For my first Adobe After Effects workshop after the break I was shown how to animate a geometric shape; so that each individual piece could move separately on its own. This was an experiment for me as I've never used After Effects before joining this course, so everything I do in these workshops is something new; in my own time I would like to spend more time in After Effects for my skills to progress. At the end of the workshop I had learnt how to use new tools and had a ten second video outcome that demonstrated these skills and tools.
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| Geometric Shape |
Before moving in to After Effects, I started out in Illustrator which is where I created the shape; I looked at geometric shapes online to influence my own shape. I set the page up at 1920 x 1080 px, this is the size for a HD screen; this was important as these measurements would be used again when moving in to After Effects. To create the shape I used the pen tool to create each individual shape making sure that each shape was produced on separate layers. The reason for this was so that I could edit each element in After Effects. The shape is made of different tones of pink; this gives the shape depth whilst also making sure that you can distinguish between the different elements of the shape. Also I renamed the layers so that it would be easier when editing them in After Effects later.
When in After Effects I opened a new composition, set it to 1920 x 1080 px, the frame rate to 25 frames per second and then the duration to 10 seconds. I imported the illustrator file in to the project and then dragged it in to the composition where I could begin to edit the layers. The use of keyframes and transform options were key to the editing for the video whilst the timeline also proved to be helpful when editing the timing of each effect.
Here are some screenshots of editing the video in process and it shows how the program is set out. Keyframes are added by clicking the stopwatch button next the effect that was in use e.g position; you click the keyframe first and then move the time indicator along and select another keyframe which is where I moved the shape. Between the two keyframes the shape will move from the position it was at the first to then the new position in the second keyframe. Whilst using the the rotation effect from the transform menu I learnt about the 'pan behind anchor' tool which can change the point of control the shape is rotated from. This was useful so that the separate shapes would 'swing' out from the right point. I also used the position effect from the transform menu so that I could moved the shape; or in the case of my video make the shape drop down. Keyframes was used on all effects in the same way as previously mentioned.
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| Importing my Geometric shape |
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| Setting up composition |
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| Using the transform tool (rotation) using keyframes |
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| Position in shape in the composition |
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| Changing render settings |
When I had finished the 10 second video I needed to render the video; to do this I clicked export and add to render queue. Before pressing render I checked the settings to ensure I was rendering it out to 'Quicktime' and the format was 'Apple ProRes 4444'. Once rendered I opened it up in 'Quicktime' and exported to 720dpi so that it renders the video to a smaller file size appropriate to be uploaded to the web.
During this tutorial I learnt numerous new skills which I feel I will be able to build on in the future and will be able to use them in future design work. For my first time using these skills I'm quite pleased with the outcome that I have produced and look forward to developing and expanding on my skills in the upcoming tutorials.
Here is my video outcome I produced;
Geometric shape from
Jade Irving on
Vimeo.
