The Adventure of becoming a Pro using Adobe after Effects CC 2020. (Part 2)
Sequel to the previous post I highlighted some techniques that a beginner can apply to make animation simplified.
In today’s post, I will be sharing how you can animate illustration (vector graphics).
Supposing you want to replicate the example I shared here,
the first question will be, how do I go about this? This question pops up every time we are faced with something new but the following steps have been simplified to help you answer the question without stress.
Step 1:
You need your source file/ assets / illustration.
What is illustration? This is a fact or action that simplifies an unspoken idea and communicates expressly to the user. It is different from drawing because illustrations are for commercial purposes.
An illustration has to be a vector image before it can be edited on Adobe Illustrator (Ai). Never make the mistake of importing a picture into Ai, (this is because raster comprises of pixels arranged to form an image while vectors comprises of paths, dictated by mathematical formulas).
Ouch! It’s going to be a frustrating experience.
After successfully importing your vector into Ai, we can now dive into the first things first;
· Vectors are imported into Ai as grouped images, so, it has to be ungrouped. This can be done by clicking on “Layers” at the right pane of Ai.
· After selecting the “Layers” option, scroll down to the panel with the “Layer” title and select it.
· At the top right corner, you will find 3 horizontally aligned bars called the “panel option”. Click on it.
· Scroll down to the option “release to layers sequence” and click on it.
· This single action causes a couple of other layers to pop out beneath the first layer.
· All you have to do is highlight, copy all the new layers and paste it above the first layer.
· Rename all the ungrouped new layers according to what they represent.
· Carefully select the layers you need for your animation on after effects and discard the rest.
· Boo-ha! All you need now is to safe your work using ctrl S.
Following the above steps, you only just completed the first phase of getting your animation done. But yea, this is you on progress and I’m sure it’s already getting interesting.
Step 2:
Now you have your illustration ready to be used for a beautiful animation but how do you get this file into Ae? Let’s dive right into it!
· Start the Ae application
· Create a “new composition”. Why? To get started creating your first project in Ae, you must build your graphic in a composition. A composition is a container where you can layer multiple files together to create a file called composite. Create your composition by simply clicking ctrl + N.
· You are faced with a page layout where you can;
a. Name your composition
b. Reset your preset, preferably custom.
c. Set your width and height, preferably 1920 × 1080 respectively.
d. Set frame rate, preferably 30 frames.
e. Set your resolution quality.
f. Set the duration of the work.
g. Also, choose a very beautiful and befitting background color.
h. Click OK.
When this is done, I bet you are good to go and you can now import your file into the composition you just created by doing the following;
· Locate the project panel at the right side of Ae interface.
· Right click and select “import”. With your mouse on “import” choose file.
· Select the Ai file you saved and change the “import as” option to “composition-retain layer size”.
Note: Importing a file as footage, groups or you can say unites that file. It is always advisable to import as a composition because that way you can work on the file singly.
· After making the necessary adjustments, click on import and that command is sure to be obeyed.
· Double click on the file you just imported into the project panel and whoo-pee! You have your project right here in Ae ready to be animated.
To get started with your animation please visit my first post on “Every Newbie can become a Pro”. There you will find all the essential properties you need to get your animation rolling.
Hey! I believe you can do it.
