Tutorial: 2.5d Animation (page 2)

Subtlety sells. Small relative movements, soft shadows and very gradual depth-of -field effects go a long way to represent reality. Almost all of the 100 animated stills used in Polar Classic employ combinations of the following effect categories on the individual Photoshop layers:

1. Depth of field (simple blurs or the more complex 3d+camera approach)
2. Translation
3. Rotation
4. Warps, flares, grain or complex blurs
5. Simulating a camera move
6. Camera jitter
7. Shadows and lighting

1. Create an AE project. I work on sets of ten photos within each AE project, creating a separate composi- tion for each of the PSD files representing each indi- vidual photo. I applied animation techniques to each of the layers within the compositions.
2. Create a composition within the project and import the associated PSD file. Most compositions in Polar Classic were three seconds long.
3. Scale each layer down so it fills the PAL or NTSC frame.
4. Apply effects to each of your layers.
5. Render out your final MOV or AVI file for use in compositing application later.

The following covers three examples of the After Effects compositions, which include most of these effects classes.

One of the most subtle and powerful effects is using a depth-of-field change to direct the viewer toward your key subjects. This example shows how you can animate blurred keyframes on FG and BG layers to simulate a camera's method of selective focus. The Position keyframes, created by a wiggle effect, simulate the two people walking. The Scale keyframes simulate a simple camera zoom by enlarging the objects over time.

Caption: Animating a Blur effect can simulate a shallow depth of field between multiple layers.

As the original layers have much higher resolution than our PAL or NTSC frames, we have plenty of pixels to play with. Animating the position and scale keyframes of the FG and BG layers in AE can help us achieve a moving camera effect (parallax).

The above example shows the use of position keyframes on FG and BG layers to move the layers in X and Y. Animate the scale keyframes equally on the two layers to achieve a zoom-in effect.

Play close attention to the anchor point of each layer as you animate the scale and rotate properties.

These approaches to creating movement and depth of field are a much lighter approach than using 3d layers and cameras. For multiple layers and complex movements, the latter approach will be superior.

Caption: Setting your layers into a coordinated motion will simulate a camera move.

The next example shows the original Polar Classic title screen on the left and the underlying AE composition on the right.

We processed the underlying base photo of golfers on a putting green in many layers. We animated five of the golfers so that they each putt golf balls across the green to spell out the title when the balls rest in their final position.

The FG objects in the PSD layers consist of:

1. A layer for each golf ball which will be putted.
2. A layer for the putter of each golfer who will putt the balls. This is required so the putter can "swing" to propel each ball.

To create the BG layer, the putters (but not the arms of the players) were removed from the original photograph. Note that in the AE composition, simple position keyframes are used for the starting and finishing golf ball positions, along with scale keyframes to sell the effect of the balls moving closer. Rotation keyframes are used on the putter layers (anchor point set at the wrists) to simulate the putter motion.

After Effects has an amazing set of effects and tools to accomplish most shots. How would you accomplish a shot of a golf ball rolling on the green and dropping in the hole? Check the online tutorial to see how we handled this shot in Polar Classic.

Caption: In After Effects, compositions can become difficult to manage, such as in the golf ball title above, with many different layers. Embed compositions of more complex animations to simplify your work space.

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