Getting started – Animating Layers

Lesson overview
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to do the following:
• Animate a layered Adobe Photoshop file.
• Create an expression using the pick whip.
• Work with imported Photoshop layer styles.
• Apply a track matte to control the visibility of layers.
• Animate a layer using the Corner Pin effect.
• View layer render times using the Composition Profiler.
• Use time remapping and the Layer panel to dynamically retime footage.
• Edit Time Remap keyframes in the Graph Editor.

This lesson will take about an hour to complete. If you haven’t already done so, download the project files for this lesson from peachpit.com/AfterEffectsCIB2024, following the instructions in the Getting Started section under “Accessing the lesson files and Web Edition.”

PROJECT: THEATER MARQUEE IN A FILM SHORT
Animation is all about making changes over time—changes to an object or image’s position, opacity, scale, and other properties. This lesson provides more practice animating the layers of a Photoshop file, including dynamically remapping time.

Getting started
Adobe After Effects provides several tools and effects that let you simulate motion video using a layered Photoshop file. In this lesson, you will import a layered Photoshop file of a theater marquee, and then animate it to simulate the marquee lighting up and text scrolling across its screen. This is a stylized animation in which the motion is first accelerated, and then reverses and moves forward again.
First, you’ll preview the final movie and set up the project.

  1. Make sure the following files are in the Lessons/Lesson06 folder on your hard disk, or download them from peachpit.com now:
    • In the Assets folder: marquee.psd
    • In the Sample_Movie folder: Lesson06.mp4
  2. Open and play the Lesson06.mp4 in Windows Movies & TV or QuickTime Player to see the final animation you will create in this lesson.
  3. When you’re done, quit Windows Movies & TV or QuickTime Player. You may delete the sample movie from your hard disk if you have limited storage space.
    When you begin the lesson, restore the default application settings for After Effects. See “Restoring default preferences” on page 3.
  4. Start After Effects, and then immediately hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift (macOS) to restore default preferences settings. In the Startup Repair Options dialog box, click Reset Preferences.
  5. Click New Project in the Home window.
    After Effects opens to display an empty, untitled project.
  6. Choose File > Save As > Save As.
  7. In the Save As dialog box, navigate to the Lessons/Lesson06/Finished_Project folder.
  8. Name the project Lesson06_Finished.aep, and then click Save.

Adding an audio track – Animating a Multimedia Presentation

Give yourself a hand—you’ve done a lot of animating in this project. But you’re not quite done. You’ll add a soundtrack that matches the lighthearted mood of the video, and fade it out. You’ll also shorten the composition, since the last few seconds are static.

  1. Click the Project tab to bring the Project panel forward. Then, double-click an empty area of the Project panel to open the Import File dialog box.
  2. Navigate to the Lessons/Lesson05/Assets folder, and double-click the Soundtrack.wav file.
  3. Drag the Soundtrack.wav item from the Project panel into the Balloon Scene Timeline panel, placing it at the bottom of the layer stack.
  4. Preview the movie. The music changes just as the canvas flies off the balloon.
  5. Go to 18:00, and press N to move the work area end point to the current time.
  6. Choose Composition > Trim Comp to Work Area.
  7. Go to 16:00. Expand the Soundtrack.wav layer and the Audio properties.
  8. Click the stopwatch icon to create an initial keyframe for the Audio Levels value.
  9. Go to 18:00, and change the Audio Levels value to –40 dB.
  10. Preview the animation, and then save it.

Congratulations. You’ve just created a complex animation, practicing all kinds of After Effects techniques and capabilities along the way.

Editing audio files in Adobe Audition

You can make some very simple changes to audio in After Effects. For more substantial edits, use Adobe Audition. Audition is available with a full Adobe Creative Cloud membership.

You can use Audition to change the length of an audio file, alter its pitch, or change its tempo. You can apply effects, record new audio, mix multitrack sessions, and more.

To edit an audio clip you’ve used in After Effects, select the file in the Project panel, and choose Edit > Edit In Adobe Audition. Then, make your changes in Audition, and save the file. The changes you made are automatically reflected in your After Effects project.

Review questions

1 How does After Effects display an animation of the Position property?

2 What is a solid-color layer, and what can you do with it?

3 What types of audio can you import into an After Effects project?

Review answers

1 When you animate the Position property, After Effects displays the movement as a motion path. You can create a motion path for the position of the layer or for the anchor point of a layer. A position motion path appears in the Composition panel; an anchor-point motion path appears in the Layer panel. The motion path appears as a sequence of dots, where each dot marks the position of the layer at each frame. A box in the path marks the position of a keyframe.

2 You can create solid images of any color or size (up to 30,000 x 30,000 pixels) in After Effects. After Effects treats solids as it does any other footage item: You can modify the mask, transform properties, and apply effects to the solid layer. If you change settings for a solid that is used by more than one layer, you can apply the changes to all layers that use the solid or to only the single occurrence of the solid. Use solid layers to color a background or create simple graphic images.

3 You can import any of the following types of audio files into After Effects: Advanced Audio Coding (AAC, M4A), Audio Interchange File Format (AIF, AIFF), MP3 (MP3, MPEG, MPG, MPA, MPE), and Waveform (WAV).

Trimming a layer – Animating a Multimedia Presentation

You don’t need the Wave Warp effect until the canvas flies off the balloon, but even if the values are 0, After Effects will have to calculate the effect for the entire layer. So you’ll trim the layer to speed up the time it takes to render the file.

  1. Go to 9:12.
  2. Press Alt+[ (Windows) or Option+[ (macOS) to set the In point to 9:12.
    Note
    Press [ to move the In point of a clip without changing its duration. Press Alt+[ or Option+[ to trim a clip to a new In point, shortening its duration.
  3. Return to the Balloon Scene Timeline panel.
  4. Press the spacebar to preview the movie. Press the spacebar again to stop the preview.

  1. Save your work so far.

Animating the background
The movie should end with the revelation that the canvas from the balloon has been draped on the clouds. But right now, the canvas flies off and the balloon floats away. You need to animate the sky so that the canvas-covered clouds are centered at the end of the scene.

  1. In the Balloon Scene Timeline panel, go to the beginning of the time ruler (0:00).
  2. Select the Sky layer. In the Properties panel, click the stopwatch icon for the Position property to create an initial keyframe.
  3. Go to 16:00, and drag the Sky layer down and to the left until the wrapped clouds are in the center of the frame. (Our values are –236.4, 566.7.)
  4. Go to 8:00, and move the wrapped clouds completely off the screen, far off to the right.
  5. Right-click or Control-click the first keyframe, and choose Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease Out.
  6. Right-click the middle keyframe, and choose Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease, and then right-click the last keyframe, and choose Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease In.
  7. Move the current-time indicator through the time ruler to see how the departure of the canvas matches up with the appearance of the canvas-covered clouds. The canvas should be completely offscreen before the canvas-covered clouds appear.
  8. Move the middle keyframe forward and backward in the time ruler to adjust the sky animation so that it matches the progress of the canvas and the balloon. The bare balloon should float in front of at least a few of the canvas-covered clouds before it disappears.
  9. Press the spacebar to preview the entire video. Press the spacebar again to stop the preview.
  1. Adjust the motion paths and rotations for the balloon, canvas pieces, or the sky as necessary.
  2. Hide the properties for all layers, and save the project.

Supported audio file formats
You can import any of the following types of audio files into After Effects:
• Advanced Audio Coding (AAC, M4A)
• Audio Interchange File Format (AIF, AIFF)
• MP3 (MP3, MPEG, MPG, MPA, MPE)
• Waveform (WAV)

Positioning and duplicating a video – Animating a Multimedia Presentation

When the character tugs the cord, flame should emerge from the burner. You’ll use the four-second Fire.mov video to represent the flame each time the cord is tugged.

  1. Go to 3:10.
  2. Drag the Fire.mov video in the Timeline panel so that it starts at 3:10.
  3. Select the Fire.mov layer, and choose Edit > Duplicate.
  4. Go to 7:10.
  5. Press the left bracket key ([) on your keyboard to move the In point of the duplicate Fire.mov layer to 7:10.

Applying an effect

Now that the balloon and character are taken care of, you’ll create the gust of wind that blows the canvas off the balloon. The Fractal Noise and Directional Blur effects will work well.

Adding a solid-color layer

You need to apply the effects on their own layer, which will be a solid-color layer. You’ll create a new composition for the layer.

  1. Press Ctrl+N (Windows) or Command+N (macOS) to create a new composition.
  2. In the Composition Settings dialog box, do the following:
    • Name the composition Wind.
    • Change the width to 1920 px.
    • Change the height to 1080 px.
    • Change the duration to 20 seconds.
    • Change the Frame Rate to 25 fps to match the Balloon Scene composition.
    • Click OK.

    3.Right-click or Control-click in the Timeline panel, and choose New > Solid.

    About solid-color layers

    Use solid layers to color a background or to create simple graphic images. You can create solid layers of any color or size (up to 30,000 x 30,000 pixels) in After Effects. After Effects treats solids as it does any other footage item: You can modify the mask, transform properties, and apply effects to a solid layer. If you change settings for a solid that is used by more than one layer, you can apply the changes to all layers that use the solid or to only the single occurrence of the solid.

    4.In the Solid Settings dialog box, do the following:

    • Name the layer Wind.
    • Select black for the color.
    • Click the Make Comp Size button.
    • Click OK.

    Copying layers into a composition – Animating a Multimedia Presentation

    You’ve worked with the balloon, character, and fire layers in the Balloon composition. Now, you’ll copy those layers into the Balloon Scene composition.

    1. In the Balloon Timeline panel, select the Canvas layer and then Shift-click the Upper arm layer to select all the layers in the composition.

    Note

    Make sure to select the Canvas layer first and then Shift-click the Upper arm layer to copy layers in their original order.

    2.Press Ctrl+C (Windows) or Command+C (macOS) to copy all the layers.

    3.Switch to the Balloon Scene Timeline panel.

    4.Press Ctrl+V (Windows) or Command+V (macOS) to paste the layers.

    5.Click an empty area in the Timeline panel to deselect all layers.

    The layers appear in the same order they were when you copied them, and they retain all the properties they had in the Balloon composition, including parenting relationships.

    Placing initial keyframes

    The balloon will enter the scene from the bottom, drift through the sky, and eventually depart from the upper right corner of the frame. You’ll keyframe the balloon’s starting and ending points first.

    1. Select the Balloon/Balloon.ai layer in the Timeline panel.
    2. In the Properties panel, change the Scale property to 60%.

    The balloon and all of its child layers scale to 60%.

    3.Choose 12.5% or 25% from the Magnification Ratio pop-up menu in the Composition panel so that you can see the pasteboard around the composition.

    4.In the Composition panel, drag the balloon and its child layers offscreen, below the scene. (We used Position values 844.5, 2250.2.)

    5.Drag the Rotation value to rotate the balloon so it tilts to the right. (We used 19 degrees.)

    6.Click the stopwatch icons (Stopwatch icon) for the Position, Scale, and Rotation properties to create initial keyframes.

    7.Go to 14:20 and scale the balloon to about one-third its original size. We used 39.4%.

    8.Drag the balloon off the upper right corner of the frame, tilted slightly to the left. We used the following values: Position 2976.5, –186; Rotation –8.1 degrees.

    9.Move the current-time indicator across the timeline to see the animation so far.

    Importing the footage – Animating a Multimedia Presentation

    Next, you’ll import the footage you need for the project, including the balloon.ai composition.

    1. Double-click an empty area of the Project panel to open the Import File dialog box.
    2. Navigate to the Lessons/Lesson05/Assets folder on your hard disk, and select the Sky.ai file.
    3. Choose Footage from the Import As menu, and then click Import or Open.
    4. In the Sky.ai dialog box, make sure Merged Layers is selected, and then click OK.

    5.Double-click an empty area of the Project panel, navigate to the Lessons/Lesson05 /Assets folder, and select the Balloon.ai file.

    6.Choose Composition – Retain Layer Sizes from the Import As menu, and click Import or Open.

    7.Press Ctrl+I (Windows) or Command+I (macOS) to open the Import File dialog box again.

    Using Creative Cloud Libraries in After Effects

    Easily access images, videos, colors, and other assets you’ve created in After Effects and other Adobe applications. Through Creative Cloud Libraries, you can also use Looks, shapes, and other assets you create with Adobe Capture and other mobile apps. Creative Cloud Libraries also make it easy to access After Effects motion graphic templates in Adobe Premiere Pro.

    Even Adobe Stock images and videos are available in the Libraries panel: Search and browse assets within the panel, download watermarked versions to see how they work with your projects, and license the ones you want to keep—all without leaving After Effects.

    The same search bar you use to search Adobe Stock makes it easier to find specific items in your Creative Cloud Libraries, too.

    To learn more about all the ways you can use Creative Cloud Libraries, see After Effects Help.

    8.Navigate to the Lessons/Lesson05/Assets folder, and select the Fire.mov file.

    9.Make sure Footage is chosen in the Import As menu, and click Import or Open.

    Creating the composition

    You’ll create the composition and add the sky.

    1. Click New Composition in the Composition panel.
    2. In the Composition Settings dialog box, do the following:

    Note

    If you change Pixel Aspect Ratio or Width settings, the Preset name may change to Custom in the Composition Settings panel.

    • Name the composition Balloon Scene.
    • Choose HD ♦ 1920×1080 ♦ 25fps from the Preset menu.
    • Make sure Square Pixels is chosen from the Pixel Aspect Ratio menu.
    • Make sure the Width is 1920 px and Height is 1080 px.
    • Choose Quarter for the Resolution.
    • Set Duration to 20 seconds (20:00).
    • Click OK.

      3.Drag the Sky.ai footage item from the Project panel into the Timeline panel.

      The balloon will float across the Sky.ai image. The far right of the image contains the canvas-wrapped clouds that appear at the end of the scene. The wrapped clouds shouldn’t be visible earlier in the movie.

      4.In the Composition panel, drag the Sky layer so that its lower left corner is even with the lower left corner of the composition.