
The toolbox is where you will find all of the tools you need to create your composition. These tools include things like selection tools, shape tools, text tools, paint tools and more.
Key terms
In this lesson, we’ll be going over some key terms that you need to know in order to understand After Effects. These terms will help you understand the interface, as well as the various tools and effects that you can use.
Composition – A composition is a container where you can place layers of footage, images, text, etc. Think of it like a blank canvas where you can create your own project.
Layer – A layer is a single element in your composition. This could be a video clip, an image, text, etc. Layers are stacked on top of each other in your composition, and each one has its own properties and settings.
Timeline – The timeline is where you will see all of the layers in your composition. You can use the timeline to add keyframes, change properties, and more.
Keyframe – A keyframe is a point in your timeline where you can change the properties of a layer. For example, you could add a keyframe at the beginning of your video clip to change its opacity from 0% to 100%. Keyframes are used to create animations.
Property – A property is a setting that you can change for a layer. This could be things like position, opacity, scale, etc. Properties are what you will animate using keyframes
Cutting in After Effects
There are a few different ways that you can cut in After Effects. You can use the razor tool, you can split layer, or you can cut in After Effects by masking.
Creating a new composition
The first thing we are going to do is create a new composition. To do this, click file -> new -> composition. A dialogue window will pop up. You need to set the following settings:
-Name it whatever you want
-Set the width to 1920
-Set the height to 1080
-The resolution can be whatever you want, but for HD videos, set it to full or half
-The framerate can be whatever you want, but for regular videos, set it to 30 or 60
Click OK when you’re done.
Adding your footage
To get started, import your footage into After Effects and create a new composition with it. Once your footage is in the timeline, select it and press S to split the layer at the playhead position. You can then add a transition by dragging one of the available transition types in between your two video clips.
Trimming your footage
Now that you know the basics of adding footage to your composition in After Effects, it’s time to start actually cutting your footage. For this first example, we’ll use a very basic clip just to show you the essentials of cutting in After Effects.
To begin, open your footage in After Effects by creating a new composition with your video. Once you have created a composition with your video, select the layer and click on the “Trim” tool in the Toolbar.
This will open up the Trim interface where you can trim your video by dragging the handles on either side of the playhead. You can also use keyboard shortcuts to trim your video:
To trim the start of your video, press “I” on your keyboard.
To trim the end of your video, press “O” on your keyboard.
You can also split a layer by pressing “Command + Shift + D” on a Mac or “Ctrl + Shift + D” on a PC. This will create a new layer with everything above or below the cut depending on where you split it.
Adding transitions
Adding transitions in After Effects is pretty straightforward. To add a transition, simply click the “Add Transition” button between two clips in your timeline. You can also add a transition by hitting the “Automate to Sequence” button in the ram preview panel.
There are a variety of different types of transitions you can choose from, and you can even customize some of them to fit your needs. For example, you can add a cross dissolve transition by hitting the “Add Transition” button and then clicking on the “Cross Dissolve” option. Or, you can add a custom easing curve to your transition by clicking on the “Ease” button in the Effect Controls panel.
To preview your transitions, simply hit the “Play” button in the Preview panel. You can also use the Ram Preview feature to preview your transitions. To do this, simply hit the “Ram Preview” button in the Preview panel or press Shift + 0 on your keyboard.
Conclusion
This guide showed you how to cut in After Effects. You learned how to cut in video, how to cut audio, and how to create a custom transition. Use these tips and tricks to make your next video project even better.
