Aftereffects: Boiling Animation

In this tutorial session with Sara, I am learning how to animate using the ‘Boiling’ technique; this process involves sketching out drawings and outlining the paper, using a trace-over to copy the image as many times accordingly. It is important to keep the same structure of the sketch otherwise the animation scene will change, but however the trace-over will slightly alter changes, which is what we want. The set-up in Photoshop, must be 1920 and 1080 to match the standard scene in Aftereffects.

Here is an example of a Boiling animation

As you can see, the animation scene is only 12 seconds however the process would have taken a couple of hours to produce, since the user must draw out each scene repeated in stop motion dealing with the little details for that jiggy effect of the image.

First I started to layer the 3 images by lowering the opacity and placed each image on top of each other, this is to make sure the precision is accurate. However the images must be flattened individually and be saved into a ‘jpg’ to allow the files to be imported. So for example, the files must be saved in the correct number sequence, such as Layer 1 will be ‘001’, this will avoid further confusion or complications later on.

When importing the files into Aftereffects, I made a note of always remembering to tick the ‘Jpeg Sequence’ box so that the files are in the correct order, otherwise the images will be scattered or missing.

Photoshop Setup:

Canvas size: 1920 & 1080
DPI: 72

Aftereffects Boiling Setup:

Composition: HD 1920 & 1080
Seconds: 10s
Column:
– Stretch – 200%
Stretch is normally 100%, to slow down the process, increase the value

Interpret Footage:

• Main
• Looping 50
• Assume the Frame rate 25

It is important to remember that the colors of the image must be black and white in Photoshop and Aftereffect whilst the editing process is underway. This is so that if you wanted a change in colour, you would have to restart by saving another ‘Jpeg’. To do this, I went onto ‘Effects’ followed by ‘Colour Correction’ and then ‘Hue and Saturation’ in order to ‘Crush the colour’ a term used by professionals in removing the natural colours that had been imported. However once the process has been completed, in order to place colour into the scene, you can edit the animation once you have imported.

I included text into my animation, that’ll have a scribble effect using a texture, however when you create the text, it doesn’t blend in with the overall theme. The solution to this problem is to, use the ‘Pen Tool’ to scribble on top of the text and not close the vectors. I must apply an effect to get the vector points of the text to follow the jiggle lines using the ‘Stroke’ and change the brush size and apply to the keyframe.

This is the my finished boiling animation scene.

Animation Character

This tutorial has been very helpful for me, in learning Abode Affecteffects, during the process I managed to teach myself the ‘Hotkeys’ or keyboard shortcuts to avoid the unnecessary navigating. My animation is set on a ‘Loop’ cycle, meaning that from start to finish it will process the keyframes for a smooth never-ending transaction that is unnoticeable to the viewer.

The difference between ‘Looping’ and ‘Living Holes’ are:-
Looping – The same keyframe at the beginning and end.
Living Holes – Animate Characters using small movements, to create a realistic video.

The textures had been assigned to each layer and scaled according using the ‘Alpha Matte’ on the trackmatte, this is called ‘Parenting’ which is useful to avoid leaving the texture from going out of synch, from the original layer that is composing the character. Since my character is an old timely gangster, I positioned the keyframes for his movements to sway side to side unnervingly with the content anger in his face slowly building up, I achieved this effect by using the ‘Scales’ using the anchor points to close his eyes in a un-normal blinking manner.

The animation was plain in my opinion and I wanted to step away from that, so to spice things up I decided that my short clip should feature guns. It was difficult to pinpoint the correct keyframe, since I had to exaggerate the jolted movement upon the ‘shooting’ to tie in with the blood splatter on the wall. To get around this problem I researched the Internet and found that holding ‘cmd’ and tapping right the keyframe will move to the next without skipping that vital second I needed.

Overall I am very happy with the animation I have created, and I am looking forward to improve my skills further on Aftereffects.

Animation Overview

Based on a true legend of the famous unsolved code.
The film contains 16 hidden messages that hold clues to the characters’ secrets. Eight are fairly easy requiring only a close eye. Six are moderately difficult using various encryption methods. Two are extremely difficult requiring a genius mind to decrypt.

 Here are some examples, we were presented with during our tutorial with Sara, the animation “Thomas Beale Cipher” is a fantastic demonstration of mixed media. As a starting point, the production team collected and photographed textures, as primary research, second-hand stores were a useful source, as the creator desired that old vintage appeal with colours that evoked the era and palettes designed for the film, which were scanned in digitally. The textures had a major impact on the animation, each scene without fail was directly in your face. The realism and the deliberate jolt movements of the camera view also was the setting stone to bringing the story to life as it progressed through start to finish.

I will keep theses factors in mind when it comes to designing my animation character.

Illustrator: Character Creation

The illustrative character which I have based my trace-over on, is an old notorious gangster, Al Capone whose reputation of gaining power, through illegal bootlegging spread fear throughout the streets of Brooklyn. To start off with, I searched the Internet collecting images for a suitable reference and decided to go with a classic black suit and red tie. This character creation, is the first stage of my brief given, the aim is to eventually import the finished piece into Aftereffects for a loop animation.

Reference Image

Reference Image

Reference Image

Tie Texture

Outer Collar Texture

Inner Collar Texture

Wallpaper Texture

Blazer Texture

 

Original

Developed

 

Textured

Illustrator: Finished Trace-over

I have finished completing my trace over of the Iconic celebrity, Marilyn Monroe . I have really enjoyed learning the basic fundamentals of Illustrator and the techniques showed within Steve Calcutt’s tutorial will be of vital importance within the near future.

                                                                    Eye Progression
I started out with the simple Eye outline trace over, however I was told to not enclosed the oval shape as we were trying for a comical effect on Marilyn Monroe. As I progressed onto the refinement detail such as the eyelashes, I used the “Pen Tool” to create a single line which was “Curved” and then copied multiple times and adjusted the lengths accordingly. I had to place White highlight of the eye below the outline so that it will save time rather than fiddling with the vector points to accurately be placed on the outline.

Eye Outline

Eyebrows Added

Eyelashes Added

White Highlight Added

Eye colour Added

Pupils Highlight Added

                                                                      Mouth Progression
I struggled on drawing the mouth and had several attempts before succeeding, by using the same layering technique as the eye. Tracing over the teeth was rather difficult, I had to lower “Opacity” down to 50% for visibility on the Mouth Outline for a clear trace over. Once that was completed, I added the refinement details such as highlights and black area of Marilyn mouth.

Mouth Outline

Teeth Added

Teeth Highlight Added

Mouth Highlight Added

Progression from start to Finish