How to use Adobe After Effects templates(for dummys!)

Adobe After Effects(or as it will be refereed to in this tutorial, AE) is an extremely powerful video special effects tool. when you see, "special effects", a lot of you think, "too hard, takes to much time." well I'm here to show you how to make stunning compositions easily and quickly. all you have to use are templates. templates are basically pre composed adobe after effects project files that you drop any video or type in any text and it will look fantastic. here's an example.
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note: you will most likely need a somewhat new version of AE(CS3, CS4,CS5)

Step 1: First things first, get a template. you can find these many places, but a few sites i like are:
videohive.net
dropdrop.com
maxafter.com

Alternatively you can, "obtain" them. if you're VIP then check out my sig!

in this tutorial i will be using the template, "Business Showcase," from videohive.net

Step 2: download and install Red Giant trapcodes plugins.

many templates will require one or more trapcode plugins. it's a good idea just to install them all.
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again, you can also obtain these or from my thread in my sig

Step 3: Now it's time to get down to business. fire up AE and make sure you know where your project file is. (project file's are the templates. they almost always end in .aep)

Step 4:now it's time to select your template. go to file>Open Project and browse to wherever your template is.


if you get this error, just say ok.

Step 5: here comes the fun part. adding your videos and text. now, before you go any further, it'd be a good idea to go through the video and figure out what text and what video should go where. once your done with that, it's time to continue. as you open up the template, you'll be greeted to something like this.

this may seem overwhelming at first, but it's actually pretty simple. as you can see everything is color coded for maximum user friendliness. in the screenshot below, see how under the project tab near the top left, there's a folder that says, "01#INTRO." this corresponds to the layer in the time line titled, "01#CASE STUDIES INTRO."

see how both their layer tags are red? all of the layers and folders correspond like this.
Step 6: now it's really time to add videos and text. let's open up the first folder, "01#INTRO," by double clicking it.
you should see 5 files. 1 is the preview of the intro. if you double click on that, it should create a tab near the top of the timeline that says, "CASE STUDIES INTRO." now, you should quickly skip through this video to just see what placeholders you are going to be filling. in this instance there are 4.

i want you to double click on the first one that says,"LOGO PLACEHOLDER CASE STUDY" with the comment that says,"ENTER THIS COMP TO INSERT YOUR LOGO AND PROJECT TITLE" this should create another tab next to the one your in that says, "LOGO PLACEHOLDER CASE STUDY"

now all you gotta do is enter in your text where it says "your company presents" (it will usually say something along the lines of "your text here") double click on the text layer and type in your text. then just click off of the text layer onto another layer and you're done.
Step 7: ok i swear to god, in this step we WILL be adding in video
you can now exit out of the "LOGO PLACEHOLDER CASE STUDY" comp tab. lets go back into the case studies tab. now lets double click on "CASE STUDY 02" to open that comp

change the text to whatever you like. now it's time to import our video. go to file>import>file

find your file. then click "open"
your video file should now be highlighted somewhere in the "project" tab. drag this into the, "CASE STUDY 02" comp.

my video is to big for this comp so I need to size it down. do this by making sure you have the selection tool selected(the one in the top left) now zoom out of the comp a bit(by scrolling) and take the edges of the video so it fits into the slot. where the picture was. you can delete the picture afterwards.


now just repeat all the steps for all the other folders and layers and you'll have a kick ass video in no time

once you've finished with all that, you'll need to render the video out. for those of you who aren't familiar with video editing, this could take a long time. here's how to add it to the render Queue. select the original comp we were working with(CASE STUDIES SHOWCASE) then go to Composition>Add to render queue.

once your in the render queue click on "not yet specified" right next "output to" and choose where you want the video file. and you're done. happy editing.

if you run in to trouble or just need help, feel free to post here.