basic animation in After Effects
assignment 1
Create a short animation that includes:
- duration of the video: 4 and a half seconds
- ground: solid layer
- 3 shapes: circle, square, and star (3 separate shape layers)
- all shapes start and end movement at different times
- Star: shoot across from one side of the screen to another - become smaller and disappear (become very small).
- Circle: bounce at least 3 times, gradually become smaller, and disappear (become transparent)
- Square: Drop from the top while rotating and changing colors.
STEPS
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-103.jpg)
New composition.
Choose a background color.
ground
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-104.jpg)
Create a new Solid layer and choose a ground color.
The Solid will take up the whole screen.
Choose Anchor point tool.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-106.jpg)
Move the Anchor point down.
Hold Ctrl/Command to snap it to the point.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-107.jpg)
Resize the Solid as shown.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-108.jpg)
Rename the layer (right-click)
Lock the layer.
shooting star
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-110.jpg)
New Shape layer.
Draw a star. Use up or down arrow keys on your keyboard to add or remove points as you drag.
Choose colors for fill/stroke.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-109.jpg)
Move Anchor point to the star center (hold Ctrl/Command).
Rename the layer: star.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation, timeline](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-111.jpg)
Define the time span for your shooting star by dragging the ends of the blue bar in the timeline.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-112.jpg)
Move Time Indicator needle to the start of the animation.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-113.jpg)
In Transform menu (not Content):
Place the keyframes for Position and Scale.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-114.jpg)
Keyframes will be placed.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-115.jpg)
Place the Time Indicator needle at the end of the animation.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-116.jpg)
Move the star.
Use direction lines to create a nice curved Moving path.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-117.jpg)
Once you moved the star - a new keyframe is automatically generated in the timeline for Position property.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-118.jpg)
Stay on the same frame.
Change Scale property to 0.
A keyframe will be generated for this frame for Scale property.
Lock the layer.
circle
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-120.jpg)
Create a new Shape layer.
Rename it "circle".
At this point you can hide the "star" layer.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-121.jpg)
Draw a circle on the "circle" layer.
Move the Anchor point to the bottom of the circle (hold Ctrl/Command).
Choose colors for fill/stroke.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-122.jpg)
Move the circle off the screen.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-123.jpg)
In the Layer Transform menu:
Click on the stopwatch of Position property to place the first keyframe.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-124.jpg)
Move the Time Indicator to 1 sec. mark.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-125.jpg)
Move the circle down.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-126.jpg)
Move the Time indicator to 01:12f mark.
Move the circle up, but not as high as the starting point.
You should see 3 keyframes in your timeline.
![Adobe AfterEffects animation](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-127.jpg)
If your moving path does not look like this - you need to create a corner point for the bottom point.
creating corner points
There are two ways to create a corner point in After Effects.
1. Using Selection tool - move the second direction line into the point.
2. Using Convert Vertex tool (in Pen group) drag the direction line to start a new curve direction.
Continue moving the ball and adding keyframes at
to convert a point
![convert anchor point](images_acgr/after_effects/ae-148.png)
Use Convert Vertex tool
and drag to the direction you want your curve to go.
square
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