After Effects CC is powerful, versatile, and complex. But if you need to learn it for the first time, it helps to break down the program into its very basics. This course is designed to help absolute beginners understand the fundamental concepts and techniques that make After Effects the flagship motion graphics and compositing application—without bogging you down with too many options or theories. In the first chapter, instructor Mark Christiansen shows the simplest way to guide a shot from start to finish through the program, working with its most popular features: the Timeline, layers, keyframes, effects, and the Render Queue. The second chapter features a short motion project that shows how all the tools come together in a real-world workflow. Start here to learn everything you need to get up and running with After Effects CC 2017.