(gentle music)
- Hello, and welcome to the 34th video
in this Beginner's guide to Adobe After Effects.
In this tutorial, I'm going to demonstrate how
to create a simple bouncing pin animation in After Effects.
So in the previous episode we made a start
on our video presentation, where we animated
some type and a background image.
In this video we are going to continue on,
and add the next animation element.
In this video I'm going to show you how
to animate a bouncing pin, like this,
which we will then add to complete
the first part of the intro animation sequence.
So in this video, we'll be covering
the following topics: Animating a graphic,
and animating position, scale and opacity.
So, let's get into it.
So here I am where we left off in the previous episode,
where we animated a type layer and a background image.
Now, if you're following along for the first time,
I suggest going back to the previous episode
where we set up this document and animated
the first sequence.
Now if you're continuing on from the last episode,
make sure you have your document open ready.
With our document open, let's proceed.
So looking back at the Photoshop design,
in frame one in the Layers panel,
we can see these five destination pins around the type.
So let's go ahead and put these in.
So back in After Effects, we are going
to bring in a new media element.
So with the PROJECT FOLDER opened,
click into folder two, PROJECT ASSETS,
and then into the IMAGES folder,
then into the AI folder, then into the OBJECTS folder,
and you will see a file called PIN.ai.
Now simply click and drag the PIN file
into the project panel in After Effects.
Upon release we will see our new image asset ready to use.
So I'll quickly drag this new image into the ASSETS folder,
then into the IMAGES folder, and into the VECTOR folder,
because it's an .ai file, an Illustrator file.
So with the asset selected in the project panel,
press cmd + / on Mac or Ctrl + / on PC.
This will place the image into the comp,
and at the top of the layer stack
in the timeline panel.
So looking in the timeline panel,
we can see that this is an Illustrator layer,
because we can see the Illustrator file icon
next to the name.
And right now the color of the pin is black.
So this is a graphic that has been prepared
using Adobe Illustrator.
Now, in After Effects we can convert this to a shape.
So I'll come down and right-click on the layer.
I'll come over to Create, and select
Create Shapes from Vector Layer.
Upon click, a new shape layer will appear,
and the previous layer below will toggle off.
For now we can select the layer below
and simply delete it.
Next I will select the new pin shape layer and press Enter.
This will allow me to change the name of the layer.
And I'll rename this layer to PIN.
So now, if I select the new shape layer,
I can come up to the top menu,
click on the Fill color box,
and select a white color, and click OK.
And now we have our pin graphic to work with.
So now I can click on my pin with
the selection tool and place it wherever I want.
However, I am not going to do that right now.
So I'll press cmd + Z on Mac or Ctrl + Z on PC
to put it back in the middle.
What I'm going to do next is create the first animation.
What I want are five icons to appear
into the frame around the type.
So what I'm going to do here is animate one pin
and then duplicate it a bunch of times.
Okay, so let's start by animating the pin.
Now right now, I just want to focus
on this one graphic here.
So I'm going to turn it into a pre-comp.
So with the layer selected,
I'm going to right-click and select Pre-compose.
Upon click, the settings will appear,
so I'm going to name this PIN,
then I'm going to select,
Move all the attributes into the new comp.
For now I'll select, Adjust composition duration
to the time span of the selected layer.
And I'll check Open in New Composition,
and I'll click OK.
Upon click, we will now open a new comp
with just my white pin inside.
And in the project panel we can see our new comp appear.
So the first thing I'm going to do
is shorten down the duration of this comp.
Right now it's one minute 20 seconds,
and that's far too long.
So I'll press cmd + K on Mac or Ctrl + K on PC,
and this will bring up the Composition Settings.
So down in the Duration I'll change this
from one minute 20 seconds to five seconds, and click OK.
So if we select the PIN layer,
right now the anchor point is around
the middle of the shape.
For the animation I'm about to create
I need this anchor point to be set at the baseline,
right at the bottom point of the pin.
So with the pin selected I'll come up
to the tools menu and select the Anchor Point Tool.
Then I'll come and carefully click and drag
the anchor point down to the baseline
and in the middle, like so,
right at the point here.
Next, with the layer still selected,
I'll press S to activate the Scale settings,
and just drag up, like so.
And you will see, because we placed the anchor point
at the base, when it scales it scales
from the bottom where the anchor point is.
Nice.
So now my pin is ready to animate.
So what I want to do here is have the pin fall
from above with a little rubber bounce effect when it lands.
So I'll zoom in on the pin.
I'll press cmd + R on Mac or Ctrl + R on PC
to activate the rulers.
And I'll drag a guide from the top
and down right to the baseline of the point.
And I'll also make sure the pin
is nicely aligned center to the guides.
Perfect.
So I'm going to start with position.
So I'll drag my time indicator
right to the start of the comp,
and I'll press P to activate Position.
I'll come down and click on the stopwatch
to place my first keyframe for Position.
So next I'll click on the, zoom into frame level switch,
and drag that all the way right.
Now, we have zoomed so far into the timeline
we can now see the individual frames.
So I'll move my time indicator across the timeline
so it's placed at the sixth frame,
and then come and click on the diamond icon
to drop a new keyframe for Position.
So if I zoom out here, we can see that the time
between these two keyframes is quite short,
just a matter of frames here.
So I'll zoom back in to focus on my keyframes,
with my second keyframe in place I'm going
to drag my time indicator back over my first keyframe,
and make sure it's on top of the first keyframe.
Then I'll click on my pin, press and hold Shift
on the keyboard and press up about 10 times.
And this is where I want the pin to start.
Now, as I drag my time indicator across
to the next keyframe, this is where I want my pin to land.
So now I'm going to drag my time indicator
a little further on from the second keyframe,
and I'll press N on the keyboard.
This will set the work area around these two keyframes.
So I'll click somewhere in the work area
and press spacebar to activate preview.
And we can have a quick look at this animation,
and that is looking just fine.
So I'll press spacebar to stop.
So what I want to do now is add
a little bounce effect when it lands.
So I'll place my time indicator right over
the second keyframe.
I'll press S to activate the Scale settings.
And I'll click the stopwatch
to place down a keyframe for Scale.
So I'll move my time indicator across to frame 10,
then I'll come up into the composition panel
and click on the top center square
on the bounding box and drag down, like so.
Upon dragging, we will add a new keyframe
automatically for Scale.
So next I'll drag my time indicator across
a little further, to the 14th frame,
then I'll select my first Scale keyframe,
press cmd + C on Mac or Ctrl + C on PC to copy,
and then press cmd + V on Mac or Ctrl + V on PC to paste.
Upon pasting, a new keyframe will appear
where my time indicator is.
And the pin will go back to the original size.
So if I drag my time indicator over the keyframes,
we can see the effect that is having.
First it falls, and when it lands
it has a little bounce effect.
So I'll press spacebar to activate preview,
and that is looking pretty cool.
So I'll press spacebar to stop.
And what I want to do next is have
the pin fade in as it falls.
So I'll drag my time indicator
to the first frame for Scale,
I'll press T on the keyboard
to activate the Opacity settings,
I'll click the stopwatch to drop down
my first Opacity keyframe, then I'll drag
the time indicator right back to the start.
Next I'll click and drag the Opacity settings
right back to zero.
And I'll press spacebar to activate preview.
And now the pin fades in as it falls.
So I'll press spacebar to stop.
And now I'll select the layer and press U.
This will now show me all the keyframes
I have applied to the layer.
Now this animation is almost complete.
What I will do now is smooth out some
of the animation with some easing.
So I'll press spacebar to activate preview.
And we can see that the animation is a bit rigid.
So I'll press spacebar to stop.
And I'll come down and focus on the Position keyframes.
So I'll right-click on the first Position keyframe.
I'll come down to Keyframe Assistant
and add Easy Ease Out.
Then I'll right-click on the second Position keyframe,
I'll come down to Keyframe Assistant
and add Easy Ease In.
Next I'll click on the second Scale keyframe,
I'll right-click, I'll come down
to Keyframe Assistant and add Easy Ease.
Then I'll select the last Scale keyframe,
I'll right-click, I'll come down
to Keyframe Assistant and add Easy Ease In.
So I'll press spacebar to activate preview,
and we can see that the animation sequence
is much more fluid.
Perfect.
And I'll press spacebar to stop.
So now there is one last thing I'm going
to do to this animation.
And that is to add motion blur.
Now I'll come down to the bottom corner
of the interface, and make sure that
the layer and switches icon is activated,
the first one on the left.
What we need to see here is this stacked circular icon here.
So on this PIN layer, I'll come across and click
the square just under the circle stack icon.
This is the motion blur icon.
With this clicked, motion blur will be applied.
Now also, we will need to click the motion blur icon
located on the top of the timeline panel.
This will enable the effect to work.
So I'll press spacebar to activate preview.
And now we can see a very subtle motion blur
as the pin falls.
Perfect.
And I'll press spacebar to stop.
So now I'll come and click back on the Main Comp tab,
and back in the Main Comp we can now see
this new PIN comp layer in the timeline.
And if we look over in the project panel
we can see the PIN comp.
So I'll select the PIN comp layer in the project panel
and drag it up and place it into the PRE-COMPS folder.
Next, I'll come down and click on the colored square
for my comp layer and select Blue.
So looking back at the Photoshop design
we can see where I have positioned them, and to what size.
So back in After Effects, I'll select my PIN comp layer
and press S to activate the Scale settings for the layer.
And I'll come and drag the scale down to around 40%.
Next, with the Selection tool,
I'll click and drag my pin into the first position,
taking reference from my Photoshop design.
Okay, so now I need another four of these.
So with the layer selected,
I'll press cmd + D on Mac or Ctrl + D on PC
to duplicate the layer.
With the new layer in the timeline panel,
I'll click and drag it into the next position,
taking reference from my Photoshop document.
So now I need another three of these.
So with the layer selected,
I'll press cmd + D on Mac or Ctrl + D on PC
to duplicate the layer.
With the new layer in the timeline panel,
I'll click and drag it into the next position,
taking reference from my Photoshop design.
So using this technique I'm going
to duplicate the layer a further two times,
and position them in place,
taking reference from my Photoshop document.
So now we have five pins that are in position.
And if I scrub the timeline indicator over these layers,
we can see that all five pins bounce in at the same time.
Now, I want these pins to animate in at various intervals.
So what I can do here is simply click and drag
each pin comp layer, and drag it further across
the timeline at various points,
so as the animation start and end at different times.
So I'll drag them across one at a time
until I have something that looks like this.
And now we can see these layers
are starting at various times.
So I'll drag the time indicator
to the start of the timeline and press spacebar
to activate preview.
And now we can see the pins are animating in,
at various times.
Perfect.
So this is the first part of
the introduction section covered.
At this point I would recommend saving your document
so we can continue in the next episode.
Now looking back at the Photoshop design,
if we toggle off the visibility of frame one
in the Layers panel, we can look at frame two.
So frame two uses the same type style
and map background, but set on a red color
instead of the blue.
In the next video I'm going to show you how
to animate a simple transition
from frame one to frame two.
So see you in the next video.
(gentle music)