The first thing that we did in the Process and Production lesson was watch a short animation clip that was called 30 Motion Tests in 30 Seconds. I found that this animation was very creative and inspiring because it was different motion graphic pieces in one animation. I thought that the designs flowed really well and connected with each other, which I think is very important when putting an animated and a motion graphic piece together. I also like the style, font and colours that have been used in this design because I think that they stand out well, which is also a very important factor. The music and sounds that have been used within the animation fit well with the effects and motion tests that are happening throughout the film. I think that in the future I will take inspiration from the design again when created my own animated piece.
Here is the animation below:
30 motion tests in 30 seconds from Steffen K on Vimeo.
We were told that throughout second year we will have to create 5 ten second clips and a showreel of our final pieces at the end of the year in the process and production lesson with Sara. We had also been to told that we needed to consider how we our going to present our final pieces, our options were to create a channel on Vimeo, which would hold all our work together. To create a channel on Vimeo you need to go to your account, then select channels and then select the option that says create channel. Finally follow the instructions. Another option was to create your portfolio on a website called Styles.persona.co because you can choose from different styles and then select the one that you like the most, however the disadvantage is that it is £3 a month.
We then moved on to our own animation, the first thing that I did was create our shapes or items that we wanted to use in Illustrator, I found this very straight forward. I decided to create a Hexagon (Burgandy), Circle (Green), Triangle (Yellow/Orange), Diagonal lines (Light Blue), Background (Yellow). After this we then watched another video called Spherical Video that can be found on Vimeo, once we had done this we then opened the programme Adobe After Effects and created a new composition that we could work with for my animation. The first part that I did was to create my diagonal lines and stripes on my comp, I then created a new background colour and foreground so that the animation that I was going to create would work. To do this I went to Layer > Solid, which opened up a new tab, I then selected then selected the foreground colour layer I did this because I wanted to add an effect to the solid colour. To do this I had to select the option that was Effect > Transition > Venetian Blinds. Before I applied this effect to my design I need to change the percentages of the options within this effect so that it would work.
I changed the transition completion from 0% to 50%, the direction to 30% and need to make sure that at this point the timer was halfway through the timeline. I also changed the width to 70%, after this I had to open up the layer in the menu at the bottom of the screen to the left side of the timeline and press the stopwatch for the layer and the comp. I then went back to the back to the start of the timeline and once again changed the transition completion from 50% to 0%, this then automatically put me a new keyframe.
We then moved on and created a composition and were told to call this Shape Test. I had to copy and paste my hexagon from Illustrator on the new layer (solid) in After Effects, to do this I used the keyboard short cut which was cmd + c. I then used the pen tool to select a place that I wanted to paste my shape into and then used cmd + v to paste it onto the layer. We then looked at the Wiggler Paths, which allow your shape to wiggle, to do this I had add the Wiggler Path. To make this effect work, I need to change the amounts. The first was the size which I changed to 63, the detail to 7, the point to smooth and the wiggles to 11, I found that this was a fun tool to use.
After this we looked at a new tool, which was called the wiggler. This is a tool that makes the object of your choice shake. The first part that I had to do was to again create a new composition and name it as the wiggler, I then chose to work with the circle that I had created in Adobe Illustrator where I copied and pasted the shape on to the new solid layer that I created for this composition. I found that the circle that I had pasted was very small and I need to make it bigger and more visible to me. I then moved onto open the layer and click on the transform option and select the position stopwatch, where I then moved the line on the timeline to the end and create a new keyframe by clicking the diamond at the side of the stopwatch. After this I had to open up the wiggler effect, which was located on the menu on the left side of the programme and select the keyframes and change the frequency to 12.0 and the magnitude to 10.0. I had to change and ask for help for this part because it wasn't working for me. Once I had been given help I was then able to press apply.
We then moved onto looking into a new tool called the Shape Morph, which I found was a really interesting tool to use in my design. I firstly selected the Shape Morph tool and changed the duration to 2 seconds and again copied and paste my chosen shape on the solid layer, the shape I decided to use for this design was the Triangle. I then click on the shape layer and select the contents option > shape > path > and then clicked on the path stopwatch, where this would then create a keyframe at the start of the timeline. I then moved the line to 1 second on the timeline and used the pen tool to make the triangle into a different shape by adding extra points to the shape that I had before. After I had played around with this tool I thought that the shape that I had morphed my triangle into looked like a Rabbit's Head.
For the rest of the animation I had to create several other designs using the tool and methods that I had learn't whilst in this process and production lesson. So I decided to copy and paste the background stripes layer and change the hue and saturation, so that the colours I was using would have a contrast between bright and dark colours in the animation. The next animation that I created was a circle using the Wiggler Path and a Hexagon Morph.
However I firstly had to created a title for this animation. To do this I had to create a new composition and use the text tool to add a name to my animation, the font style that I decided to use was Avenir Next Condensed because I thought it was simple and easy to read and wouldn't cause any problems for me. I placed the stripes layer to the back of this and changed the stretch to -100.00% so the stripes would open and close a different way.
The final part that I did in this process and production lesson was to create a final composition that would be made up of my final and little animations that I have created throughout my process and production lesson. I needed to make sure that I rendered out my video out as an Apple ProRes 4444, to get the right quality. I found that this process and production lesson was fun and I am going to looking into these tool later in my own time and future to experiment with them even further and see what I can create.
I changed the transition completion from 0% to 50%, the direction to 30% and need to make sure that at this point the timer was halfway through the timeline. I also changed the width to 70%, after this I had to open up the layer in the menu at the bottom of the screen to the left side of the timeline and press the stopwatch for the layer and the comp. I then went back to the back to the start of the timeline and once again changed the transition completion from 50% to 0%, this then automatically put me a new keyframe.
We then moved on and created a composition and were told to call this Shape Test. I had to copy and paste my hexagon from Illustrator on the new layer (solid) in After Effects, to do this I used the keyboard short cut which was cmd + c. I then used the pen tool to select a place that I wanted to paste my shape into and then used cmd + v to paste it onto the layer. We then looked at the Wiggler Paths, which allow your shape to wiggle, to do this I had add the Wiggler Path. To make this effect work, I need to change the amounts. The first was the size which I changed to 63, the detail to 7, the point to smooth and the wiggles to 11, I found that this was a fun tool to use.
After this we looked at a new tool, which was called the wiggler. This is a tool that makes the object of your choice shake. The first part that I had to do was to again create a new composition and name it as the wiggler, I then chose to work with the circle that I had created in Adobe Illustrator where I copied and pasted the shape on to the new solid layer that I created for this composition. I found that the circle that I had pasted was very small and I need to make it bigger and more visible to me. I then moved onto open the layer and click on the transform option and select the position stopwatch, where I then moved the line on the timeline to the end and create a new keyframe by clicking the diamond at the side of the stopwatch. After this I had to open up the wiggler effect, which was located on the menu on the left side of the programme and select the keyframes and change the frequency to 12.0 and the magnitude to 10.0. I had to change and ask for help for this part because it wasn't working for me. Once I had been given help I was then able to press apply.
We then moved onto looking into a new tool called the Shape Morph, which I found was a really interesting tool to use in my design. I firstly selected the Shape Morph tool and changed the duration to 2 seconds and again copied and paste my chosen shape on the solid layer, the shape I decided to use for this design was the Triangle. I then click on the shape layer and select the contents option > shape > path > and then clicked on the path stopwatch, where this would then create a keyframe at the start of the timeline. I then moved the line to 1 second on the timeline and used the pen tool to make the triangle into a different shape by adding extra points to the shape that I had before. After I had played around with this tool I thought that the shape that I had morphed my triangle into looked like a Rabbit's Head.
For the rest of the animation I had to create several other designs using the tool and methods that I had learn't whilst in this process and production lesson. So I decided to copy and paste the background stripes layer and change the hue and saturation, so that the colours I was using would have a contrast between bright and dark colours in the animation. The next animation that I created was a circle using the Wiggler Path and a Hexagon Morph.
The final part that I did in this process and production lesson was to create a final composition that would be made up of my final and little animations that I have created throughout my process and production lesson. I needed to make sure that I rendered out my video out as an Apple ProRes 4444, to get the right quality. I found that this process and production lesson was fun and I am going to looking into these tool later in my own time and future to experiment with them even further and see what I can create.
