There is so much you can do with After Effects!
We will start with basics.
So what is it that AE can do?
AE is an animation software. It is not a traditional hand drawn frame-by-frame software (Like Adobe Animate) - but it's great for:

• key-frame animation - bringing in parts and animating them separately, like puppet animation;
• great for motion media (non-character animation) - credits, commercials, kinetic typography;
• compositing - group (team) work on a project - one animator works on a main character, another - on backgrounds, another - on secondary characters, etc. A compositor will take all these pieces and put them together into a movie. AE is great for layering these animations, correcting colors, adding effects;
• you can add special effects not only to a 2-D animation, but to a 3D or a video (fire, snow, dust, etc);
• animatics - when you take your storyboard and do a slideshow. The camera ability will allow you to go through scenes, change panes, etc.

AE has limitations. It relies on other applications to create graphics and sounds. It is not a “drawing” software. You can still create some basic graphics though (simple geometric shapes, but you cannot draw a character).

Your After Effects project file (.aep) is a composite file that holds all video and animation footage (compositions), audio files, still images (photos and graphics), external videos, etc.).

Project file can contain numerous items - all necessary files and links, that are used in this particular project.

Think of a project file as a book.

A composition - is a chapter in this book.

Each additional linked file - is a reference.

The Home screen assists you to get started quickly with After Effects. You can use the following options on the left hand side:

• Home: Click this tab to open the Home screen.
• New Project: Creates a project in After Effects.
• Open Project: Opens an existing project.
• New Team Project: Creates a Team Project.
• Open Team Project: Opens an exiting Team Project.

Create a New Project.

Create a new composition.

This is like creating a chapter in a book.

In the New Composition Window:

Composition name: give your "chapter" a name

Preset: Choose a format that you intend to use your video in.

Width & Height: set the dimensions of your video. Use 1920x1080 if you intend it for YouTube videos (16:9 ratio)

Frame Rate: how many frames your video will play in one second

Duration: the length of your video. (This can be adjusted if you need to extend your video later). Duration is calculated based on your Frame Rate. Foe example: Five-and-a-half seconds = duration 0:00:05:12 (because 12 is a half of a 24 fps rate).

Background color: color of your working space.

Your Project Panel will show your first asset: the first composition that you just created.

It also shows you the type of the asset - "Composition".

In the Preview part of the panel you will see the selected file.

Layers

Layers are a bit more complex in After Effect comparing to other Adobe applications.

To insert a shape (or more complex graphic object) - use Shape Layer.

Once a new Shape Layer created - you will see:

• Shape Tool is selected
• Fill and Stroke options are available in the Options Bar
• An Anchor Point appears on the layer

You will see a new layer in the Layers part of your Timeline panel.

Once you add a shape, you will be able to modify it in the Options Bar.

You can change the type of fill and stroke and its opacity by clicking on Fill or Stroke links.

Once you have a shape created, you will be able to modify it and animate it in the Timeline Panel.

Your Shape layer will now have options available to do so.

Anchor point

Anchor point in After Effects is the point in which all transformations are manipulated from.

By default, object's anchor point is positioned in the center of the layer.

But you can place it anywhere in your composition by using Pan-behind Tool (shortcut: Y).

If you need move the anchor point in straight lines:

• hold SHIFT

If you want the anchor point to snap to a corner of the object:

• Hold Ctrl or Command

If you need to center the anchor point in the object:

• Hold Ctrl or Command

Timeline

Timeline Panel holds the layers and timeline for animation.

Each layer has options to modify the object and its properties:

• Contents (how the object looks: shapes it's made of, colors, fill and stroke properties, other options for each shape (path) of the object)
• Transform (object animation)

The timeline part shows frames of your footage.

01:00f = 1 second

01:12f = 1.5 seconds (for 24 fps rate)