Guide Layers - Adobe 12040118 - After Effects Standard Tutorial

Carl Larsen provides a video tutorial on the
of a set of wheels to the horizontal movement of a vehicle.
Carl Larsen provides a pair of video tutorials on the Creative COW website in which he explains the basics of parenting and then uses an
expression involving the toWorld method to trace the path of an animated child layer:
part 1
part 2
Robert Powers provides a video tutorial on the
a character.
Null object layers
To assign a parent layer, but keep that layer from being a visible element in your project, use a null object. A null object is an invisible layer that
has all the properties of a visible layer so that it can be a parent to any layer in the composition. Adjust and animate a null object as you would any
other layer. You use the same commands to modify settings for a null object that you use for a solid-color layer (Layer > Solid Settings).
You can apply Expression Controls effects to null objects and then use the null object as a control layer for effects and animations in other
layers. For example, when working with a camera or light layer, create a null object layer and use an expression to link the Point Of Interest
property of the camera or light to the Position property of the null layer. Then, you can animate the Point Of Interest property by moving the null
object. It is often easier to select and see a null object than it is to select and see the point of interest.
A composition can contain any number of null objects. A null object is visible only in the Composition and Layer panels and appears in the
Composition panel as a rectangular outline with layer handles. Effects are not visible on null objects.
To create a null object, select the Timeline or Composition panel and choose Layer > New > Null Object.
Note: The anchor point of a new null object layer appears in the upper-left corner of the layer, and the layer is anchored in the center of the
composition at its anchor point. Change the anchor point as you would for any other layer.
If a null object is visually distracting in your composition frame, consider dragging it out of the frame, onto the pasteboard.
Andrew Kramer provides a video tutorial on his
Guy Chen provides a simple project on the
arranged as a cube, controlled by a parent null layer.
Angie Taylor provides an extensive discussion and explanation of animation using parenting, expressions, and null object layers in a PDF excerpt
from her book Creative After Effects 7: Workflow Techniques for Animation, Visual Effects, and Motion

Guide layers

You can create guide layers from existing layers to use for reference in the Composition panel, to help you position and edit elements. For
example, you can use guide layers for visual reference, for audio timing, for timecode reference, or for storing comments to yourself.
A guide layer icon appears next to the name of a guide layer or its source in the Timeline panel.
By default, guide layers aren't rendered when you create output but can be rendered when desired by changing the render settings for the
composition.
Note: Guide layers in nested compositions can't be viewed in the containing composition.
To convert selected layers to guide layers, choose Layer > Guide Layer.
To render a composition with its visible guide layers, click Render Settings in the Render Queue panel, and choose Current Settings from the
Guide Layers menu in the Render Settings dialog box.
To render a composition without rendering guide layers, click Render Settings in the Render Queue panel, and choose All Off from the Guide
Layers menu in the Render Settings dialog box.
Use Brainstorm to experiment and explore settings
Brainstorm creates multiple temporary variants of your composition and displays them in a grid. You can save any number of these variants, apply
one to the current composition, or redo the Brainstorm operation using only the variants that you choose as input.
Brainstorm uses genetic algorithms to mutate and select property values used as input into each Brainstorm operation. You decide which variants
to include as input to each generation and how much mutation (randomness) to use.
Aharon Rabinowitz provides a video tutorial on the
Creative COW website that demonstrates how to use expressions and parenting to relate the rotation
Slippery Rock NYC website
Video Copilot website that demonstrates the use of a null object to animate a 3D stroke.
After Effects Exchange on the Adobe website that demonstrates the animation of several 3D layers
Creative COW website
that demonstrates the use of parenting and the Puppet tools to animate
Graphics.
that demonstrates the use of Brainstorm.
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