Shape Animation – Converting to Shape Layers

Topics Covered in This After Effects Tutorial:

Converting an AI Layer to a Shape Layer, Cleaning up Shape Layers, Animating Layers to Follow a Path

Exercise Preview

Exercise Overview

In this exercise you’ll work with text animation as a tool for animating graphics.

Previewing the Final Video

1. Let’s see a preview of what you’ll be making. If you’re in After Effects, keep it open but switch to your Desktop.
2. On the Desktop, navigate to Class Files > After Effects Advanced Class> Text Animation > Preview Movie and double–click Shape Animation—HUD.mp4.

3. Notice the following:

   • There are two groups of animated text, one on either side of the screen.
   • There is an animated graphic with growing bars at the bottom of the screen, that is made of text as well.
   • There are two sets of animated arrows running towards each other, this is made from a text layer too.

4. Replay the video if you need to, and close it when done.

Setting up the Workspace

1. In After Effects, go to Window > Workspace > Standard.

2. Choose Window > Workspace > Reset “Standard” to Saved Layout.

3. If the After Effects window does not fill the screen, maximize it:

   Mac:	At the top left of the window, click the green button (the third button).
   Windows:	At to the top right of the window, click the Maximize button (the middle button).

Getting Started

1. In After Effects, if you have a project open, choose File > Save.

2. Choose File > Open Project and:

   • Navigate to Desktop > Class Files > After Effects Advanced Class > Shape Animation > Finished Projects.
   • Double–click on HUD—Sliders.aep to open it.

3. Choose File > Save As > Save As and:

   • Name the file Your Name—HUD.aep and
   • Save it into Desktop > Class Files > After Effects Advanced Class> Shape Animation.

Shape Layers: Animating the Slider Graphs

In this part of the lesson, we will again convert an imported Illustrator vector into a native AE shape layer. This time however we will see how this process can sometimes create very complex shape layers and how to deal with them.

1. With the HUD—Your Name.aep file open, click on the Graph—Sliders layer to select it and:
   • Press Cmd–Shift–C (Mac) or CTRL–Shift–C (Windows).
   • Change the name to Graph—Sliders—Animated
   • Confirm the Open New Composition switch is enabled.
   • Click OK.
2. CTRL–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the layer and choose Create > Create Shapes from Vector Layer and then:
   • Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) and rename it Slider 01
   • Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) again or click on any empty area of the timeline to finalize the change.

3. Click the reveal arrow for Slider 01 and then click the reveal arrow for Contents.

   This reveals 116 separate groups. Each of the diagonal lines along the two outlines and the circle for each slider is what makes up the content of all these different groups.

4. Click on the label color for the Slider 01 layer and change it to Yellow and then:
   • Click on Group 1 to see which shape highlights.
   • Repeat this selection process for Group 3 and Group 10.

   Notice how they seem to be created in a specific order? By continuing click on the different groups we can figue out which shapes makes up each slider graphic. Don’t worry, we’ve gone through the trouble of doing this for you.

5. Click on Group 30:
   • Hold Shift
   • Click on Group 116 to select every group in-between.
   • Press Delete (Mac) or Backspace (Windows) to delete all the highlighted shapes.
6. Click on Group 2:
   • Hold Shift
   • Click on Group 29 to select every group in-between.
   • CTRL–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on any of the highlighted shapes and choose Group Shapes.
   • Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) and rename the new group Other Assets.
   • Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) again or click on any empty area of the Timeline to finalize the change.
7. Click on Group 1:
   • Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) and rename the new group Ball.
8. Click the reveal arrow for the Ball shape and then:
   • Press the reveal arrow for Transform: Ball.

9. Change Scale to 125

10. Hold Option (Mac) or ALT (Windows) and click on the stopwatch for Position.

11. Add the following two lines of code to the expression text field:

    myWig = wiggle(3,30);

    [myWig[0], value[1]];

    Click the reveal arrow for the layer to hide the visible properties.

    NOTE: You can click anywhere outside the text field to finalize the expression.

12. Press Spacebar to preview the Timeline.
    • Press Spacebar again at any time to stop the preview.
13. Click on Slider 01 and press Cmd–D (Mac) or CTRL–D (Windows) to duplicate the layer and:
    • Hold Shift and press the Up Arrow on the keyboard until the new layer is above the first slider.
    • Repeat this step until you have 4 sliders

    NOTE: Make sure the top slider is positioned at the top of the comp.

14. Select all 4 sliders and choose Window > Align and:
    • Click the Distribute Vertically button.
    • Choose Window > Workspace > Reset “Standard” to Saved layout
15. Press Spacebar to preview the Timeline.
    • Press Spacebar again at any time to stop the preview.

    Even though the initial position for each ball is the same, the wiggle expression guarantees they are each positioned differently horizontally.

16. Press Cmd–K (Mac) or CTRL–K (Windows) or choose Composition > Composition Settings and:
    • Confirm the Lock Aspect Ratio switch is enabled.
    • Change the Width to 235
    • Click OK to close the dialog.

17. Close the Graph—Sliders—Animated composition and return to the Shape Animation—HUD composition to see the change in the sphere.

18. Press Spacebar to preview the Timeline.
    • Press Spacebar again at any time to stop the preview.

19. Save the project by choosing File > Save or pressing Cmd–S (Mac) or CTRL–S (Windows).

Shape Animation: Making a Layer Follow a Custom Motion Path

For simple animations like basic curves and arcs you can adjust a layer’s motion path directly. But what do you do if you need to make a layer follow a very specific path. This is where Create Nulls from Paths comes in. This panel in After Effects allows you to create Null Object layers that can either follow or control paths. You’ll find this helpful for a wide variety of animation tasks.