[marc davis] "i am a newb and what you said sounded french to me lol."
If that's the case, here's the Awful Truth about AE: you can
NOT try to use it intuitively. You can
NOT jump into the deep end of the pool. You can
NOT assume that if you know other software, your knowledge will transfer to AE.
AE is its own animal.
You really, truly do need to begin at the beginning, or AE's gonna hurt you. And here's a good place to start:
http://blogs.adobe.com/toddkopriva/2010/01/getting-started-with-after-eff.h...
If you know other video production software, learning the basics will take less time than a total neophyte. But you have to learn the basics; you blow them off at your peril. If you DO learn the basics, you'll discover that AE is an incredibly rich and versatile application.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA