Animating the clouds

Animating the birds

Next, you’ll animate the motion of the birds flying by. To make animation faster, you’ll take advantage of the new Auto-Keyframe button in the Timeline panel. When the Auto-Keyframe button is selected, After Effects automatically creates a keyframe whenever you change a value.

1 Select the Birds layer in the Timeline panel, and press P to reveal its Position property.

2 Click the Auto-Keyframe button () at the top of the Timeline panel. The stopwatch icon becomes red when it’s selected.

3 Go to 4:20, and set the Position values for the Birds layer to 200, 49. After Effects automatically adds a keyframe.

_ Note: While the Auto-Keyframe button can make your life easier, it can also create more keyframes than you intended. Enable the Auto-Keyframe button only when you need it for a specific task, and remember toturn it off when you’re done with that task!

4 Go to 4:25, and set the Position values of the Birds layer to 670, 49. After Effects adds a keyframe.

5 Select the Birds layer, and press P to hide its Position property.

Next, you’ll animate the clouds drifting across the sky.

1 Select the Clouds layer in the Timeline panel, and expand its Transform properties.

2 Go to 5:22, and click the stopwatch icon () for the Position property to set a Position keyframe at the current value (406.5, 58.5).

3 Still at 5:22, set the Opacity for the Clouds layer to 33%. After Effects automatically adds a keyframe, because the Auto-Keyframe button is still selected.

4 Click the Auto-Keyframe button to deselect it.

5 Go to 5:02, and set the Clouds layer Opacity value to 0%. After Effects adds a keyframe, even though the Auto-Keyframe button is deselected. After Effects adds a keyframe when you change the value for a property that already has a keyframe in the timeline.

6 Go to 9:07, and set the Clouds layer Opacity value to 50%. After Effects adds a keyframe.

7 Press the End key, or move the current-time indicator to the last frame of the composition.

8 Set the Position of the Clouds layer to 456.5, 48.5. After Effects adds a keyframe.

Дата добавления: 2014-11-20