Animation in Adobe After Effects

Picture to Graphics

Creating a character to be used in After Effects starts with a character drawing that is first done on paper. This is then loaded either into illustrator or photoshop (I used Illustrator) and converted into vector graphics as body parts and limbs. These layers are then imported into After Effects. The layers that I used are shown to the left:





These layers then build the following character. Each part can be moved independently in AE.

Making the man walk

In my demonstration this was more difficult than I first thought. What is important is to make a complete walk cycle that can be used for continuous motion. My mistake was to not move forward at the same timing as the feet resulting in a sliding motion that looks like Michael Jackson's moon walk dance. This is corrected I latter found out by enabling rulers and using the guides.

My demon video is as follows:

Moving using After Effect Puppet Tool 

Another way to move the limbs in After Effects is by using the puppet tool. The puppet tool has the added advantage of metamorphosis where the character is twisted stretched expanded and contracted etc.

My demo video is as follows:

Changing Facial Expressions

You will have noticed in this video the changes of expression on the girls face. These facial expressions were done by having multiple faces and turning them on and off in the AE timeline. The various expressions were as follows. Although these illustrations show the whole girl in the animation only the face was change.