After not using after effects all summer i felt like i needed to have my memory re-jogged. When we first got back to using the software i felt very lost however once i started creating my compositions i started recognising the tools and layout of the software making my work speed flow faster.
This After effects session started to introduce us to a more complex way of working. We looked at adding more detailed effects. We started off with a background that we wanted to animate , i chose a striped background that had a blind transition to change the background colour from striped to purple. The transitions worked by using key points just like the transformation options that we have previously used over the last year.
We focused on creating separate compositions that were of 1 seconds in length , using individual compositions allowed us to focus on specific points in the animation instead of having one long 10 second clip and constantly having to zoom on specific parts. At the end of the composition we would stitch all the individual parts together to create our final image.
i found this way of working much more effective as it allowed me to concentrate in getting detail into small elements of my work. I used various transitions throughout my work to create an animation that flowed smoothly into each individual scene.
The next step was to animate a shape in the foreground of the video, having two animations running constantly throughout the duration of the video added depth to the piece and made it more interesting to watch. The first effect i added to my shape was the wiggle effect which caused the shape to ripple around the edge the return to its original shape we did this by using the wiggle window. I then used the wiggle window to add a magnitude to the shape. this option made the shape shake in its original form but have the centre anchored to the background creating an earthquake kind of motion.
I then used the pen tool to distort the shape out of its original form and return to the starting position, this was accomplished by using the pen tool on the position option. i started by placing a key point at the end of the timeline and working backwards to make sure the shape retained its original shape.
I also used the Hue tool to make the shape change colour , this of which was done through plotting key points, the colour could be cycled through using a radial wheel making the simple for the colours to flow into each other instead of picking out the colours individually.
My final part of the animation included a 3d effect that i created using the simulation drop down in the effects menu. I struggled to do this at first because i was unfamiliar with 3D effects. after adjusting the settings i finally found how to create an effective looking 3d animation for the end of my video. i used settings that allowed the explosion to retain the shapes original form. Although i struggled with this i would like to explore these effects more as they are more complex and interesting , i feel these will develop my skills further.
Exploring Animation 1, Year 2 from Ben Moulson on Vimeo.
