Become an Adobe Certified Professional in

Visual Effects & Motion Graphics Using Adobe After Effects

Validate your knowledge of Adobe After Effects, the industry-standard animation and creative compositing app that lets you take any idea and make it move.

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After Effects Exam Guide

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Exam guide

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The After Effects exam guide.

The exam objectives are outlined below alongside relevant resources. All key items are examples of exam topics and do not comprise a comprehensive list.

This guide is based on the 2025 version of Visual Effects & Motion Graphics Using Adobe After Effects.
For 2018-2020 versions of the exam objectives, please visit Certiport.

1. Working in the Visual Effects and Motion Graphics Industry

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This objective covers critical concepts related to working with colleagues and clients, as well as crucial legal, technical, and design- related knowledge.

1.1 Identify terminology and interpret communication relating to purpose, clients, and audience needs for preparing visual effects and motion graphics projects.

a. Determine whether content is relevant to the purpose, audience, and audience needs.
Key Terms: client goals, target audience, demographics
b. Identify requirements based on how the project will be delivered, distributed, and/or consumed.
Key Terms: File sharing, compression, codec, input and output file formats, aspect ratio

c. Demonstrate and apply knowledge of accessibility standards and best practices for motion design or graphics content.
Key Concepts: legible text overlays, proper color contrast, sensory triggers and motion sensitivity, designing for color blindness, contrast and color accessibility, visual spacing and readability, text sizing and font accessibility
d. Demonstrate techniques for creating assets and projects based on communication from clients and colleagues.
Key Terms: Pre-production, planning, shot list, script writing, storyboarding, design compositions or sketches, style guides, and animatics, creative brief, mood board

e. Demonstrate basic project management concepts.
Key Terms: Scope and sequence, setup, meeting deadlines and budgets, tech sheet

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Resources & Tutorials

How to make a video commercial people won’t skip

Choosing the right video format.

About video and audio encoding and compression

The best audio format types for audiophiles

Web Accessibility: Captions/Subtitles

Animated video production: a step-by-step guide

An overview of video production

Project Management Basics

1.2 Assess intellectual property rights, permissions, and licensing required to use specific content.

a. Determine legal and ethical considerations for using third-party content.
Key Terms: Usage rights, copyright, intellectual property, derivative work, commercial use policies, attribution, work for hire, fair use, fair dealing, remixing, AI-generated content
b. Determine when and how to obtain permission to use images, audio, or video.
Key Terms: talent release, rights, permissions, licensing, attribution, public spaces, releases
Key Concepts: permission to use an image is separate from permission to use a person’s face or a restricted location, etc.

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Resources & Tutorials

Intellectual Property

About CC Licenses

What’s a model release, and when do you need one?

1.3 Demonstrate an understanding of terminology and knowledge of motion design and graphics principles.

a. Demonstrate knowledge of motion design, visual effects, and graphics terminology.
Key Terms: frame rate, title/action safe zones (areas), frame size, file formats, video codecs, pixels, rendering, effects, waveforms, audio syncing, keyframing, bit depth, color spaces, lighting, working in 3D space, rotoscoping, masking, blending modes, compositing
b. Demonstrate knowledge of the twelve principles of animation.
Key Terms: easing, squashing, stretching, anticipation, staging, straight-ahead action and pose-to-pose, follow through and overlapping action, slow in and slow out, arc, secondary action, timing, exaggeration, solid drawing, appeal.

c. Define principles of film form terms.
Key Terms: aspect ratio, rule of thirds, foreground, background, tone, contrast, cropping, depth of field, field of view, match moving, etc.
d. Identify principles of art and elements of design.
Key Terms: space, line, shape, form, color, texture, emphasis/focal point, unity/harmony, variety, balance, alignment, proximity, repetition, rhythm, scale, movement, negative space, gestalt, depth, etc.

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Resources & Tutorials

The Beginner’s Guide to Color Management with Adobe Creative Cloud Apps

Learn From the Pros | Using Blending Modes with School of Motion

Animate reality with rotoscoping

Adding Motion to Your Toolkit: The Basics of Motion Design

2. Project Setup and Interface

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This objective covers the interface setup and program settings.

2.1 Create and modify projects and compositions.2.1 Create and modify projects and compositions.

a. Modify project settings for performance and playback.
Key Settings: Video Rendering and Effects (GPU)
b. Create and modify compositions to match the delivery requirements.
Key Concepts: frame rate, frame size, resolution, duration, pixel aspect ratio, presets, adjusting the work area, background color, naming compositions, composition from footage

c. Configure application preferences.
Key Settings: Appearance, Auto-Save, Grids & Guides, Media & Disk Cache, Memory, Previews, etc.

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Resources & Tutorials

Planning and setup

Projects

After Effects Composition basics

2.2 Navigate, organize, and customize the application using design tools.

a. Identify, navigate, and manipulate elements of the After Effects interface.
Key Concepts: menus, toolbars, panels, navigating, magnifying the composition, searching within panels, etc.
Key Panels: Project panel, Timeline panel, Composition panel, Preview panel, Effects & Presets panel, Effect Controls panel, Layer panel, Properties panel
b. Customize and manage workspaces.
Key Concepts: using/switching workspaces; showing, hiding, grouping, and docking panels; Workspace menu; assigning shortcuts; customizing, saving, and resetting workspaces; non-visible design tools

c. Controlling and working with the timeline and media.
Key Concepts: panning, zooming in to frame level, playing, pausing, keyboard shortcuts, timecodes, current time indicator (playhead), Work Area Bar, Preview Render indicator
d. Use markers.
Key Concepts: composition (timeline) and layer (clip) markers, comp marker bin, keyboard shortcuts

e. Use guides and grids.
Key Concepts: Title/Action Safe; Proportional Grid; adding, removing, locking, and unlocking guides; changing grid and guide color; hiding and showing grid and guides; using snap or align options; rulers
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Resources & Tutorials

Get to know the After Effects interface

Learn From the Pros: Getting Started - The After Effects Interface

Create and customize workspaces

Learn From the Pros: Timeline Tips with School of Motion

Keyboard shortcuts in After Effects

Layer markers and composition markers

3. Organizing Compositions

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This objective covers layers, managing composition structure, and importing assets.

3.1 Import assets into a project.

a. Import media from various sources.
Key Concepts: compatible files, importing layers from Photoshop (.psd) and Illustrator (.ai) files, offline media, dragging and dropping, image sequences
b. Manage assets in an After Effects project.
Key Concepts: finding, importing, replacing, relinking, reloading, interpreting, renaming, and deleting footage; organizing assets using folders; placeholders; metadata

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Resources & Tutorials

Elemental Motion: Turn Photoshop layers into After Effects animations

Organize your project assets

About imported files and footage items

Working with footage items

Organize, relink, and replace assets

3.2 Manage layers.

a. Identify and differentiate types of layers in the Timeline panel.
Key Layer Types: footage, text, solid, shape, camera, adjustment, light, null object, audio, content-aware fill, and pre-comp
b. Use the Timeline panel to manage layers.
Key Concepts: quality and sampling; adding, deleting, locking, unlocking, renaming, and reordering layers; managing labels; using switches and modes: shy, render order, motion blur, continuous rasterize, blending modes, track matte; mute and solo; synchronizing/aligning audio with visual effects

c. Adjust the visibility of a layer.
Key Concepts: hiding and showing layers, opacity
d. Connect and combine layers by nesting, parenting, or linking.
Key Concepts: pre-composing and nesting, parenting, null objects

e. Modify anchor points for animation.
Key Concepts: Pan Behind (Anchor Point) tool, adjusting anchor point coordinates

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Resources & Tutorials

Layer foundations course

Creating layers

Selecting and arranging layers

Learn From the Pros: The Basics of Parenting and Null Objects

4. Creating and Modifying Visual Elements

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This objective covers core tools and functionality of the application, as well as tools that affect the visual appearance of composition elements.

4.1 Use core tools and features to create content.

a. Place and create visual elements.
Key Concepts: solids, shape layers, and shapes from vector layers, asset placement, temporal (timeline) position, spatial (coordinates) position, layer stacking order, Content-Aware Fill
Key Tools: Shape, Pen (add, delete, and convert vertex points)
b. Modify layers using opacity, track mattes, and masks.
Key Concepts: layer masks, track mattes, mask interpolation, copy and paste, path, expansion, feathering, adding, and subtracting

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Resources & Tutorials

Creating shapes

Learn from the Pros: Using the Pen Tool and Paths with Notian Sans

Create masks

Repair video

Alpha channels, masks, and mattes

Find more Trainings and resources for similar topics on helpx.adobe.com or at the Adobe Education Exchange

4.2 Create and manipulate text.

a. Create text in a composition.
Key Concepts: point text, paragraph text, text on a path
Key Tools and Panels: Type tool, Character panel, Paragraph panel, Properties panel
b. Adjust character and paragraph settings.
Key Settings: font, Adobe Fonts, size, style, kerning, tracking, leading, horizontal and vertical scale, subscript and superscript, alignment, indentation (e.g. Indent left margin, etc.), paragraph spacing, and right-to-left text direction

c. Create motion graphics templates.
Key Concepts: creating MOGRTs without expressions, supported properties in the Essential Graphics panel, name and export

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Resources & Tutorials

Creating and editing text layers

Create and animate text

Learn From the Pros: Text Animation Basics with Sergei Prokhnevskiy

4.3 Prepare footage for compositing and animation.

a. Adjust layers in the Timeline.
Key Concepts: moving, sequencing, trimming, and splitting layers; setting In and Out points in the Footage panel
b. Transform visual elements in the composition.
Key Terms: scaling, rotating, flipping, moving, fitting to, etc.

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Resources & Tutorials

Layer properties

Learn from the Pros: Using Time Stretching with Notian Sans

Time-stretching and time-remapping

4.4 Manipulate layers, assets, and video.

a. Use tracking and stabilizing methods and tools.
Key Tools: Tracker panel
Key Concepts: stabilization, warp stabilizer, stabilize motion
b. Change the speed of a layer.
Key Concepts: time remapping, time stretching, creating freeze frames. changing speed, time reverse

c. Enable 3D space to modify composition elements.
Key Concepts: X, Y, and Z axes; two-dimensional objects in three-dimensional space; 2.5D techniques for depth between layers and X, Y, Z, rotation
Key Tools: Select View Layout, Timeline panel, 3D Layer Switch (Enable 3D), cursor tools (3D Transform Gizmo)

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Resources & Tutorials

Adjust for shaky camerawork

Position 2D layers in 3D space

4.5 Add and modify effects and presets.

a. Apply and adjust an effect or preset to one or multiple layers.
Key Concepts: adding and adjusting video effect properties in the Effect Controls panel and timeline, adjustment layers

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Resources & Tutorials

Effects and animation presets overview

5. Animating Visual Elements

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This objective covers animating visual elements using various techniques, including key frames, effects, expressions, masks, and Text Animators.

5.1 Apply keyframes for animation.

a. Apply and modify keyframes.
Key Concepts: Keyframing transform properties (position, scale, rotation, opacity, anchor points); Linear, Bezier, and Hold keyframes; copying, pasting, and reversing keyframes
Key Tools: Timeline panel, Properties panel, Transform controls, motion path, keyboard shortcuts, Auto-keyframing (Puppet tool, Wiggler panel, and Motion Sketch)
b. Use keyframe interpolation for motion.
Key Concepts: Spatial and temporal interpolation, Easy Ease, Easy Ease In, Easy Ease Out
Key Tools: Graph Editor (Speed Graph & Value Graph), Separate Dimensions, Constrain Proportions, Motion Blur

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Resources & Tutorials

5.2 Animate using effects and visual techniques.

a. Apply and animate effects using keyframes.
Key Concepts: Keyframing effect properties
Key Panels: Effect Controls, Timeline, Properties, Effects & Presets
b. Use expressions for animation.
Key Concepts: Wiggle, linking properties with Pick Whip, loop expressions for repeated motion
Key Tools: Expression Editor, Expressions (wiggle and loop)

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Resources & Tutorials

Animation essentials course

Learn From the Pros: Basic Keyframe Types with Sergei Prokhnevskiy

How to Make Space Aliens Invade in After Effects

5.3 Animate using mask paths.

a. Animate and modify masks.
Key Concepts: Keyframing mask paths, feathering, expansion, opacity animations, tracking masks
Key Tools: Mask Path property, Mask Feather tool, Mask Expansion controls
b. Animate track mattes.
Key Concepts: Luma and Alpha mattes, inverting mattes

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Resources & Tutorials

Learn From the Pros: Using Track Mattes with School of Motion

Alpha channels, masks, and mattes

5.4 Animate text.

a. Create and modify text animations.
Key Concepts: Text animation presets, animating text on a path
Key Tools: Text Animators (position, fill color, tracking), Text Animator properties (Based On, Shape)

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Resources & Tutorials

How to Make a Write-On Effect in After Effects

Learn From the Pros: Text Animation Basics with Sergei Prokhnevskiy

6. Publishing Digital Media

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This objective covers saving and exporting compositions or specific assets in multiple formats.

6.1 Prepare a composition for publishing and archiving.

a. Check a composition for errors and verify specifications.
Key Concepts: hidden layers, animation timing, audio levels, resolution, title safe area, frame rate, work area, frame size
b. Archive a project.
Key Concepts: Dependencies, find missing files, fonts, file names, file locations
Key Tool: Collect Files

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Resources & Tutorials

Working with After Effects and other applications

6.2 Export media to various file formats.

a. Export frames.
Key Concepts: exporting one or multiple frames, file formats, file sequences, file names, export locations, layered Photoshop files
b. Export a composition.
Key Concepts: file formats, video codecs, file locations, exporting for more than one target screen size or playback device, exporting in multiple formats, exporting using presets, exporting with an alpha channel
Key Tools: Render Queue, Adobe Media Encoder

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Resources & Tutorials