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#5 in Adobe After EffectsUdemyAdobe After EffectsPaid courseBeginner level

Adobe After Effects Templates for Beginners (Udemy.com)

Improve your videos with pre-made After Effects templates. No previous skill required to spice up your videos today!

4.4
882 reviews

Created by: Phil Ebiner

Last updated April 2024

Our take

Based on the ratings of 882 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in April 2024. No course pays to be reviewed.

This is a free, 54 minute crash course in doing one thing: opening somebody else's After Effects template, swapping in new text and footage, and rendering it out. Phil Ebiner is not trying to teach After Effects here. The syllabus shows nine lectures on navigating a template, three on exporting, and three bonus lessons on other template types like slideshows. It suits video creators and marketers who want a polished title or lower third without learning the whole program. Nearly 49,000 students have enrolled, and it was last updated in April 2024, which is now over two years back.

Reviewers praise the clarity most. A non-native English speaker says his delivery is easy to follow, and one student notes he explains why he does things rather than just which button to press. A couple report finishing real projects right after the course, and one calls the tip on sending compositions straight to Premiere Pro the biggest takeaway. Complaints are mild. One reviewer wanted the free lower-third template handed out at the start instead of in lecture 12, since not everyone can buy a Videohive template on day one. Another felt the pace could be quicker. About 6 percent of the 882 ratings are one or two stars.

The catch is that this is a course about templates, not about After Effects, and the templates themselves mostly cost money on sites like Videohive. The other courses on our After Effects page set out to teach the program itself. This one is the opposite: an hour, free, and narrow. Anyone who wants to actually animate should pick one of those. Anyone who just needs to drop a logo into a purchased intro by Friday will find this the quickest route we list.

Best forVideo creators and marketers who bought a Videohive template and just need to swap in their own text and logo.
Skip it ifYou want to learn After Effects itself or animate from scratch; the syllabus covers editing and exporting templates only.

Pros

  • Clear, plain-spoken teaching that a non-native English speaker says is easy to follow
  • Explains why each step matters, not just which button to press, according to reviewers
  • Includes a free titles template so there is something to practice on without buying anything
  • Shows how to send compositions straight to Premiere Pro, which one reviewer called the biggest takeaway

Cons

  • Only 54 minutes and 15 lectures, so it teaches templates, not After Effects
  • Most templates it points at cost money on Videohive, and the free one arrives late in the course
  • Last updated April 2024, and no certificate is offered
This really helped to get the basics of After Effects. I have now successfully made 2 projects using templates.
Franklin Aaron dela Cruz, a student

Genuinely for total beginners; the only requirement is any version of After Effects, even the free trial.

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What you will learn

  • Download After Effects templates from sites like Videohive.net and others
  • Open the After Effects project and know the layout of the application
  • Edit the template with your own content (text, photos, and more!)
  • Export (render) the project for using in other video projects or sharing

Course content

3 sections · 15 lectures · 55 min of video 1 article

  1. 1Using After Effects Templates 1 free preview9 lectures · 32 min
  2. 2Exporting After Effects Templates3 lectures · 9 min
  3. 3Bonus Lessons3 lectures · 15 min

Who it is for

The instructor says it suits

  • Anyone wanting to use After Effects without having to learn the entire application
  • Video creators wanting to improve their videos with motion graphic templates

What you need before you start

  • This is a beginner course for students with no experience
  • Students should have any version of After Effects to follow along (students can download a free trial version of After Effects from Adobe)

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Course Description

Have you ever wanted to make cool motion graphics or add professional titles and lower thirds to your videos? The truth is that you can do this with no experience. Many sites sell inexpensive After Effects templates that can really spice up your videos.

I've been professionally creating motion graphics for years. But sometimes, it's easier to just use a template that someone else has created. Why spend hours re-creating something that is already out there? Yet editing these templates can be daunting if you've never opened After Effects before. This course is for you.

What will you be able to do after taking this course?

  • Open an After Effects project and navigate the program
  • Edit and customize templates with your own text, photos, video, and graphics
  • Export the template to use in other video projects or for immediate online sharing

This course includes:

  • A step-by-step video guide to working with After Effects templates
  • A free video titles template to use in this course and for your own projects
  • Bonus tutorials that show how to edit a variety of templates including slideshows
  • A teacher that is always available to help! Just send me a message!

If you're ready to improve your videos, enroll now! You will be editing After Effects templates in under an hour!
Read More Beginner Beginner Level product length iconTime: 54 mins

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Instructor Details

Phil Ebiner

I’m Phil Ebiner, an educator, photographer, filmmaker, and founder of Video School and Photography & Friends. Through my online courses and creative community, I’ve helped millions of students around the world learn practical skills in photography, video production, design, and more. My goal is to make creative skills feel accessible, useful, and encouraging, whether you’re picking up a camera for the first time or looking to take your work to the next level.

My teaching style is clear, supportive, and hands-on. I break complex topics into simple steps, explain the “why” behind each technique, and share real-world examples you can immediately apply. As a photographer and filmmaker, I believe great creative work is not just about gear or settings, but about storytelling, intention, observation, and connection. My goal is to help you feel confident, inspired, and capable of bringing your own creative ideas to life.


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Reviews

4.4

882 ratings on Udemy

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By Aderounmu Adewumi on 6/5/2026

just good so far

By Alexander Davidian on 4/4/2020

This was a good introduction to the AE workspace and its most important functions for people who need just the basics for the purposes of, for example, marketing videos, that just need a bit of flair, and not major graphics work. Clear and concise.

By Ashwini Poojary on 10/21/2019

It's a good tutorial for a beginner to start with, specifically for those who use template for there project because some time people find it difficult to deal with step to perform even if the project has instructions text file in it. For me, I find it useful as a beginner. Thank you.

By Ahmed Peter on 3/4/2018

Great! I was typically a newbie to After Effects and the experience throughout the course was awesome. I was able to purchase After Effect themes from Video hive and work on them.

By Francis Andre on 8/8/2017

This course suits someone like me, who have known one or two things about AF before very well. I learnt new tricks.

By Maria Jose Escrihuela Marcos on 7/21/2017

For a beginners course it is very interesting: right to the point and well explained. However, I didn't get to know if the tool itself provides some templates or not, or if there are free templates available, or the different types of templates. I know that it is possible to do this "titles" and a slideshow with pictures because you show them, but are there any type of, e.g., book/movie trailer templates? I did not understand if After Effects is just a software to compile videos and photos with some text (as Power Director or Movie Maker) or it is much more advanced. In my opinion, to get 5 stars, the course should introduce a little bit the tool and mention (if not show) the possible and diverse uses of it. Anyway, I enjoyed the course, so thank you very much Philip! =)

By Sabrina Colliard on 7/4/2017

The first part of the course it is a little bit too simple. I think the second and third part are really good, tho.

By akado Kumar on 12/24/2016

the course is good to have a general overview but is too fast for a Beginner with no experience in Design. it would be nice to have a short praxis together with Course leader in Course to settle down the knowledge. especially was good if we could have a free template for getting more praxis

By Jason P. Chambers on 10/29/2016

As an absolute beginner in After Effects (AE), I found this course to be highly useful. It provides everything you need to work with templates in AE. Is it a complete AE course from soup to nuts? Of course not, courses like that are justifiably many, many hours long. But does it give you what you need to find templates, work with templates, and render and export templates? Yes. Absolutely. So if you have access to templates and need to get something produced fast this course will absolutely point you in the right direction. It was well worth my time and money.

By Ylias Medbouhi on 8/9/2015

This short free course is a great introduction for everyone who wants to better understand how to use and edit After Effects Templates, mainly from VideoHive.net. If you just want to discover the very basics of AE, this course is for you! And Phil, the teacher, explains well :)

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Overall Score : 88 / 100

Adobe After Effects Templates for Beginners
Visit course on Udemy Write a review
  • Video Duration: icon 54 mins
  • Price: Free
  • Provider: icon Udemy
  • Updated: icon April 2024
  • Level: Beginner Beginner
  • Language: icon English
  • Certificate: icon No
  • Lectures:15 in 3 sections
  • Students:48,900
  • Subtitles:1 language

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