Bill Maher - Irritable Bowl Syndrome from Cub Studio on Vimeo.
Once the artwork was ready I moved in to after effects; as the animation wouldn't be long I had to choose three important scenes to animate. From the scenes I chose I think that it is clear what fairytale I have chosen to animate. Overall I'm pleased with the artwork I have produced; I think that it is simple yet effective and will be easy to tell the story with when I take them into after effects.
The we had to create an artwork that would be used for in-between scenes; to cut from one scene to another. As Cinderella is often shown in panto I decided to create some basic curtains that could open and close. Also I wanted the artwork to look different to the rest of the scenes so that the cut was effective. This was then opened up in after effect with the other artboards by going to file > import. As an option you can click on composition, this is so that you can go back and change things to your artwork and then it will update in after effects; however this is a slower way of working. The other option is composition - retain layer sizes; this is if you are happy with your artwork and won't be making any changes it to it, this is quicker and keeps the program fast which is the option I chose. All of the compositions were change to 25 frame rate and length of 5 seconds. We also made a new comp which would be the final and this was made to 10 seconds; all of the compositions were then dragged in to the final comp. Since I have three scenes I had to shorten the times of the comps to two 3's and one 4 so that they all fit within the 10 second timeline. 
Next we were taught a new tool called tilt shift; although we didn't have to use it if we felt it didn't work within our animation and with our artwork. I decided not to use the tool as it didn't look right for my piece but I still made note of the effect for future reference. For this effect you have to get a texture and import it in, you can add layer styles (for example bevel and emboss) - next we went to new comp (calling it tilt shift) - this would be 5 secs, 25 frame rate - and hd size (1920px x 1080px). You activate 3d on the layer, and you can rotate around different axis - you activate the keyframes on rotation, position and scale (all in the same place on the timeline), then drag it to end - then scale in and change the position, scale and rotation to what you want it to end like. You can add effects on the tilt shift by going to effects, add blur - chose a style for example you could chose gaussian blur - then put a mask on it to make the effect apply to the areas you want it to effect, this is to get an out of focus look and to make the parts you didn't add it to stand out more.Overall I'm pleased with the outcome; although I would change the colour of the end scene of the curtains so that there is a bigger contrast between the two, so that the visual is more dynamic. I do however like the style I have used to create a modern design which is well thought out. By creating this animation it is all practice and experience of using the software which is important for me as limited user but I will add that I'm becoming more confident with using the program. I will be able to take these skills further and expand upon them in the future. To start as usual we needed to create the artwork in Illustrator first before working in after effects. Originally we were asked to create two scenes but I chose to do three as it fitted better with my content; I chose to base mine on the fairytale Cinderella. The scenes had to include imagery and statistics that you could work with later in after effect. I picked this fairytale as it has a lot of imagery you can focus in on such as the slippers and the ugly sisters for example; and had numbers to work with. Each scene was created on a different dartboard and each element was put on to a new layer so it was all separated out and when work in after effects you would be able to animate each individual element. The background was also put on to a separate layer so it was separate to the images. I wanted the colours to be striking and not over complex so that the information wasn't lost in the animation. Also by not over complicating this stage it would allow me to fully concentrate when working in after effects.
The text was the next to be edited; to do this you used the text tool and copy and paste the text from illustrator, you then delete the text layer you imported from illustrator. You do that as it is clearer and easier to animate. To animate the text you select it then go to animation > apply preset animation > animate in - then select the animation you want to use. The speed of the animation can be changed by repositioning the key frames on the timeline. I decided to edit the imagery as well by getting them to flash on to the screen; this was fairly simple, you just cut them and position them where you want them to appear in the timeline. You can also add sounds to your animations; I decided that I wanted a 'pop' sound when they appear on to screen so I took a 'blop' sound from the website sound bible; by adding this sound it helped to connect the image to an action. The next step was to add the scene changer to the timeline; we added a new comp called 'wipe', this was set to 25 frame rate and duration at 1 second; this is so it is fast enough to be dynamic but still slow enough for you to see whats on the layer. You place it in the middle of each layer when the finish and start. On the wipe comp I added a keyframe in the middle of the timeline on both layers, making sure there is no transparency showing through the objects on the wipe layer, I then went back to the beginning of timeline and added a position keyframe with the objects completely off the page and finally I went to the end of the timeline and copied and paste the first keyframes to the end, this then automatically remembers what was on these keyframes and adds the effect to the timeline making the 'wipe' scene open and close between the scenes, this cuts the past scene and introduces you to the next scene in a more professional way.
Fairytale Animation from Jade Irving on Vimeo.
