Adobe After Effects 5.0- P4 ppsx

1 In the Project window, select the Squares Grid Comp and drag it into the Composition or Timeline window.. 6 In the Timeline window, select Square Grid 1 and drag it to the far left ed

Placing the Square Grid animations

You’ll now add, duplicate, rename, and move the Square Grid Comp within the new

composition

1 In the Project window, select the Squares Grid Comp and drag it into the Composition

or Timeline window

2 Press Ctrl + D (Windows) or Command + D (Mac OS) five times to duplicate the layer

so that a total of six layers appears in the Timeline window

3 In the Timeline window, select Layer 1 and press Enter or Return The layer name

becomes active

4 Type Square Grid 1, and press Enter or Return to enter the new name.

5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 to rename each of the other five layers, naming them according to their position in the layer stack: Square Grid 2, Square Grid 3, and so forth.

6 In the Timeline window, select Square Grid 1 and drag it to the far left edge of the

Composition window, at approximately the 220, 220 coordinates

7 Move Square Grid 2 to the right of Square Grid 1, at approximately 660, 220.

8 Move each of the remaining layers until they line up approximately as shown:

Adjusting the opacity of some layers

To add variety and texture, you’ll change the opacity of two layers

1 In the Timeline window, select the Square Grid 1 layer and press T to open its Opacity

property

2 Scrub or type 50% as the Opacity value, and press Enter or Return Then press T again

to close the Opacity property

3 Select the Square Grid 4 layer and repeat this process, but this time change the Opacity value to 80%.

4 Save your work.

compo-1 Choose Edit > Select All or press Ctrl + A (Windows) or Command + A (Mac OS) to

select all layers

2 Press R to open the Rotation properties for all of the layers.

3 Choose Edit > Deselect All or press Ctrl + Shift + A (Windows) or

Command + Shift + A (Mac OS) to deselect all layers, leaving the Rotation properties

open

4 Scrub or type to enter Rotation values for the layers, as follows:

• Square Grid 1: 0˚ (No change.)

• Square Grid 6: 90˚.

5 Move the current-time marker to 3:00 and press N to set the work area to end at 3:00.

6 Press Home to move the current-time marker to 0:00, and then preview the animation.

The squares randomly shift as they shuffle themselves in the Composition window If you want to make adjustments, do so now

7 Save the project.

Rendering the dancing squares

You’ve finished working with this element, so it’s time to render the movie

1 Close the Composition and Timeline windows, and then select the Squares01 Comp in

the Project window

2 Choose Composition > Make Movie, or press Ctrl + M (Windows) or Command + M

5 Click the underlined words Best Settings to open the Render Settings dialog box.

6 Make sure that Time Span is set to Work Area Only and that the work area indicated

starts at 0:00 and ends at 3:00 Click OK to close the Render Settings dialog box

7 For the Output Module, choose Custom to open the Output Module Settings dialog

box, and do all the following:

• In Format, choose QuickTime Movie

• Select the Import into Project When Done option

• Click Format Options to open the Compression Settings dialog box.

8 Choose Animation and Millions of Colors+, and then click OK to close the dialog box.

9 Make sure that Channels is set to RGB + Alpha, and then click OK to close the Output

Module Settings You’ll use the alpha information when you composite this layer into your final piece in a later lesson

10 Choose File > Save, as a precaution.

11 Click the Render button.

When rendering is complete, close the Render Queue window The Squares01.mov now appears in the Project window because of the option you selected in step 7

Playing the Squares01 movie

You can now play the movie you’ve just rendered

1 Press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you double-click the Squares01.mov to

open it in the Footage window, and then reduce the size of the window as needed so that

it fits on your screen

Note: Pressing Alt or Option when you open the movie gives you access to the Magnification

menu and shortcuts If the movie fits on your screen as is, you do not need to use the Alt or Option key

2 Play the movie It should look just like it did in the final Preview before rendering.

3 When you are finished, close the Footage window, save your work, and close the

project

If you need to take a break, this is a good place to do so

Creating pulsating strips of squares

In this section, you start to create a second squares-based element that will become part

of the overall project The first component of this element is made up of three different compositions: a strip of squares that moves into view from the left; a strip of squares that moves into view from the right; and a strip of squares that is not animated Using transfer modes, you’ll make these subcomponents interact with each other so that you see strips

of squares that appear to pulsate, growing wider and then narrower in an apparently

random fashion

Importing a layered source file

For this composition, you use a layered Photoshop source file When you import this kind

of file into After Effects, you can either ignore the layering structure and use the

Photoshop file as a single flat image or you can preserve the integrity of the Photoshop layers so that you can use them separately To keep the layers, you’ll import the file as a composition The dimensions of the Photoshop layers determine the size of the After

Effects composition

You’ll continue your work within the Boxes02_work.aep project you created at the

beginning of this chapter If it is not already open, find that file in the _aep folder in your AE_CIB job folder and open it now

1 Choose File > Import > File The Import File dialog box appears

2 In the _psd folder in your AE_CIB job folder, select the Squares.psd file.

3 In Import As, select Composition

Note: This option is available only when you select a file that contains layers.

4 Click Open (Windows) or Import (Mac OS).

Two new elements appear in the Project window: a composition file and a folder, both named Squares.psd

5 Double-click the composition to open it in the Composition and Timeline windows

In the Timeline window, you see the three layers created in Photoshop Each layer retains all the Photoshop settings assigned to it

Note: If you can’t see the entire image in the Composition window, resize the window and

then use the magnification menu in the lower left corner of the Composition window to

reduce the zoom Or, press Ctrl + minus sign (–) (Windows) or Command + minus sign (–) (Mac OS).

6 Close the Composition and Timeline windows, and then expand the Squares.psd

folder in the Project window so that you see the three layers created in Photoshop

You can click any of these layers to see their thumbnail images in the top of the Project window Because you imported the source file as a composition, you can also use each of these layers independently within your compositions For more information about

importing layered files, see After Effects online Help

Note: In After Effects, this composition inherits the most recently used Duration and Frame

Rate settings.

Creating a composition for pulsating squares

For this section, you begin with a new composition

1 Choose Composition > New Composition, or press Ctrl + N (Windows) or

Command + N (Mac OS) The Composition Settings dialog box opens

2 In Composition Name, type Moving Right Comp

3 On the Basic tab of the dialog box, set the following options:

• In Width, type 860, and deselect Lock Aspect Ratio.

• In Height, type 300

• Make sure that the Pixel Aspect Ratio is Square Pixels

• In Frame Rate, set 29.97.

• (Optional) In Resolution, select Half or lower, as needed for your system

• Make sure the Start Timecode is 0:00

• In Duration, type 500, to specify five seconds.

4 Click OK The new composition appears in the Squares.psd folder in the Project

window if that folder was selected when you started this task

5 Drag the Moving Right Comp out of the Squares.psd folder and place it on the top level

of the Project window hierarchy (If necessary, enlarge the Project window so that you can drag the composition to an empty area at the bottom of the window.)

Note: You created this composition at a size (860 by 300 pixels) that is at least as large as you

will ever need for your final animation By building elements at larger-than-needed sizes, you accomplish two things First, you give yourself maximum flexibility because you can always shrink the image later by reducing the Scale property Second, you maintain image quality, which would be compromised if you scaled it up beyond 100% This practice is a good general rule to follow—but there are exceptions to it, as you’ll see later in this lesson.

Creating and animating the first layer

In this composition, you’ll use just one of the Photoshop layers to animate squares that travel from left to right You’ll create this in a way that makes it easier for you later when you set it to loop (play seamlessly, without any apparent beginning or end)

1 Press Home to set the current time to 0:00, if it’s not already there, and then reduce the

magnification of the Composition window so that you can see a larger area of the board

paste-2 In the Project window, select SquaresLayer0paste-2 (in the Squares.psd folder) and drag it

into the Composition window

3 Press P to open the Position property and then drag the layer into the Composition

window so that it is just outside of the left edge of the composition frame (about -430, 150)

Starting position of Layer 1 on the Composition window pasteboard

4 Click the stopwatch ( ) to set a Position keyframe Or, press Alt + P (Windows) or

Option + P (Mac OS)

5 Move the current-time marker to 4:01.

6 Drag the SquaresLayer02 layer to the center of the composition frame, or start dragging

and press Ctrl + Shift (Windows) or Command + Shift (Mac OS) to snap the layer into the center A second Position keyframe automatically appears at 4:01

Final position of Layer 1 in the composition frame

7 Press Home to set the current time to 0:00.

8 Press the spacebar or 0 (zero) on the numeric keypad to preview or RAM preview the

animation, and then save the project

Note: If RAM preview doesn’t show the entire clip, see “Allocating RAM to After Effects” on

page 2 for tips about working around RAM limitations on your computer.

Duplicating and modifying the first layer

Next, you’ll create a second layer that is almost identical to the first, using the same source footage and moving in the same direction The difference is that Layer 2 begins at a position that snugs up to the end of Layer 1, so the two move in tandem, like two cars of

a train, without any gap between them Rather than recreating everything for a new layer, you can re-use and modify Layer 1

1 Select Layer 1 and choose Edit > Duplicate, or press Ctrl + D (Windows) or

Command + D (Mac OS) A new layer appears, having the same position keyframes as the original

2 Select Layer 2 and press P to open the Position property, if it’s not already open.

3 Draw a marquee around both Position keyframes to select them Or, click the word

Position in Layer 2

4 Move the current-time marker to 0:00.

5 In the Composition window, drag Layer 2 to the right so that the layer is positioned in

the center of the Composition window As you drag, press Ctrl + Shift (Windows) or

Command + Shift (Mac OS) to snap the layer to the center of the composition Notice

that both of the layer keyframes (shown as small X’s) move with the layer as you drag.

Layer 2 at 4:01 (left) and at 0:00 (right)

6 Press P to hide the Position property.

7 Preview the animation The two layers now move in tandem from left to right, from

0:00 to 4:01

8 Save the project.

When you moved Layer 2 and its keyframes, the center of the Composition window

became the Position value for the first keyframe Because you also selected the second

keyframe, the two moved as a unit, maintaining their relative positions When the

composition starts, Layer 2 is at the center of the composition, filling the frame, and Layer

1 is out of view on the left side of the frame At the end of the motion, Layer 1 has moved

in to fill the frame and Layer 2 has passed out of the frame to the right

Note: If you don’t see the X’s representing the layer keyframes, open the Composition window

menu and make sure that Layer Keyframes is selected.

Adjusting the work area for pulsating squares

You’ll take steps now that set up the animation to be easier to preview and better looking,

so you won’t have a “stutter” in the motion

The first and last frames of this animation are identical, so the animation would stall for one frame each time it loops Use the keyframe navigation arrows on the far left of the Position property to see this by jumping back and forth between the first keyframe and the last, or by pressing J and then K

You fix the stutter by removing one of the two identical frames You do this by redefining the work area, limiting it to the area in which Position keyframes occur

1 Move the current-time marker to 4:00 (one frame before the second keyframe)

2 Press N to set the end of the work area at the current time Or, drag the handle at the

right end of the work-area bar, watching the display in the Info palette until it reads 4:00 You can press Shift as you drag to snap the work-area handle to the position of the current-time marker

The work-area bar now ends at 4:00, and the background color of the timeline beyond the work area changes to a darker shade of gray

3 In the Time Controls palette, click the RAM Preview ( ) button The RAM preview now plays back only those frames that are within the work area

4 Save the project and close the Timeline and Composition windows.

When you render this composition, you’ll select a setting so that it renders only the work area rather than the entire length of the composition

Creating a second composition for pulsating squares

Next, you’ll create a composition similar to the one you just made except for three details: you give the composition a different name, you use different artwork, and the new layer travels from right to left Consequently, you do this procedure using the same steps as

before, so this is a good time to see how much you can do on your own You can refer to the instructions for creating the Moving Right Comp as your guide, beginning with

“Creating a composition for pulsating squares” on page 87, but be careful to include all the following differences:

• Create the new composition, but this time name it Moving Left Comp Otherwise, use

the same composition settings you used for the Moving Right Comp

• Add a layer to the composition, but this time use the SquaresLayer03.psd from the

layered Photoshop footage file

• Animate Layer 1, but this time set the 0:00 Position keyframe at the coordinates 1290,

150 (just outside the frame on the right) Then, set the 4:01 Position keyframe at the

center of the composition frame

• Create Layer 2 by duplicating Layer 1 and set the current-time marker at 0:00

• Select both the Layer 2 Position keyframes, and drag Layer 2 to the center of the sition frame

compo-• Set the work area to end at 4:00

When you finish your work on Moving Left Comp, check your work and preview the

animation Make sure you’ve used the Moving Left Comp name, the SquaresLayer03.psd footage file, and that the layers travel from right to left Then close the Composition and Timeline windows

Creating an all-inclusive composition for pulsating squares

You’re ready to bring the different parts of your composition together: the two animations you’ve made so far and another Photoshop layer that won’t be animated The first task is

to create the composition that will combine all these resources

1 Choose Composition > New Composition, or press Ctrl + N (Windows) or

Command + N (Mac OS) The Composition Settings dialog box opens

2 In Composition Name, type Squares02 Comp