All About Keyframes & The Graph Editor - An Adobe After Effects Tutorial

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WARNING! This is way too much about the nitty gritty of keyframing in after effects. I honestly got bared by MYSELF on this one. It's too much. I open up parts of this thing that you may have never ever seen and may hope to never see again. If you have a weak constitution or other things to do for 20 minutes turn back now.
I'm super sorry, the next one will be better I promise.
The subjects covered here:
Keyframes - what kids are they? What are those wacky things? Where did I leave my kids? Oh it was the park, they are now feral wolf kids.
The Graph Editor - I love editing video I'll love editing graphs? Oh no I don't! It was terrible.
If this stuff confuses you just let me know in the comments. Or don't. I might be happier without know that I can't explain things for poops. Either way hit me up with your Qs and I'll try to A them in the A.
Connect with me on the internet?
EvanAbrams.com
ecabrams

[@smeyer3]

Your mouth sound effects were an essential part of me understanding the tutorial. Thanks for this. This is great.

[@ECAbrams]

most folks don't talk about them because it's not an explosion or anything remotely exciting. But it is fundamental to using Ae. Glad you find it helpful.

[@ECAbrams]

It's a layer that supplies alpha (transparency) information to the layer below it. So the layer asks the track matte "what pixels are see through and how see through are they" and the track matte says "have a look at me and do like I do". That's about it.

[@ECAbrams]

Well you are very welcome. New stuff every week around here. Glad you like it and stick around for more :)

[@ECAbrams]

In the shots you see here it's my trust ol canon 35mm f2.0. A lovely mid range lens that coems out to about 50mm prime on the crop sensor. I have an old kit lens I use some times and I usually rent the L-series or "borrow" them as I need them for jobs.

[@NickOliver313]

5 years later and this is still one of the best explanations of the art of graph-based keyframing.

[@ECAbrams]

I recommend always starting with a goal and working out from there. What do you want to make with the tool?

[@AthaAillah]

The tutorial is 19 mins which i usually skip but youre so good at talking i enjoyed the whole 19 mins

[@ECAbrams]

Right on. I have a tutorial on here called Animating Flourishes that might be just what you need for that. It uses masks to reveal vector artwork like the write-on effect but for more complex things like vines.

[@narihamek1]

Dude, I really like the way you do your tutorials. It never gets boring.

[@ECAbrams]

Well you are very welcome. Thanks for the kind comments.

[@JesseGilbert]

I'm digging the longer format. The way you describe things is quite perfect.

[@ECAbrams]

well thank you for thanking me. Stay tuned for more. New tutorials every week up in here.

[@ECAbrams]

With style! It's actually just a keyframed rectangle shape set to be the track matte of the thing below it. So long as we're talking about the thing at the end of the intro yes?

[@Jelantik85]

Great tutorial. It's not boring at all. You showed us how you can make an simple object like a circle and use the power of graph to make it very interesting animation. Keep up a good work. You are a very good teacher! I've enjoyed all your tutorial...

[@ECAbrams]

It's showing change over time. So it's showing speed. You can change what it shows in the view options in the graph.

[@ECAbrams]

Glad you like my stuff. I'll see what i can do about more "making this look good" stuff. They are usually the less technical of the tutorials.

[@GLASSHEAD]

"There's a pun in here, but I don't know about it." what a fucking UNIT.

[@ECAbrams]

have you exhausted the text animators in after effects already? What do you wish to do that they cannot?

[@RXChristie]

Oh my gosh - thank you so much for this video. I've been trying to edit/hack together something using your moving frames template I bought, and I had no idea how keyframes worked, so I would just make a million different keyframes, changing the dimension very very slightly, trying to control the speed/smoothness that way. This is much much easier. Also, you're hilarious and a great teacher! Thank you.

[@ECAbrams]

No worries; I do get like tens of dollars in ad revenue so I suppose it's not totally "free" but either way I'm glad you like the stuff. :)

[@ECAbrams]

I'll see what I can do. Thanks for your support!

[@tabishamjad1720]

Love your custom sound effects you got going on during animation previews XD

[@ECAbrams]

I think it was just something from a stock song site. I want to say it was called "french ragtime" and can be found on istock.com or Audio Jungle. I can't recall which.

[@garrysantos]

Wow, this is still helping out, almost 5 years later! Thanks a lot!!

[@ECAbrams]

It's a classic I suppose. Though I feel a lot of the old stuff needs to be updated or at least recorded better.

[@ECAbrams]

Well just think of it like any old graph and you're using the pen tool to change the curves on the graph. And keyframes are points on the line. Both graphs, to me anyway, present the same level of difficulty. They're different but neither are ineffable.

[@ECAbrams]

There is a plugin that does exactly that. Not sure if it's worth a whole tutorial but maybe I can cook you up something.

[@wetflop9540]

This is so good, a person that is not even interested in editing can get excited from this video, thank you.

[@ECAbrams]

No worries. I might not get to things fast but I get to things eventually.

[@robertibeh]

this video was almost scary with the "graphs!" interjecting every so often.

[@HamzaFletcher]

Thanks so much Evan. I understand what you meant in the WARNING (Comment section) But this is perfect for Amateurs like myself who want to skim past all the super beginner tutorials on KZbin and move to something that's a fraction more complex. Love your videos. Really making a huge impact on my freelance work & career

[@crisisbliss2462]

Good tut. The Graph Editor is one of those areas that most of us try to avoid, the other being the animating the 3d camera without using null objects. Big Thanks for the this one.

[@PallaviChauhan91]

Mr. Evan, You are the Super Man of After Effects !! Really enjoying all of ur tutorials. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with rest of the world and making learning, fun ! God bless you. :)

[@ECAbrams]

Thanks for saying so. Hopefully it's helpful to get people making more interesting motion :)

[@ECAbrams]

My trusty Canon 60D. It's the lens that makes it worth while though. And the massive natural light source out my window.

[@i_youtube_]

Wow !! I have never seen anybody explains graph like this ! Amazing

[@ECAbrams]

webcams are all crap by design. If you want them to work well increase the amount of light in your room. As for how to put a video in the corner like picture in picture you can do it in premiere just as simple as putting a video layer above, scaling it and moving it.

[@ECAbrams]

I'm glad you like my stuff. What do you want to make and why do you need my permission to make it?

[@josherder6005]

Keep the boring stuff coming! Very useful, clearly explained, thanks!

[@AlleDageCripWalke]

i never sub to ppl but here ya go. this tutorial is so perfect. absolutely beautiful. your work is appreciated sir!

[@ZiusPlays]

must say you are the best AE online teacher!

[@GNParty]

I apologize for the spam of comments, but I have another request. Do you know how Tobscus and PewDiePie have their webcam footage in a corner of their game play videos? How do I add that effect and do you have any suggestions as to a purchasing a good webcam? (I only have a 800p 15fps integrated laptop webcam)

[@SchytexGraphics]

Very good tutorial :) Really helps people get to the bottom of things and understand AE much better. Just by right clicking a keyframe and selecting easy ease or whatever..it's kind of superficial. Only if you go into the graph editor you can really see what is going on. Thank you...really helped me :) Continue on with your great tutorials :)

[@jafarkay]

I did it, i did it!!. All i had to do was pre compose the circle and background layer and track matte the rectangle to it. GOD BLESS YOU MAN!!!!! THANKS!!!

[@sixamsedna]

man you're really teaching me a lot, and for free too - that's so awesome of you. Thanks

[@amrsrour1]

you are the best AE online teacher

[@ECAbrams]

No worries... I'm hoping "Perv"doesn't mean what I think it mean though.

[@alemieux3]

Very helpful. I needed to understand Hold keyframes, and now I get it.

[@BlueMaroonAnimations]

I don't have handles on my keyframes, how do I get those to show up so I can edit the curves?

[@ECAbrams]

You will need to ease your keyframes, or convert them to something that isn't linear.

[@BlueMaroonAnimations]

ECAbrams okay thank you :)

[@shwkmarcosu]

Very helpful to understand how the graphic editor works. Thank you for this awesome video. Thumbs up!

[@ECAbrams]

Glad you like the tutorials if you ever have questions just tweet at me. And hey, if the world ends maybe there is an afterlife and we'll all drink mean in Valhalla... provided I get that viking funeral I specifically put in my will.

[@TheHonchoofAllSpearheads]

Thanks my life savior! :o Now I finally overcame the problem where all of the curves show up in the graph editor and they accumulate at one point, making it so hard for me to only adjust one curve. It's because "show animated properties" is checked. :*

[@ahmadollahdash]

good work man this is what i was looking for in the universe i am your apprentice for the afterlife and lets just subscribe for now

[@TheElectricFlamingos]

Thanks for the tutorial, man! It's fast paced, informative, and easy to understand.

[@jkirsh2857]

how did you make the ending part? With the multiple dots coming up and some eating away at the bigger circle. and the line cutting the circle in half?

[@fiora96]

DUDE I was w8ing for video like this like ... 1 year!!!!!! THX Bro ur the BEST!

[@ECAbrams]

no worries. enjoy.

[@savinomarinelliblock]

best tut of them all, you should do more of this topic! keep it up. (maybe a scuash and strech? or not) keep it up

[@ECAbrams]

Thanks man. Glad you like it.

[@Najobajo]

YOU ARE AMAZING! Thank you, thank you, thank you! For being as animated as your animations. Kept me interested all the through. Great tutorial as well lol!!

[@jesperjee]

When you say "snap" the graph to the view" I don´t know what you´re doing. And if I try to copy the settings you have it doesn´t look the same at all. Very confusing.

[@ECAbrams]

+Mr Jee sorry, when do I say that? Those do sounds like strange things to say.

[@yevhenohnarov]

One of the best and fun tuts for AE I saw, thank you a lot :)

[@ECAbrams]

Bad news, end of the world did happen. But in good news we all just moved to another one like in that show sliders. Thankfully in this new world I have some more time on my hands so after Christmas holidays I'll be back to making tutorials!

[@Pawelos]

It is hard to watch with white layount.

[@ECAbrams]

a couple gradients, blending modes, and I think that was it.

[@kiiturii]

best tutorial ive seen so far

[@nixland]

Thanks a lot for all your tutorial in youtube. I just jump in to After Effect and they help me a lot ... and your style is so very cool Sir ... :)

[@ismadelencanto]

FINALLY someone who can explain this that even a 5 years old child can get it. Thanks a lot.

[@ECAbrams]

you are very welcome. Congratulations.

[@o1shi]

Thank you for explaining this thoroughly!

[@DuckysfMamba]

Best guides every, you did such a great job ! Finally came across a tutorial that makes me concentrate every second, this is exactly things that i am searching for. Thank you =)

[@Dinklepuff]

Just curious, are there any good tutorials on youtube on manipulating a layer's properties using audio? Like a visualizer with the little multi-colored bars.

[@boya2monkae]

The graphs really intimidate me. I’ve always been terrible at maths so having to touch them in AE made me worry. This video has helped me understand a lot more, maybe one day I’ll be able to semi-master them.

[@ECAbrams]

Once you get to know it better, it's really very friendly.

[@manfromanotherland]

Thank you so much, now I understand a tiny bit of AE! Cheers! BTW, would be cool if you show the keystrokes in the corner, like fill, or move the timeline, etc…

[@ECAbrams]

hey no, the magic was in you all along :)

[@syncgg54]

hi im editing particle streaks , ive made the keyframes easy ease and in the graph editor i can tune position z the way i want but position x,y are locked together and when i click keyframes it dosent give me handles , i also cant press seprate dimensions?? please help thanks

[@jameswilkinson150]

Thanks for this tutorial. I'm totally new to After effects and I found it pretty confusing. Thanks for the help.

[@hackslash666]

I'm quite familiar with graph in maya, but when I tried it in aftereffects, I found it very hard to navigate and manipulate the curve and I stopped bothering about the curves in ae, i used keyframe assistants instead and did animations using keys only, I wonder if I didn't understand the way to use graph editor in ae or is it just kind of hard to use it than in maya??

[@MrPotatoMadness]

Excelent tutorial on explaining graphs. Thumbs up!

[@nickbeef]

cool, thanks. I actually asked that question before getting to the end of the video. For any one else wondering, he explains how he made the background at the very end of the video.

[@kuunami]

I was working with the graph editor the other day and all I could thing was, damn I wish it was a good as the Cinema 4d Graph editor.

[@skalaK19]

...i think there is no need for that viking party of yours,i would be there 4 sure! :D But EC,there is no reason to stop drinking and making great tutorials! Hope to see one shortly,it could be one about the end of the world...or not the end of it :D Still alive,love from slovenia.

[@inkstatic_art]

Finally - key frames and graphs make sense. How can I put money directly in your hand for changing my life?

[@ECAbrams]

Oh you want to use some of my video. That's a different question altogether. Shoot me an email to info [at] evanabrams [dot] com and we can talk about it.

[@EliFleming]

{GRAPHS!} Great tutorial, as always. Keep 'em coming, please.

[@kennykatz]

Awesome tutorial! What song did you use for your introduction?

[@levitys123]

I love your sound effects lol They oddly... Make sense.

[@Dinklepuff]

Great stuff, fellow Evan! Do you know of a good place to start? I've messed around enough with the interface, but I don't know any hotkeys, tools, effects, etc.

[@Weesamee]

This was very instructive, and the mouth sound effects...AAAAAAAAAAWESOOOOME!! beew weew wew wew :D Thanks for your amazing videos. Keep up the awesome work :)

[@vegardkjsnes5974]

How do you make the coordinate system with the x - and y - axis? I am using the grid-effect, but are not able to make the Arrows.

[@FlavioTrillo]

@ECAbrams Yay! The edge of my seat is thoroughly being hung upon!

[@samanthayang7470]

Thanks for this. Very educational and entertaining!

[@nickbeef]

maybe a silly question, but how did you get that 3 color gradient background?

[@appolity]

It really helps with Maya graphs as well. Thanks!

[@Dinklepuff]

I'm not quite sure, I work a lot with vectors in photoshop, and know nearly every hotkey in that, if the two programs are similar. I was thinking a simple growing vine type deal?

[@CamiloMonsalve]

Very interesting, thank you. ¿What is the shortcuts to move the layer 1 keyframe in the timeline?

[@ECAbrams]

It's going to depend on your keyboard. I would recommend checking the adobe help file for that one. Depending on the keyboard language I believe it can be different. But there is a lovely keybinding menu in the preferences these days.

[@elmaroloco]

Hey dude, I love the way how you talk and explain. It's so funny! Keep that :)

[@FlavioTrillo]

Thanks for a great intro to graphs!

[@hackslash666]

Thanks ECA, well, in case of properties like position, rotation, scale and other attributes I can understand the graph but in case of mask path animation, I'm confused about what the graph's showing, I wonder if you could enlighten me some more on this matter. :)

[@ahernandez5730]

What if my bezier handles arent showing up? how can I make them show?