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ICD2k3 · Jan 24, 2006, 01:08 AM

hey guys, this is my first post on this section of the forums. I'm a New Media Design student in NY and I just finished my first animation using After Effects. The assignment was to make an animation that synchs up to a song of our choise... please let me know what you think. I was very proud of it. I also learned a very important lesson.

ANIMATION IS FREAKIN HARD

so if there's any animators out there, kudos.

also if you have a min check out my portfolio site at entrance4.net.

My First Animation
My Portfolio

edit: sorry it's only 380 x 240... thats the only way I could keep it under 20mb to not take up too much space on my site.

andi*pandi · Jan 24, 2006, 11:39 AM

looks pretty cool! I just did a little animation in flash this year... you don't realize how many little steps go into it. Must have taken you a long time!

did you do the artwork in illustrator and import into aftereffects? (I know nothing about aftereffects.) Would it have been smaller to do in flash?

and you may want to put a fade on the audio at the end...

great job!

ICD2k3 · Jan 24, 2006, 12:47 PM

hey andi,
I did the artwork in Illustrator, saved it out as PNGs (every single piece that needed to move) and dropped them into after effects. For some reason importing AI files into after effects makes them all pixelated.

Flash is awesome for web content, but in terms of advertising, animation, commecials, stuff like that After Effects is just a better tool... though more confusing to learn.

thanks for the compliment

ICD2k3 · 12:57 PM

ugggghhh multiple post 1

ICD2k3 · 12:57 PM

ugggghhh multiple post 2

ICD2k3 · 12:57 PM

ugggghhh multiple post 3

ICD2k3 · 12:57 PM

ugggghhh multiple post 4

ICD2k3 · Jan 24, 2006, 12:56 PM

ugggghhh multiple post 5

omg i think i set a record

greenamp · Jan 24, 2006, 04:55 PM

Very cool

Macrat · Jan 25, 2006, 12:24 AM

Very nice, I love RJD2; Regarding Illustrator in AE, just be sure to have 'Best Quality' set in the output settings when you render, that will keep it from being pixelated. You can also set each layer to best quality for while you are working, it is a rectangular box with a diagonal line that alternates between a pixlated looking line and a smooth line.

ICD2k3 · Jan 25, 2006, 02:14 AM

ahh, thanks for the tip macrat... I was going crazy trying to figure that out.

art_director · Jan 25, 2006, 09:47 AM

I've only dabbled with After Effects but an editor friend who uses it heavily for rough cuts told me to import all vector art sized much larger than you plan to use it. That will get around the bitmapped appearance with the elements.

RE: AfterEffects in commercials...

You'll find that much of the animation created in AfterEffects is later recreated with high end production tools. The creative side is generally done in AE because it's cheaper, faster and easier than doing it in a full-on prod suite that costs several hundred dollars / hour for edit time. Not to mention, the people who run the high end machines generally aren't into the concept side of animation / effects, though the good ones add to the party when it hits their desks.

bluedog · Jan 25, 2006, 02:36 PM

I've done almost nothing in AfterEffects but some very rudimentary testing. Your animation has a great sense of tempo with the music.

If you are really interested in 2d animation, check out ToonBoom. They have a great application with trial so you can check it out before paying a load of cash for it.

There are a few other software apps for 2d type animation that I looked at a while back. Here are links to these apps.

ToonBoom Studio (there is an 'express' version also)
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/6573

theTab (also has a trial and looks fairly complete)
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/15231

Moho (don't know much about this one).
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10069

They may not be cheap, but their features are 'meant' for a specific style of animation that looks a lot like what you've created in AfterEffects.

krisneph · Jan 25, 2006, 06:54 PM

In order for your Illustrator files to look good in AE you have to turn on Continuous Rasterization which I believe is a little dotted circle next to each layer, where you turn on 3D layers.

krisneph · Jan 25, 2006, 07:05 PM

In order for your Illustrator files to look good in AE you have to turn on Continuous Rasterization which I believe is a little dotted circle next to each layer, where you turn on 3D layers.

moodymonster · Jan 25, 2006, 07:55 PM

looks good - you may be able to get a smaller file by compressing the sound as AAC. May also want to try h.264 for the video - although h.264 can take its time to encode.

(I know its only for web, but everyone likes small files

)

ICD2k3 · Jan 25, 2006, 08:44 PM

Yea for sure. Thanks for the tip. I encoded it with Sorenson 3 with only 32 audio compression (not aac)... maybe if I play around with it a bit I can get a 640 x 480 that takes up roughly the same ammount of space on my website.