Motion Graphics Prerequisites

Motion graphics is the art of using digital software to build animated assets for various purposes. These assets range in complexity, with novice designers building simple animated shapes and title sequences and expert designers working on elaborate digital animations like computer-generated special effects. You might worry that motion graphics will be too hard to learn. This guide will help you understand the best methods for learning motion graphics and what you should study to make learning easier. This way, you’ll be successful however you choose to apply your new skills. 

What is Motion Graphics?

Motion graphics refers to the field of visual design concerned with digital animation and film editing. Here, students will learn the tools that will allow them to create animated images that can be layered onto Photoshop and Illustrator designs, giving motion to otherwise static images. Motion graphics training also serves as an entry into the world of film editing, as motion graphics classes will teach students how to use the tools that are used in the film and television industry to create special effects and post-production edits. Motion graphics tools create animated web assets, digital logos, responsive and interactive infographics, and other animated visual content.

Motion graphic artists use Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Cinema 4D to build animated designs and assets. Using these tools, motion design artists can produce vibrant animations that fully utilize the digital canvas. Motion design also relates closely to video editing, so motion graphics training will cover how creatives use digital tools to both cut and mix film clips. Additionally, the training covers how to edit those clips using tools to correct colors, use green screens, and replace cell phone displays. These skills will allow creatives to take static designs and enhance them with dynamic motion animations that give life to their visions.

Read more about what motion graphics is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Motion Graphics?

With motion graphics training, students will learn how to build dazzling graphic animations that add life to their creative projects. Using After Effects and Premiere Pro will give students the training to start working with complex, animated graphic designs, ranging from digital animations to animated logos and infographics. Using these tools will allow students to create elaborate animations that will take their graphic design projects to the next level. By learning how to render animations in Cinema 4D, creatives will be able to develop the skills necessary for entering into an in-demand career field.

Motion graphics is closely related to film editing, and learning these tools is ideal for anyone hoping to work in the digital side of the film and television industry. Special Effects Artists and Film Editors use motion graphics animation skills, particularly those working on effects-heavy content. Whether you hope to be part of a professional design team that brings fantastic scenarios and characters to life or just want to enhance your creative projects by adding animated assets and elements, learning motion graphics skills will help you achieve those goals. In addition, learning motion graphics skills will help students expand their creative toolkits and begin working on even more exciting projects.

Is Motion Graphics Easy to Learn?

Motion graphics can be challenging to learn, especially for students hoping to build complex animations. While experimenting with motion graphics tools won’t take much training, most motion graphics students will want to learn how to create significantly more complicated designs than the animated shapes and text blocks they will build at the start of their training. This means that motion graphics can take a chunk of time to learn and can be difficult, especially for students who don’t have prior design experience.

One way to make learning motion graphics easier is to enroll in a professional skills development course. For students interested in this option, Noble offers a wide variety of motion graphics classes for students interested in this option and makes them available through both in-person and online instruction.

What to Know Before Learning Motion Graphics

While there are no formal requirements for learning motion graphic design skills, there are a few things that new users may wish to brush up on before they dive into their motion graphics training. Students should have a familiarity with computer-aided design, they should understand different kinds of animated graphics, and they may wish to familiarize themselves with 2D design tools like Photoshop and Illustrator.

Computer Skills

Anyone interested in learning motion graphics skills should have a firm grasp of how to use a computer for basic design skills. Students will need to know how to navigate multiple files, folders, and programs simultaneously, so they should be familiar with how to navigate their own before enrolling in a course. In addition, students should be sure that their machines can run the various applications they plan to use.

Different Styles of Animations

Animation is a very diverse creative field, and it is used for a wide variety of different purposes across different industries. Animated digital advertisements will serve very different functions from television animation, which differs from realistic 3D animation. Aspiring Motion Graphics Designers should familiarize themselves with the various digital animation styles to better understand the kinds of projects they desire to complete.

Photoshop and Illustrator

While not strictly necessary, new motion graphic designers will often build simple animations out of layered Photoshop and Illustrator layouts. This means that knowing how to use these programs can be a significant boon. It won’t always be required (though some training courses may have it as a formal prerequisite), but learning additional design applications will be very helpful for students looking to ease their motion graphics training.

Students interested in learning more about these programs may wish to consider looking into the graphic design training courses offered through Noble,

Key Insights

• Motion graphics is the art of building animated digital assets using computer design software such as Adobe After Effects. There are no formal prerequisites to learning motion graphics applications, but there are a few things students may wish to learn before formal training.
• Since motion graphics is a computer-aided design skill, students should be comfortable using a computer and be sure that their hardware can run the necessary programs.
• Students should also familiarize themselves with different motion graphics animations to decide what type of training they wish to pursue.
• While not necessary, knowing other graphic design tools like Photoshop and Illustrator will be a great asset for new motion graphics students since many introductory animations use these programs and the programs are all closely integrated.
• Once students feel comfortable with these prerequisites and are ready to start learning motion graphics, they should review their options for in-person and online motion graphics training available through Noble Desktop.

Learn Motion Graphics with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Students looking to learn motion design skills should consider the hands-on training options available through Noble Desktop. Noble offers courses for experienced and novice designers covering specific skills like After Effects alongside more career-focused bootcamps like their Motion Graphics Certificate program. Available both in-person at Noble’s Manhattan campus and online, these courses are taught by experienced instructors who are there to help provide students with feedback and assistance on their designs. Even online, class sizes are small, ensuring that students won’t have to fight for their instructors' attention. Plus, all these courses offer a free retake option for students, letting them take the course again within one year. This gives students the chance to go back over skills they had difficulty with, attend missed lessons, or get more hands-on experience with motion graphics tools.

For students who have some design experience or who just want to learn a new tool to add to their creative toolkit, Noble offers several skills bootcamps designed to teach students how to use Adobe After Effects and Cinema 4D. These courses are designed to introduce novice users to the basic functions of these essential design tools. Students will learn how to build simple animated images and layer them onto Photoshop and Illustrator designs. Then, students seeking more training can take Noble’s After Effects Advanced course to learn how to composite video footage, animate shape and text layers, and learn practical chroma key skills. These courses don’t require knowledge of Illustrator and Photoshop, but some proficiency is very helpful. Students interested in receiving this background training should look at the graphic design courses offered through Noble.

Students seeking a more career-focused training course may wish to consider Noble’s Motion Graphics Certificate program. In this course, students will learn how to use Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Cinema 4D to create motion graphic designs and edit video clips. Students will get hands-on experience working on the kinds of creative projects they will work on when they enter the workforce. A part of their training will be a professionalization seminar designed to teach them how to get involved in the motion graphics and video editing industry. In addition, students will receive one-on-one career mentorship from Noble’s career professionals and dedicate substantial time to building a practical demo reel that students can bring onto the job market.

Students interested in learning more about these courses or looking into their other training opportunities should consider Noble's motion graphics design courses.