Owl Puppet Exercise

Due: Thursday, March 3 @ 1:20pm

Upload .gif animations to the Owl Puppet Exercise folder.

Download the OwlPuppetStart.psd file, and drag it to a new project file called OwlPuppet. This is where you'll also save your After Effects working document as yourLastName_owl.ae.

Go File > Import to import the .psd document. This file type has new considerations! Make sure you select Composition - Retain Layer Size from the "import as" menu, and uncheck "create composition" (image right). Choose Editable Layer Styles (image below) in the pop-up.

Make a copy of the OwlPuppetStart composition that was automatically created on import using Copy/ paste inside the Project Panel; name the duplicate owlPuppetRotation. Double-click it to open it; you'll see that each individual body part is on a separate layer. We're going to animate the legs and wings to repeat a rotation movement, then nest this composition inside a larger one to animate the owl's flight.

Let's start by moving the origin point for both feet, starting with the left (note: in animation, this refers to the character's left, your right. This can get confusing, so let's start internalizing that!) Use the pan behind tool (Y) to move the origin point to the joint from which the foot should rotate; don't be afraid to zoom in if necessary to place it exactly.

Now hit CMD + R to turn on rulers; you can click + drag from the ruler area do drag a guide from the top and the left of the frame. This allows you to line up the origin point exactly on the x-axis.

Use the pan behind tool to move the origin point, and line it up using the guide.

Switch back to the main move tool (V key), and with the timeline cursor at 00.00, rotate the foot +40 and add a rotation keyframe.

Move forward in the timeline to 00:12 frames, and rotate the foot in the other direction (~ -16 degrees). Now move forward to 01:00 (frame 24), select the first keyframe, and use CMD + C / CMD + V to copy/ paste it. Remember how much harder this was in Photoshop, and breathe a sigh of relief.

Select all three keyframes, then add easing: right click > keyframe assistant > easy ease.

Use Copy/ Paste to paste the keyframes as 12-frame intervals. Remember, however, that this is a 3-keyframe cycle, where the end position is the same as the beginning. Don't copy the first keyframe and put it after the last, or you'll accidentally make a hold keyframe. As you add more keyframes, try to loop-select them to copy, which allows you to fill the timeline faster. Pro tip: use CMD + arrow keys to move frame-by-frame in the timeline.

Now let's do the right foot. Make sure you first move the origin point! Then, place the cursor at the first keyframe, and edit the rotation to match the left foot. Use the same method as above to copy/ paste the keyframes, and don't forget to turn on Easy Ease.

Offset the pasted keyframes.

Use the same method to animate the wing rotations. Remember to move the Origin (Anchor) points first, and turn on easing! You should end up with something that looks like this.

Now let's give our owl some space to move around in. Create a new comp, 1920 x 1080, 10:00 long, and name it owlFlight. Drag your owlPuppetStart composition inside this one, and voila! You've used one of AE's most powerful aspects, the pre-composition, or precomp. This is essentially a composition nested inside another composition, where it can function as a single object. You can still go back into the pre-comp and edit individual layers there.

After Effects has another powerful function called expressions, which are bits of code that can be applied to parameters to automate otherwise tedious, laborious actions. One of those is the Wiggle expression, which can be used to create the look of more random, organic movement (which can be hard to get right by keyframing).

In this case, we'll add the Wiggle expression to the position parameter, which is what we want to randomize. Select the layer and hit P to open position, then ALT + Click on the stopwatch to open the Expressions field. Here you can type the following code: wiggle(3,20)

The first number is frequency of movements per second, and the second is amplitude; think of this as the limit to how many pixels the object can move in any direction from its current position. Let's experiment with those numbers. Ultimately, (.5,1000) is good, but notice how the owl will now go out of frame and re-enter.

Part 2: Animation Curves

Let's return to our OwlPuppetStart composition, and take a look at how to edit animation curves via the Graph Editor. This is a powerful way to add expressiveness to movement through timing.

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