Next week, all the new gadgets announced at the NAB show will be grabbing our attention and asking for a look inside our wallets. However, it’s easy to miss many of the useful features we may already have in our current tools, which we either forgot about or may not be aware of to begin with. Therefore, next week we’ll be launching a new course on lynda.com: After Effects Hidden Gems Weekly.

Next week, all the new gadgets announced at the NAB show will be grabbing our attention and asking for a look inside our wallets. However, it’s easy to miss many of the useful features we may already have in our current tools, which we either forgot about or may not be aware of to begin with.

Therefore, next week we’ll be launching a new course on lynda.com: After Effects Hidden Gems Weekly. Each week we’ll be adding a new short movie that covers one of our favorite features, shortcuts, or techniques that we’ve found not all After Effects users may be aware of – such as when you really need to use otherwise obscure items like Set First Vertex (it determines how strokes and other effects draw on), or Alpha Add Mode (fixes the seam between alpha channels that just touch each other).

Each new movie is free to everyone – whether or not you’re a lynda.com subscriber – for a week after it’s posted. Then a new movie will be made available for free. All of the previously-released movies will remain available to lynda.com subscribers (and if you’re not already a subscriber, use the link lynda.com/go/ChrisAndTrish when you sign up to get your first 10 days free so you can try them out).

Most of the “gems” we’ll be sharing have been in After Effects for years, so the version of software you’re using won’t be that important. We’re aiming these at both the accomplished beginner looking to take their skills to the next level, as well as advanced users who might have missed out on an important trick. We don’t expect them all to be new to you, but we do think they’ll make you more productive overall. Below is the “welcome” video for the course, in case you want to get a better idea of what it’s going to be about: