After Effects Club
Ethan Brooks

Ethan Brooks

Ethan Brooks is the After Effects motion-design editor at After Effects Club. He writes about keyframe timing, expressions, precomps and getting a render ready for delivery.

Sea of clouds at dusk seen from a mountain summit

Guides by this author

  1. Getting started

    After Effects vs Premiere Pro: which one to use for which job

    Premiere Pro, now called Adobe Premiere, cuts shot footage into a finished video; After Effects builds what the footage lacks: animated graphics, keys, tracked inserts and composites. A job-by-job table, then a lower third and a keyed shot followed through both apps, with what each crossing needs.

    · 13 min read

  2. Keying, roto and tracking

    How to remove a green screen in After Effects

    Apply the included Keylight preset, sample the green, preserve hair in the matte and clear spill. Add garbage and hold-out masks where the shot needs them, then place the new background below.

    · 10 min read

  3. Effects, presets and templates

    How to make transitions in After Effects with built-in effects and presets

    Overlap the outgoing shot above the incoming one, then animate Opacity or Linear Wipe. Build slides and zooms, inspect presets, and check a transition pack's dependencies.

    · 16 min read

  4. Effects, presets and templates

    How to find the effects tab in After Effects when it disappears

    Restore Effects & Presets from the Window menu, check hidden tabs and filters, and recover missing effects while preserving the project and preferences.

    · 13 min read

  5. Animation and expressions

    How to ease keyframes in After Effects and fine-tune them in the Graph Editor

    Select Position keyframes and press F9 for default Easy Ease. Control the arrival and departure separately, then adjust speed and influence in the Graph Editor.

    · 11 min read

  6. Animation and expressions

    How to use the wiggle expression in After Effects

    Add wiggle(2, 30) to Position, control the pace and distance, limit the shake to one axis, and drive it from sliders on a null.

    · 14 min read

  7. Rendering and export

    How to export a video from After Effects

    Export an H.264 MP4 directly from the Render Queue, or use Media Encoder to keep working. Choose bitrate, include audio and render the intended composition or work area.

    · 12 min read

  8. Timeline, layers and audio

    How to scale a layer to fill the frame in After Effects

    Choose Fit To Comp Width or Height to fill the frame without stretching, move the crop with Position and check raster quality and pixel aspect ratio.

    · 12 min read