TUTORIAL

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AFTER EFFECTS

TIME LENGTH
2 hours
CREATE AN ANIMATIC
After Effects is not only a top special effects app used by broadcast professionals, it’s also a first-rate animation
package in its own right. Nick Sneath reveals how to transform your Photoshop files into a professional animatic
INFO
Nick Sneath
is an in-house This tutorial will take you through For a full preview, open the Animating
animator Ë all the necessary steps to create an Sketches Final.mov file on the cover CD.
for London-
animated scene that focuses on an We’re sure you’ll be impressed.
based creative services
house Three Blind Mice.
essential animation technique: the walk The imagery used in this particular
One of the UK’s top cycle. You’ll create the material for this piece comes from an animatic created
storyboard/visualisation piece using a hand-drawn sketch of a for a London-based advertising agency.
companies, it specialises character already scanned in and cut out Animatics are proving very popular in
in animation, 3D design in Photoshop, then bring the result to life film production and advertising, because
and live action work. with the help of a QuickTime movie of they’re a quick way to see how well ideas
For details, visit www.
a Poser animation. work – and relatively cheap to make.
three-blind-mice.co.uk
Note that such a complex animation Ad agencies often use them to pitch to
would be an arduous process without potential clients. Before an inch of film is
such a reference materials, which prove shot or a dab of paint added to an 1 Copy the Animating Sketches folder from
the cover CD to your computer. Open the
Animating Sketches.aep file. Import the file
valuable when your budget is limited and animation cel, the client can see clearly
time is pressing. As usual, all the relevant how the piece will look, and make Walk Sketch.psd, selecting Composition from
the Import As drop-down list. This imports the
files are provided on the cover CD. changes accordingly.
file with the layers intact. Double-click on
As a final flourish, you’ll learn how to Walk Sketch comp1 to open it on the timeline.
duplicate and set each figure within a 3D Animatic and tutorial by Nick Sneath Make the composition 50 frames long, at
space with an animated background. www.three-blind-mice.co.uk 25fps (Composition>Composition Settings).

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 TUTORIAL

FOR REFERENCE
Poser is a useful tool
for animation. You
can adjust the Poser
figure’s dimensions
to match your own
characters, then use
any of its preset poses
as reference points.
The Walk Designer
is particularly useful

2 Select the Arm Front layer. Choose the

Pan Behind tool from the Tool palette
and Move the Anchor Point to the top of the
for creating your own
walk cycles. But if you
prefer working with
5 Drag Poser Walk.mov from the Project
window and place it at the top of the
timeline (Layer>Bring Layer To Front). Change 8 Go to frame 5. You’ll now need to move
the hand-drawn figure’s parts every
arm, where it would naturally connect to the actual footage, there its Layer Mode to Multiply – this enables you to five frames to follow the Poser figure’s
shoulder. This changes the layer’s pivot are many GIF see both figures simultaneously. Note that the movements (five frames work well, but you
point. You now need to parent the arm to animations of images are already lined up, but not exactly, as can opt for another number if you prefer).
the torso. Open the parent column on the Eadweard Muybridge’s they have different proportions. Still, it’s close Create keyframes by clicking the checkboxes
timeline (Wing menu>Panels>Parent). work available online. enough for you to trace the motion of the Poser on all the hand-drawn layers.
Select Torso from the drop-down list. Muybridge was a figure’s walk cycle.
pioneer in capturing
photographically the
motion of humans
and animals.

3 Repeat this process for the ForeArm

Front layer. Using the Pan Behind tool,
move the forearm’s Anchor Point to the 6 Select all the hand-drawn layers,
apart from the torso. Hit [R] to bring up
9 First, move the torso layer up or down,
following the Poser figure. Now rotate
the limbs one by one, starting with the layers
elbow joint, and parent the ForeArm Front their Rotation values, and make sure you’re attached to the torso. You may need to turn off
layer to the Arm Front layer. Select the latter at frame 0. Click on the Stopwatch icons next the torso layer while adjusting the rear arm.
on the timeline and adjust Rotation to see to the word Rotation to create keyframes on
how the parent layer affects the child layer. all the layers. At frame 50, click in the layers’
Return the layer to a Rotation value of 0. checkboxes to create more keyframes. You
should now have a perfect loop, regardless of
the Rotation values keyframed in-between.

4 Repeat the process carried out in step 2

for the other limbs. Parent the feet to
the corresponding shins, the shins to the 10 Repeat the same process at frame 10,
then every five frames thereafter until
corresponding legs, the legs to the torso, you reach frame 25. The limbs won’t always
etc. Don’t forget to alter the layers’ Anchor line up, but don’t fret about that. As long as all
Points, so that they’re all correctly hinged to the parts remain parallel – ie, the shin front
layer remains parallel to the Poser figure’s
their corresponding layers.
7 Select the torso layer. Hit [P] to open the
layer’s Position properties. Create a
keyframe at frame 0 and frame 50.
front shin – the animation will work.

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 TUTORIAL

AFTER EFFECTS

11 Now’s a good
time to do a
test-run. Turn the
Poser Walk.mov
layer off and click on
the RAM Preview
button in the Time
Controls palette.
Reduce your
resolution for a
quicker result. If you
hold the Shift key
down when hitting
16 You’ll need to amend the shadow to
complete the illusion. Hit [P] and
change its Position information to 384, 518.
RAM Preview you Hit [S] and change its Scale information to
will greatly reduce 125 per cent. Finally, hit [T] and change its
the waiting time. Opacity information to 25 per cent.

17 Duplicate both layers and position

them, starting at frame 50. Create two
more sets of duplicates, starting them

12 If everything looks fine, continue with

the remainder of the frames up to 50.
Then RAM Preview again to see the full cycle.
14 Drag the Walk Sketch comp1 from
the Project window to the timeline
(this process is called “nesting”). You’ll need
at frame 100 and 150 respectively. There
should now be a continuous loop lasting 200
frames. Create a new composition called
If anything looks awry, you might need to to duplicate this layer to create a shadow. “Man & Background”, with the same presets
check your Anchor Points. Compare your Select Walk Sketch comp1 on the timeline, and duration as the Walk & Shadow
project with the Finished Project.aep file, then Edit>Duplicate. With the duplicated composition. Nest the Walk & Shadow
included in the folder on the cover CD. layer selected, hit Return and change the composition inside it.
layer’s name to “Walk Shadow”. Place this
layer below the other layer. You’ll need to
change the Composition’s Background Colour
EASY EASE if it’s currently set to black.
Use Easy Ease (under
Keyframe Assistant)
to enhance the realism
of your animations.
This useful function
softens the change
between keyframe
values, resulting in
more organic and
naturalistic movement.
Simply apply a
keyframe every time 13 Once you’re happy with your walk
cycle, create a new composition and
18 Make the Walk & Shadow comp layer
3D by clicking its 3D checkbox on the
timeline. Change the layer’s position to 208,
your character’s foot call it “Walk & Shadow”. Choose “PALl D1/DV 288, 0 and rename it “Walk Back L”. Duplicate
touches the ground
and adjust its
interpolation with
Square Pix, 768x576” from the Preset drop-
down list, as shown above. Set the Duration
at 200 frames (8 seconds at 25fps).
15 Now add effects to the Walk Shadow
layer to give it a shadow-like
appearance. Add Basic 3D and change the Tilt
the layer, naming it “Walk Back R” and
change its position to 562, 288, 0.

the Easy Ease settings. value to 99 (Effects>Perspective>Basic 3D).

Without it, figures look Now add Hue/Saturation, changing the
like they’re walking Lightness value to – 100 (Effects>Adjust>
along a conveyor belt! Hue/Saturation). Finally, add Fast Blur,
changing the Blurriness value to 4.

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LOOPING
The finished piece in
this tutorial loops
perfectly. This can be
useful when you’re
designing animations
for use in non-linear
products, such as DVD
menus, CD-ROMs or
for the web, where

19 Duplicate Walk Back L and rename it

“Walk Front L”, changing its position 22 The foreground figures are in focus,
but the background figures are not.
memory is at a
premium. For
interactive media, a
25 Parent Walk Front L and Walk Front R
to the Null Layer. At frame 0, change
the Null’s position to 464, 288 and set a
to -87, 28, -100. Duplicate Walk Front L and Select the Camera’s Focus Distance on the looping animation is keyframe. At frame 200, change the Null
rename it “Walk Front R”, changing its timeline. Set a keyframe at frame 65. an appealing option. Layer’s position to 18, 288. This loops the
position to 357, 28, -100. Apply the Hue/ foreground figures walking from right to left.
Saturation effect to layers Walk Back L and
Walk Back R, changing the Lightness value
to -24. (You won’t be able to see Walk Front
R, because it’s currently off-screen.)

23 Now create a Rack Focus – to alter

the animation’s focal point from the
Create a QuickTime movie and make
foreground to the background and back
again. Go to frame 75 and change the
Camera’s Focus Distance to 505. Add another
26 the movie half size (384x288) for
smooth playback. Now play the movie in the
keyframe at frame 140 with the same value. QuickTime Player, changing the Movie setting

20 Drop Background.jpg and Soundtrack.

wav into the timeline at frame 0.
Select the Background.jpg layer, make it a 3D
Go to frame 150 and change the Camera’s
Focus Distance back to 430.
to loop. Notice how the movie loops and how
the audio contributes to the mechanical,
clockwork nature of the animation.
layer and send it to the back. At frame 0,
change its position to -412, 288, 0 and set a
keyframe. Go to frame 200 and change the
layer’s position to 1147, 288, 0. Set your
Composition to Advanced 3D (Composition>
Composition Settings>Advanced>
Rendering Plug-in>Advanced 3D).

24 You now need the two foreground

figures to move across the camera,
from left to right, while the background 27 Create a new Composition called
“Fast Version” and make it 150
figures remain in line with the camera. Note frames long. Nest the Man & Background
that foreground objects appear to cover a Comp inside it and change the layer’s speed
greater distance than background objects, to 75 per cent (Layer>Time Stretch). Create
because of perspective. At frame 0, create a a new QuickTime Movie and compare the two.
new Null Object (Layer>New>Null Object). Feel free to experiment with this!

21 Create a Camera (Layer>New>

Camera) and select Custom from the
Preset drop-down list. Enable the Camera’s NEXT ISSUE IN
Depth of Field setting. Set the Focus Distance
to 430 and the Aperture to 400. Double-check
CHARACTER DESIGN
Bring your characters to life
that the values are as shown above.
with our in-depth expert guide

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