After Effects Training for Veterans

Are you a veteran returning to civilian life or a member of a veteran’s family aiming to avail yourself of entitlements and benefits? This article is designed to help you navigate your options for taking advantage of these services to enter into a professional skills training program and learn the After Effects skills you’ve always wanted to learn. After Effects has become the industry-standard for creating motion graphics. This application is used in many different industries, including film and television, video games, advertising, and website content. 

What is After Effects?

Adobe After Effects is a motion graphics application used to design and create special effects. This Academy Award-winning program has been a favorite of film, television, and internet creators since its creation in the early 1990s. Whether you are a small business looking to make eye-catching advertisements and commercials or an employee of one of the top animation studios, After Effect offers a way to bring your imagination to life. When combined with the other programs of the Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe After Effects is a great way to make sure a video project stands out from the crowd.

Read more about what After Effects is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with After Effects Skills?

After Effects is a motion graphics and special effects software that allows you to animate texts and objects, use greenscreens to add or subtract objects and elements and develop unique transitions to your visual media creations. Users can create their original graphics using Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator or redesign one of the many available templates to create their vision. When users combine the editing power of After Effects with the capacities of Cinema 4D Lite included with every subscription, these artists can add new textures and dimensions to their visual media. Beyond the incredible toolkit offered within the After Effects program, this application is also compatible with many other tools.

Support for Veterans

Every year, thousands of active-duty service members leave the military and become veterans. In order to help these veterans transition to civilian life, the U.S. government provides them with extensive educational benefits. Southern Nazarene University explains why such benefits are necessary. It says, “Many veterans find that the skills they learned in the military go unrecognized in the civilian world. You might have managed a large group of soldiers, mastered the art of strategic planning, communicated in a wide range of high-stress circumstances, and learned never to lose your cool. Research consistently shows that veterans think civilian managers will recognize these skills. Too often, though, they don’t. Especially if you seek a job in which few or no employees have a military background. The people in charge of hiring are unlikely to recognize what you know and where you’ve been.” By getting an education, veterans are able to overcome some of these obstacles.

The GI Bill provides educational benefits for veterans. The original GI Bill was enacted after World War II and has been updated several times since then. The most recent GI bill is the Post-9/11 GI Bill, signed in 2008. Under that Bill, eligible veterans can receive several educational benefits, including money for tuition, books, and living expenses. The amount of these benefits depends on how long a veteran served and what type of school they plan to attend. Some benefits can also be transferred to a spouse or children. The Forever GI Bill, signed in 2017, improved or expanded on some of the benefits of the 2008 bill.

A large number of veterans take advantage of the educational benefits provided by the GI Bill. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, since 2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs has distributed more than $12 billion in benefits, which has gone to more than 800,000 veterans and their families.

The Institute for Veterans and Military Families reports that research shows that veterans typically do very well in school. It explains, “Student veterans are uniquely positioned for academic achievement and success due to their military training, personal characteristics, work ethic, and steadfast commitment.” In fact, it says that veterans often get better grades than their peers.

In addition to the GI Bill, some veterans are eligible for other types of educational assistance. For instance, the Veteran Employment Through Technology Education Courses (VET TEC) program helps veterans get training in technical skills such as computer programming and data processing. Most states also have programs that offer education benefits for veterans. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website has links for each state Department of Veterans Affairs website.

Veterans who want to learn After Effects can find a number of After Effects class options for veterans through Noble Desktop, including the Motion Graphics Certificate and the Video Editing & Motion Graphics Certificate. Note that VA-supported programs are for in-person participants only. Noble runs in-person classes at its New York City facility, which is located close to major transportation hubs.

Why Learn After Effects

After Effects is used in many different industries, including advertising, web design, video gaming, and film and television, so knowing how to use this application can open the door to a variety of job opportunities. Research also shows that this is likely to be a stable job field in the future. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics provides information about the job outlook in the next ten years for many different professions, including Special Effects Artists and Animators. It reports that for designers in this category, employment will grow about 5 percent between 2021 and 2031, which is about as fast as the average.

Create Visual Effects 

One of the most common uses of After Effects is to create visual effects. This application gives designers a wide range of creative freedom to manipulate videos after production. For instance, After Effects can be used to put text into a scene, blur out specific areas of a video, retime a video, add weather effects, or manipulate light levels. These are just a few examples of the many different visual effects possible with this application.

Design Animated Typography or Create Title Sequences

In recent years, more and more designers have started using animated text– kinetic typography–as part of their videos, websites, social media pages, and advertising campaigns. Compared to static text, the animated text is more likely to capture and hold viewers’ attention. This type of text can be created in After Effects.

After Effects is also used to create title sequences, which are used in film and television. Title sequences show viewers the title of the movie or television show and the names of all the people involved in creating it. These title sequences are often created with After Effects. The application lets designers use a range of different effects to create exciting and attention-getting sequences.

Craft Social Media Posts

Social media has become wildly popular all over the world. However, it has also become crowded, with millions of photos and hours of video posted daily. Using After Effects to create exciting content can be a great way to stand out from all other content. YouTube is one popular social media site where After Effects can be helpful. The most popular YouTube stars make millions of dollars a year by posting creative online content that attracts a lot of viewers.

Improve Your Mental Health by Being Creative

Designing animations, motion graphics, or working on visual effects involves a lot of creativity, and there is evidence that creativity reduces stress and anxiety and makes people feel happier overall. In addition to leading to many employment options, working with After Effects may be a way to improve well-being and mental health. For instance, in 2021, researchers conducted two studies to understand the connection between creativity and well-being better. They found that creativity can increase well-being and concluded “individuals can improve their subjective well-being by fostering and strengthening their creativity.” They even suggest that mental health professionals consider creative activities as therapy.

Why Choose a Skills Bootcamp?

Veterans who want to learn After Effects and other motion graphics skills will find a variety of course formats available to them. While a university education has traditionally been a popular way to learn, an increasing number of students are now opting for bootcamps or certificate programs instead. These shorter types of programs can be a much more effective way to learn new skills and are designed to get students ready to use their new skills in a new job immediately.

While comprehensive, a college degree requires four years of full-time study, costing tens of thousands of dollars. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the price of a four-year degree can range between $25,000 and $55,000 per year. It is the most expensive way to learn After Effects and other motion graphics skills.

As a result, many students are choosing bootcamps or certificate programs instead. These programs take around six months or less to complete, often costing $10,000 or less. Noble Desktop offers several bootcamps and certificate programs, including After Effects training. For example, the Motion Graphics Certificate covers After Effects, in addition to a number of other skills and programs used in the field of motion graphics. It takes less than six months to finish. Noble’s After Effects Bootcamp takes students through basic and advanced motion graphics techniques and can be completed in weeks.

Not only are bootcamps and certificate programs cheaper and quicker to complete, but they usually offer career-focused skills training. In comparison, students with four-year degrees typically need to take several general education classes and courses focused on the skill they want to learn. Because they focus on the skills that veterans will need to work in their chosen field, bootcamps and certificate programs are popular with those who want to start a new career or move up within an existing one but don’t want to spend four years in school first.

According to Forbes Advisor, bootcamps can be an excellent choice for many people. It says, “There are many advantages to attending a bootcamp, especially if you’re seeking employment in the technology sector. Many notable employers like Google, Facebook, and Amazon now endorse bootcamps as a great way for employees to learn specific skills in an intensive, accelerated format. Some bootcamps even guarantee employment, or you can receive a refund on your tuition. Bootcamps cost less than traditional degrees as well.”

Learn After Effects at Noble Desktop

Are you looking for a training program to jump-start your After-Effects adventures? Noble Desktop, the creator of this tool, is known for its high-rated full and part-time bootcamps and certificate programs. Expert instructors set students up for long-term success through project-based learning and many opportunities for hands-on learning. Students living in or near New York City can easily commute to regularly offered in-person After Effects classes offered at Noble Desktop’s Manhattan campus. Want to avoid a long commute? Consider enrolling in one of Noble Desktop’s live online After Effects classes, where you can receive dynamic and interactive After Effects training from the comfort of your home or office!

Wondering which class format will help you cultivate your After Effects knowledge and skills? Consider your timetable and ultimate objectives. Students looking to use After Effects more casually or as an additional skill for an existing career may want to enroll in Noble Desktop’s After Effects in a Day or three-day After Effects Bootcamp. These classes save you time and money by balancing lectures with hands-on experience, maximizing retention, and setting you up for success. “Definitely recommend Noble Desktop overtaking a semester-long continuing education class at an expensive art school,” raved one reviewer, “This class practically covers techniques, and you can get started on your own after three days of intensive learning.” Worried that you couldn’t possibly retain everything you learn? Noble Desktop offers a free retake for all of its classes.

Students interested in a more dramatic career change or developing their portfolio and CV may want to enroll in the Motion Graphics Certificate or Video Editing & Motion Graphics Certificate programs. These training programs use hands-on experience and project-based training to teach students how to create original content using After Effects, Premiere Pro, and other Adobe Creative Cloud applications. Students also have several opportunities for one-on-one mentorship and receive a comprehensive step-by-step manual that ensures they have all the tools needed for long-term success. 

Key Insights

• Learning After Effects can give veterans access to many job options.
• After Effects is used in many different industries.
• The GI Bill and the Forever GI Bill provide veterans with money to cover the cost of college or training programs.
• After Effects can open the door to a wide range of job opportunities.
• Evidence shows that doing something creative, like designing motion graphics, can improve mental health and well-being.
• A bootcamp or certificate program takes less time and is more affordable than a four-year college degree.
• Veterans interested in motion graphics training will find a variety of options offered through Noble Desktop.