Animation Methods

In this lesson about animation we learned how to animate in Adobe Photoshop. We started off with creating a frame animation. For this I created a ball which bounces off the screen. After creating the shape you have to alter it on different layers e.g. move it towards the edge of the screen.

To create a frame animation I followed these steps:

1. File / New / Size = 300 x 100px

2. Layers / create new layers and add artwork (at least 5 layers)

3. Select all layers

4. Window Menu / Timeline / Create Frame Animation / Select frame

5. Timeline window menu / Make Frames from Layers

6. Change Loop options to Forever

7. Select all frames / Change frame times to 0.1sec

8. File / Save for Web / Gif / loop forever

We also learnt to animate using video layers- as you can see below:

 
To create this clip I followed these steps: 
1. File / New / 960 x 540px Square pixel

2. make sure timeline is open

3. Layers menu / Video Layers / New Blank Video layer

4. Timeline window menu / Set Frame Rate / set to 12fps / Ok

5. Timeline menu / Turn on Onion Skin / Zoom layer to fit timeline

6. Playhead settings button / turn on Loop Playback

7. Draw artwork / new frame / draw next frame / new frame etc

8. Shorten work area to suit / play animation

9. Layers menu / Video Layers / New Blank Video layer

10. add another animation

11. File / Export / Render Video / Quicktime - jpeg medium quality - 24fps

The onion skin setting allows you to see the previous drawing you did so your character or object can transition smoothly.

Jump - Hand Drawn Test from Phoebe Whitehead on Vimeo.

Thirdly we learnt how to animate hand drawn work to do this I followed these steps:

1. File / Open / Jump.psd

2. Select all layers

3. Timeline / Create Frame Animation / Select frame

4. Timeline window menu / Make Frames from Layers

5. Change Loop options to Forever / Play

6. Select all frames / Change frame times to 0.1sec

7. Crop image to fit better

8. File / Export / Render Video / Quicktime - jpeg medium quality - 24fps

 
Video Rotoscope Experiment from Phoebe Whitehead on Vimeo.

Video Rotoscoping was the longest of all the animations to create because of the detail needed to create something realistic. At the end of my experiment you can see the person I traced in the video. This is a great method to use when wanting a character or moving object to be extremely realistic in their movements. I definitely would like to use this method again in a project.

Steps to create the video rotoscope:

1. File / New / 1280 x 720px Square pixel

2. make sure timeline is open

3. Layers menu / Video Layers / New Video layer from file... / Lock this layer

4. Timeline window menu / Set Frame Rate / set to 12fps / Ok

5. Layers menu / Video Layers / New Blank Video layer

6. Timeline menu / Turn off Onion Skin / Zoom layer to fit timeline

7. Playhead settings button / turn on Loop Playback

8. Draw artwork over video / new frame / draw next frame / new frame etc

9. File / Export / Render Video / Quicktime - jpeg medium quality - 24fps