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Embedded Files
Exporting
Exporting
You can't show off your hard work unless you export the media. Both small Animated GIFs and full 1080p videos can be created at the same time. Remember that GIFs can be added directly to your Portfolio (like below) but MP4s must first be uploaded to your DO NOT DELETE folder.
Click on any monster GIF to see more!
GIF Animation
This is what we can call "In-Place" animation; no part of the Monster gets cut off and it's purpose is to automatically play and show the action that was keyframed in After Effects. Make absolutely certain you reduce the size! 1920x1080 is not an acceptable resolution for GIFs.
MP4 Animation
251203 ELAR Monster - Moshue Hicks (Geo)_1.mp4This is still an "In-Place" animation, but visitors have to click on it to watch. It's the full 1920x1080 resolution and ALL the detail that is missing from the GIF can be seen. You can make the video loop to see the same ongoing animation as the GIF as well. Note there is no transparency, so if your monster is black, you will need to use Layer-->New-->Solid in After Effects and put the color layer underneath the rest.
Post-Keyframe Mods
Post-Keyframe Mods
Illustrator is still the best place to make visual improvements to your monster.. a little Inner Glow can go a long way to making your Monster really POP. As long as the Layer naming and order aren't changed, you can even move paths from one layer to another safely.
Finalizing Monster Files
Finalizing Monster Files
(What gets turned in?)
File Dependencies
File Dependencies
Making absolutely sure you have the right versions of project files is much easier with the After Effects "Dependencies" feature. Use it to create a new separate set of folder with the AEP and AI files needed to export your animations. Use the right Date Code!
Animate GIF - Hard Edged
Animate GIF - Hard Edged
240107 Aaliyah Sentmat.mp4MP4 Video Version
MP4 Video Version
Above is the full-resolution version of the animation, inserted via the DO NOT DELETE folder on Google Drive. On the left is the GIF with transparency, using the Hard Edges setting.
Finalizing Vector Art
We have very little time to make some adjustments to our After Effects animation of our Monster and get all our vector artwork uploaded and documented on our digital portfolios. Having an animated GIF on your Vector Art page is a great way to show off your work - the ones below are short, repeating loops that were resized to around 400 pixels. Ideally GIFs are between 1-2 megabytes because the web page would load VERY slowly otherwise and maybe not at all on a slow connection or a phone. Texted GIFs only work well because the files use very little data! (Click the link underneath the animations for a second page with the next 12 larger files). Note how slow it loads the GIFs, even if you are on super-fast broadband here at school.
Logan R.
Anissa G.
Karishma U.
Jack P.
Jovane M.
Reagan S.
Tiffany P.
Tyler L.
Tegan W.
Teagan A.
Penny L.
Kai E.
Digital Portfolio Update
Digital Portfolio Update
Use your link on the 2025 Portfolios master page to get to your site before you begin editing. (This verifies that your link is working). Add & edit your Vector Art page by uploading graphics you have created with Illustrator and animated with After Effects. Include the Photoshop cropped and leveled JPG of your monster so visitors can see what you drew in ELAR first. Everything you worked on for this grading period should be uploaded and written about!
Make sure you have at least these 3 pages visible now - Home, My Favorite Things and Vector Art.
These should be on your Vector Art page:
Sample Graphic
Any Shape Sampler experiments
Emojis
ELAR Monster (original JPG, Illustrator PNG, After Effects GIF & MP4)
Some other designs you may have created:
Recolor Artwork practice
Rainbow Tutorial
3D Inflated Versions
Anything else!
Refresher - Adding Video to Your Portfolio
We added our My Favorite Things video to our Portfolios in the last Unit - now we have a short MP4 to put on our Vector Art page. It's pretty straightforward but VERY important to use the right file. Locate and view the video you are going to use before you take the following steps:
Open Google Drive and go to your "PORTFOLIO FILES - DO NOT DELETE" folder.
Use the Add --> File option and navigate to the folder where your video is located.
On your Vector Art page, use Insert --> Drive --> PORTFOLIO FILES... and select your video.
This is a high resolution 1920x1080 video, so you can make it as big on the page as you like. Do NOT make your GIF large - it's best viewed at its actual resolution.
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AE Tutorials: Andrew Kramer
AE Tutorials: Andrew Kramer
Andrew has been sharing his knowledge of After Effects for over a decade and really knows his stuff. The Hollywood-grade special effects he breaks down for us are sometimes extremely challenging and require extra plugins but there is a tremendous depth to his website. It's what got me hooked!
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