Studio Practice: After Effects Workshop 4

Begin with a layered photoshop file.

Each element of animation is on its own individual layer.

Background layer is much larger than the size of the frame. It has a gradient in colour so just changing the position of the background will also make it look like it is changing colour.

When importing a layers photoshop file we don't need to make a new composition because we are importing the file as a composition.

File -> Import -> File

Import As -> Composition - retain layer sizes (Because the background layer stretches beyond the size of the composition.)

Photoshop layers have been imported separately.

We can ignore the folder with the individual layers because we can work with the composition as a whole. Double click on composition to open it.

You can see layer sizes have been retained from the grey boxes.

We need to check the composition settings because we didn't set this up when we imported the composition.

Composition -> Composition Settings

You may need to drag the length of each layer so that it lasts for the new duration of the animation.

Change the order of the layers so the rain drop is behind the cloud because this looks more appropriate.

Repitition. What do you do to make a single animation repeat multiple times?

Key frames can be copied and pasted.

When you copy and paste keyframes, After effects will make up the movement in-between so you will get a forward and backward motion.

You can change the type of keyframe….

Right click on last keyframe of motion -> Toggle Hold Keyframe

The value at this keyframe will remain the same until another keyframe arrives - there are no in-between frames.

Hold keyframes allow you to jump from one state to another without any motion in-between.

Applying this to the raindrop…

Apply the position keyframes and make the second one a hold keyframe.

Think about the regularity of the movements and the distance between them. At first I placed my key frames evenly apart but then I change it so that the raindrops were more frequent at the beginning.

We could have done this individually for lots of layers of raindrops but it would be easier just to copy this one.

Click on layer name -> Commend+D to duplicate

This makes the new layer sit directly on top of the first one.

If you try to move the position of the layer it will just add another keyframe.

Moving a layer whack already has keyframes.

By clocking on Position it will select all of the keyframes in that layer.

Line our time marker up with one key frame using arrow on far left.

You can then move your layer and all of the keyframes will move with it.

Click ont eh layer and move it backwards or forwards in time to make the movements not synchronised.

Select all raindrop layers. Press U to show all keyframes for this layer.

Select them all.

Hold alt key and move the first or last keyframe to change the pace.

For this animation, I played around with position and scale of the raindrops, opacity of the cloud, position of the background and an adjustment later (brightness) on the cloud.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

USING AUDIO

You can get royalty free music from the internet (freemusicarchive.com).

British library has an archive of audio (not musical).

Or record your own audio - sound booths or AV resource.

Appropriate file formate for AfterEffects: MP3, wav, aiff.

If it is in a different format it is possible to convert it.

Right click on a piece of audio and select to play with quicktime player.

Listen to a piece of audio and make note of the section you will want to use in the animation.

Importing audio…

File -> Import -> File.

No option but to import as footage.

Files appear in project panel -> drag to timeline.

Trimming audio.

Double click on the layer.

We now see this layer in isolation. The time ruler at the bottom represents the entire length of the audio.

Move the ends of the bar to crop.

Additional edits can be made in the layer panel.

Audio layer properties

Audio levels = volume in decibels.

-48dB means no audio.

Click on waveform to view the regular pattern of the music. It allows you to see where the sound happens and helps you to organise your components around this.

It is important to use RAM preview because you will not hear the audio with just the play button.

It is also possible to add keyframes to the volume of your audio - good for fading in and out.

I changed it so that it is loudest when there is the most rain and it fades to nothing as the sky gets brighter.

Adding in shorter sounds like lightening strikes - make sure it lines up with when the visual aspect appears an disappears.

Remember to save all files in the same place to keep everything together.

Using groups - being able to transform a group of layers as if they were one object.

Parent layers - choosing one layer as a parent to others.

This process is easier if you decide this before animating anything.

I can now move the cloud and the raindrops will follow.

I also made the cloud the parent layer to the lightening so I could move the cloud in a constant motion across the screen throughout the 15 seconds and the connecting pieces all stay relative to this.