Digital Photography and Imaging / Week 10

November 30 / Week 10

Sheren Princessa Davon / 0362134

Digital Photography and Imaging / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University

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LECTURE

This week, we were introduced to Adobe After Effects, a software mainly for editing videos. We are able to edit motion graphics and create transitions with still objects.

We can also import elements from Photoshop into After Effects to edit them into a video.

Fig 1.1 After Effects layout

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TUTORIAL

Mr. Fauzi showed us how to do basic animations on After Effects, such as resizing the scale (size) of an element, changing its position, and also using a masking path. 

Video 1.1 After Effects tutorial

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PRACTICAL

This week, our practice was to take a Photoshop file and place it in After Effects, then create some basic animations with the elements in the composition. The composition must be 15 seconds long and consist of keyframe animations with Position, Scale, and Masking Path.

The original file is below:

Fig 2.1 Original Photoshop file

Process

Firstly, I created different folders for the Pre-Compositions, layers, and the audio. 

Fig 2.2 Importing layers

Then I began creating the animations for each layer. 

Typewriter

I wanted it to enter the frame by quickly appearing from a smaller scale. I created it by scaling it smaller, then adding another keyframe after increasing its scale. I also wanted it to spin so I created two keyframes with the Rotation. Then I created the Keyframe Assistant > Easy ease, and adjusted the graphs to make it flow smoother.

For the rest of the clip, I created a slow movement by moving the position by moving it slightly around.

Fig 2.3 Typewriter animation

Fencer

For the enter transition, I created a masking path where the fencer is revealed from the bottom to the top. Then I hit P and separated the X and Y dimensions to create separate keyframes for the dimensions. After that, I made the fencer jump up a little by creating 4 keyframes, shifting the Y-position. I also created a back and forth movement for the fencer by shifting the X-position from left to right, making it seem like he was actually fencing. I also made sure to easy ease the keyframes to make sure the movements were smooth.

Fig 2.4 Fencer animation

Shark

My idea was to make the shark sort of swim from the right side to the left side. I created this by adding multiple keyframes for both the Position and Rotation. I shifted the position to make the shark enter from the right and slowly exit to the left side, with help of some rotations to make it more natural.

Fig 2.5 Shark animation

Projector

For the project, I created a simple animation since I didn't want the final result to be too crowded and messy. I made a dropping animation by creating keyframes with the position and rotation, starting with the projector from out of the frame and dropping down. Then I just made small shifts in the position with the keyframes far apart, this way the overall result isn't too crowded.

Fig 2.6 Projector animation

Then, I created a Null object, linking the other elements to the object as the Parent. Then, I created a shaky effect by creating Position keyframes, making it move from side to side really quickly. 

Fig 2.7 Null object

For the final transition, I wanted the elements to drop out of frame at the end, and I did so by creating Rotation and also Position keyframes.

Fig 2.8 Keyframes linked to null object

Finally, I added the audio I found on the internet. I added a few sound effects, such as the typewriter, the click, and the static noise. I wanted to create a static-like effect without using any special effects or filters, but only with the minimal animation and the audio. When I was satisfied with how everything looked, I finally added it to Render Queue and I was finished.

Fig 2.9 Audio

Final Animation

Video 1.2: Final AE Animation - YouTube. Week 10 (30/11/23)

Video 1.3 Final AE Animation - MP4. Week 10 (30/11/23)