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Learn After Effects

Animate titles, graphics and visual effects with keyframes, layers and smooth easing.

Free to start. Built from a single prompt. No credit card.

After Effects is Adobe's motion graphics and compositing application for Windows and macOS. Rather than editing long timelines of clips, you build short compositions out of layers and animate their properties with keyframes. Animated titles, logo reveals, explainer graphics and visual effects like screen replacements are typical work. Good motion comes from easing and timing, which After Effects controls through its graph editor. Learnr builds a personalized After Effects course from one prompt, teaching tools and animation principles together in short lessons.

How to learn After Effects, step by step

Learn compositions and transform shortcuts. Create a composition matched to your output, then add text and shape layers. Press P, S, R, T and A to reveal position, scale, rotation, opacity and anchor point, and click the stopwatch to set the first keyframe on any property.
Animate a simple title with easing. Keyframe a word sliding in and fading up, then select the keyframes and apply Easy Ease with F9. Compare it with linear keyframes; the difference is the first lesson in why motion feels smooth or robotic.
Shape timing in the graph editor. Open the graph editor and drag the speed graph handles so motion accelerates sharply and settles gently. Most professional-looking animation comes from strong eases here, not from extra effects.
Build graphics from shape layers and mattes. Draw shapes with the pen and shape tools, animate Trim Paths for line drawing effects, and use masks and track mattes to reveal text from behind other layers. These cover a huge share of typical motion design jobs.
Organize with parenting, nulls and precomps. Parent layers to a null object to move groups together, and precompose finished pieces to keep timelines readable. Try simple expressions like wiggle for camera shake and loopOut to repeat a cycle without copying keyframes.
Render and study motion you admire. Render through the Render Queue or Adobe Media Encoder, then recreate a short animation you like frame by frame. Learnr lessons on animation principles such as anticipation and overlap help those recreations teach more.

What you'll learn

Build compositions with the right size, frame rate and duration
Animate position, scale, rotation and opacity with keyframes
Shape motion with easing and the speed and value graphs
Create shape layers, masks and track mattes
Use parenting, nulls, precomps and simple expressions

What's inside your After Effects course

A sample path Learnr builds for After Effects. Your real course adapts to your goal and level.

1. Compositions, layers and the timeline
2. Keyframes and transform properties
3. Easing and the graph editor
4. Shape layers, masks and mattes
5. Parenting, nulls, precomps and expressions
6. Tracking, effects and rendering

How long does it take to learn After Effects?

Simple animated titles and lower thirds are achievable within 2 to 3 weeks of practice. Confident motion design with clean easing, shape animation and expressions usually takes 3 to 6 months of regular projects, and compositing and tracking add more time.

What you need before you start

A Windows or Mac computer that meets Adobe's requirements and an Adobe Creative Cloud account with After Effects. Basic video editing and design knowledge help, but they are not required.

Common mistakes to avoid

Using After Effects to edit long videos. Cut the story in an editor such as Premiere Pro, and bring only the shots or graphics that need animation into After Effects.
Leaving keyframes linear, which makes motion feel mechanical. Apply easing and adjust the graph editor on almost every animation.
Piling effects plugins onto weak design. Strong layout, type and timing matter more than glows and particles.

How Learnr builds your course

Type your topic

Tell Learnr you want to learn After Effects, or get as specific as you like.

Get a personalized course

Learnr instantly builds a full After Effects course tailored to your goal and skill level.

Learn and level up

Move through bite-sized lessons and interactive practice, earning XP and keeping your streak.

After Effects questions, answered

Is After Effects a video editor?

Not really. It can play footage, but it is built for compositing and animation on short shots. Editing a full video is much faster in Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut Pro.

Do I need to know coding for After Effects expressions?

No. Many useful expressions are one line, such as wiggle or loopOut, and you can copy them in. Deeper expression work uses JavaScript, which helps later but is optional.

What is the difference between motion graphics and animation?

Motion graphics animates design elements like type, shapes and logos, often for explainers and ads. Animation is broader and includes character animation, which After Effects can do but other tools often handle better.