Motion Library After Effects Animation
Using existing motion libraries in After Effects allows the animator to easily animate interactions according to the requirements of a specific brand or brand ecosystem.
How to….
- I created the vector image in Illustrator, split the artwork into individual layers and imported it into After Effects.
2. I deleted the layer containing the largest “flower” head layer and separated it into its own composition because I specifically wanted that portion of the image to follow the animation library speed graph.
3. I timed out each layer of the artwork (within its own composition)to appear quickly as if each flower were “growing.” *I was short on time this week, so the animation is very simple.* Under different circumstances, I would have attached each flower head to the zoom animation to add a bit more style and whimsy. Note: renaming and numbering each layer in a context like this helps keep everything organized.
4. I then inserted my flower animation [floweranimation1] composition and my large flower head composition [Layer 2/floweranimation.ai] directly into the “horizontalLeft” motion library animation provided by Austin Lee at Carnegie Mellon University.
5. To make the large flower head slide into the frame after the [flower animation 1] was complete, I opted to use the canned animation “horizontalLeft.” To do this, Layer 2 must become the parent of null object “left to right.” This causes the shape to follow the null object’s speed graph without the need to edit the speed graph yourself.
6. Once the object was parented, the large flower head followed the canned animation, but I found that I had to readjust the timing on the other vector objects so animation made sense. That is easily done by dragging the bars closer together to save time.
7. Then, to add a bit of whimsy to the animation, I decided to make the dashed lines spin. The smaller circles spin counter clockwise, and the large flower spin clockwise. To be sure this all happened within the same timeframe, I used the time indicator to mark the time I wanted to begin, and then used the “Rotate” option under “Transform” (with only the layers selected I wanted to modify) to key frame the motion start and end time.
8. To be sure the timing was exactly aligned with the large flower, which not included in this composition, I copied the keyframes from this composition and pasted them into the large flower head layer in the same “Rotation Space.” Then I made sure the rotation was set to positive so the circle would rotate in the opposite direction.
