Last week on Intro to the making of we were asked to create backgrounds in Photoshop that we would then play around with multi plane animation in After Effects. This session would be focusing on this particular task, however Annabeth told us this wouldn't be 2D but 3D multilane animation this was the next step in the multi plane process that the original Disney animators used many years ago with the multi plane camera. I was quite interested in this 3D approach and wondered if it would help in the development of my understanding of motion story animation and add a more animated feel to the work. We were shown a demonstration of how we would work about using our work in terms of the process so that we weren't "flying blind" so to speak. The first element that we needed to do was import our photoshop files into After Effects and made sure that the import settings were on editable layer styles much like before when we started using this method of background animation.
This was the point where we were reminded how it would help naming the layers of our work before saving it as it would eliminate the risk of getting confused on which layers we animated. This was an element we needed to work on when doing this element in group animations in the future so that one person wouldn't be doing it by themselves. When our files were imported they required 3D elements on them, this was an element that I was most curious about and Annabeth demonstrated that the key was enabling the 3D properties on the layers and the symbol was the cube in the properties bar under the project folder in the work space. By doing this it would introduce new rotation options to the objects such as the Z depth rotation much like we have to work with in Maya for animation 101. When the assets were activated we then had to separate the layers slightly from each other but we had to be careful as the movement of elements can cause them to overlap or in some instances disappear into the white background.
In addition we were introduced to a feature in After Effects that we didn't expect to be there and that was the ability to have a split view of what we were working with, much like Maya, showing again Annabeths theory of how some of the software packages were remarkably similar. To do this we selected an area on the time line marked one view which when opened gave us the option of 2 views which would split the screen. One would display the animation itself, the other a birds eye view of the screen as Annabeth mentioned it would be like we were looking down on the animation layers.
In this process we would separate the layers in the piece to make a composition that we could work with in terms of the 3D multi plane elements, this was when Annabeth introduced the next phase and this was introducing the camera to the multi plane piece. To place the camera into the composition there was an option in the layer option in the tool bar and that was new and camera. Selecting the camera option would then bring up a box showing the settings. Annabeth informed us that by default the settings were 50mm lens and if we altered the default settings the settings that followed would be altered accordingly. In this the camera was not to go into the composition as it would need to be in a separate one for this process to work and then the composition that the Photoshop layers were in would then be placed into this composition this was an element called nesting two compositions together.
We were then sent off to work on our own pieces and so I imported my photoshop background piece and then began playing with it in after effects but before doing so I made sure that the 3D assets were activated on all the layers and then I played around with the offsetting as I realised it would be a good idea to do some animation on the elements before I introduced the camera to the process. I began with the nebula and applied the offset I clicked effect, distort and offset activating the effect option in the layer and by turning on the stopwatch it meant key frames could be applied. The nebular had to move for a majority of the animation, however to add some realistic elements I had to make sure the nebular moved slowly as in television shows such as Voltron the nebula moved slowly across the screen. This was then a matter of using the position tools to move the planet fragments in front of the moon and behind the mining outpost.
I then tried implementing the camera element to this composition however because I was caught up creating the movement in the animations I forgot one crucial element which would later cause issues. I placed in the camera at the settings of 80mm just to play around with it in the composition. However I soon discovered that by moving the camera and playing with the settings I couldn't get the scaling or proportions right in the composition. I was getting worried and frustrated that I was missing something so trying to find a solution I looked around the classroom and I saw Annabeth showing Paige an element called Null which would help in the camera element of the composition so I introduced this to my own composition and this was introduced by clicking the null object option in the new layer toolbar.
However this had no effect and thats when I realised that this wasn't working so it was best that I started again and see if I could improve on my mistakes. I decided to ask for Annabeth for guidance to see what I was doing wrong and how I could build upon it and she reminded me that the 3D layers had to be separated slightly from each other such as shrinking the background nebular slightly and enlarging the outpost I was a bit confused by the use of this element as I wasn't sure how this would be affected in the render queue, Annabeth said there was more to be done later. The camera and null object were introduced into a new composition at 1080 25fps standard settings for this piece. It was then that Annabeth mentioned that the Null element could be used as the controller for the camera to save the trouble of switching the stopwatches one by one and move the object as we please. To link it she dragged the camera and a line appeared on the null which created a link between the two and it was renamed control camera.
This would help in angles and positions.Once completed I could see the 3D elements of the piece as she began to set keyframes within the film and moved the camera away from the moon which she started at and even zooming out with the position and scaling key frame stopwatches. Upon this demonstration I decided to make my own intro like a normal story would where it started on the curved crust of the moon then zoom out past the planet fragments and soon end at the mining outpost.
I first made some offsetting animation on the nebula again using the same speed of a slow motion so that it didn't move too fast. The next element was moving the planet fragments across using the positioning keyframes and much like the nebula I moved them at a slow pace even utilising the Z rotation elements of the 3D elements of the layers. Upon completing each layer I played the piece back however there was a little issue as when I played it the piece seemed extremely slow and glitched little.
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| Clone stamp tool |
Annabeth explained it was possibly because the piece was a bit bigger than the original specifications needed for this exercise which was a bit of a surprise as I was sure it was at the correct scale when I made it. I was then wondering how the piece would be fully rendered if the nebular and moon didn't fit and she said that these needed to be scaled up slightly so that it would fit the screen. However for elements like the moon it needed to be raised into a corner as it wasn't fully rounded. Annabeth then saw how my nebula had a line in it from the offsetting and she suggested a trick in photoshop to make it look flawless and being curious I opened my original Photoshop file and let her show me. The key to this was a tool called the clone stamp tool and the idea being the stamp would select a section of the coloured background and then when when converted to a brush the cloned element would be introduced to the blank section of the nebular and this would smooth it out and make it smooth when introduced to the piece. I was amazed by this and she suggested using this for the moon however for now I left the moon alone, saved the edited nebula, imported it into After Effects and the offsetting was applied.
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| refined nebular for after effects |
I took note of this for future reference in any further multi plane pieces we did in the future. I played the piece over and over to make sure that I didn't miss anything which thankfully I noticed a crucial mistake and that was a small gap below the outpost so this was adjusted.
It was then time to render the piece into a film file and given the time in the lesson we had left it was now time to render it. Having now got acquainted with the idea of After Effects I knew what to do and what settings to apply, this was added to the render que and the animation format codec was altered to H.264 for rendering. However given that this was a large file it took a very long time to render about 1hr 40 minutes approximately. Upon finishing though I saved this to my Pen drive for my blog but was worried this wouldn't fit in my blog but Annabeth assured me this was the setting for Youtube Videos and it would fit, to which I was assured.
Final piece:
Looking back on my work I would think that I've learned a lot from this experience and I may experiment further with this idea of 3D multi plane animation it could prove to be very useful in my goal to learn motion story animations even a possible element in my creative play introduction sequence. I feel that I was walking in the foot steps of the original Disney animators from the golden age of animation using the method of multi plane and it makes me wish we still had films that used these old ways of animation or even think back to when things were much simpler. I hope that we do more of these exercises in the future and who knows how many more secrets of animating in After effects may be discovered if I made more of these animations.
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