Animating Type

During this lesson we were taught the basics of type animation -  how to move type across the screen and how to spin and manipulate the type.

Because I learnt how to animate type in my own time (see here for tutorial) I decided to use this time to try and perfect the techniques I knew and created a title page for my animations so they end professionally. As I mentioned in an earlier post where I created typefaces, I wanted to edit and look deeper into parts of the designs I created. I did so with the origami-like text to the left where I played with opacity and drop shadows. I ended up using a combination of the two for my final clip. The triangles in this clip are animated using the x rotation tool which can be used to rotate an object once the layer has been made into a 3d layer. The spinning isn't obvious on this clip because it fades into the transition. Below is the  animation I am very happy I was able to include my own typeface into the clip because it makes the animation a bigger reflection of my work.

Short Title Animation from Phoebe Whitehead on Vimeo.

Below is a short clip of my initial work in the class where I played around with spinning letters. It is very simple to do, the method is the same way as spinning an object but it is under the text option.

Text experiment from Phoebe Whitehead on Vimeo.

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