Animating Multiple Properties

We would like to see our planet move toward us, and then sweep off to the side, as if we were moving toward it and then past it. This will require us to increase the planet's size, and then move the object off to one side of the screen.

We will have to animate scale and then position. To make the transition smoothly between the two animations, we will discuss an animation property called easing.

But first, to make viewing the animation timelines simpler, we will discuss some layer organization techniques.

Understanding Layer Organization

In After Effects, it is entirely common to have a dozen or more layers in a composition. In these cases, it is a good practice to learn how to organize the layers so we are only seeing the ones we are currently working on.

We have two ways to do this. We can either solo a layer, or shy a layer.

Soloing a layer hides every other layer from view in the composition. So if we were to solo our Planet layer, only the content on the other layers (in this case, the star field), would disappear from the Composition panel. This would be useful if we had many overlapping layers, and only wanted to work on one.

Shying a layer means that all of the content in the composition remains visible, but that the shy layers are hidden in the Timeline panel. This is useful if we have many layers, but only need to work on the keyframes and animations for a small number of them.

We can also hide layers in the same way we could in other Adobe applications, by clicking the eye icon we see here:

Today we will be shying our Stars layer, so we can work on the animation keyframes for the Planet layer.

First of all, we will need to tell After Effects to only show layers that are not shy.

Step 1. To hide all the layers that are in shy mode, in the Timeline panel,

Click 

The icon will turn blue, indicating that any layers where the Shy switch is set are hidden. Now we need to set the Shy switch for any layers we want to hide.

Step 2. To shy the Stars layer, in the Planet Animation tab,

Click 

The Stars layer disappears from the Timeline panel, and we can focus on the Planet layer.

To see the Stars layer again, we simply need to click the Shy button at the top of the Timeline panel again to view all the layers.

Now we can animate the planet.

Animating Effects

In this animation, we want the planet to rotate slightly. This is a property that is controlled through the Effect Control panel, via the CC Sphere effect.

Animating effects works the same way that animating properties does. We will follow the same process. You might have already noticed that the Animation Stopwatch appears in many properties in the Effect Control panel as well.

Let's do this now. We will animate the Rotation property in the CC Sphere effect.

Step 1. To view the Rotation options, in the Effect Control panel CC Sphere effect,

Click 

NOTE: You might need to scroll down in the Effect Control panel to see this effect.

We see that we can rotate X, Y, or Z values. We will rotate the Y value, so that it rotates from left to right.

Let's set the playhead at the beginning of the timeline.

Step 2. To move the playhead to the beginning, if necessary, on the keyboard, press:

Home key

The playhead moves to the beginning of the timeline.

Step 3. To change the Rotation Y property, in the Effect Control panel,

Click 

Our first keyframe is set; however, it is not visible in the Timeline panel at this time because the layer is not expanded. Let's move our playhead and change the property.

Step 4. To move the playhead, on the keyboard, press:

End key

Now we can animate the rotation. We don't want it to rotate too far, since this should be a subtle effect.

Step 5. To animate the effect, in the Rotation Y field,

Click, type: 15 Enter key

Step 6. Preview the animation.

We can see the planet rotating very slightly. Let's save the file, then work on animating the Scale property.

Step 7. Save the file.

Animating Scale

For this animation, we'd like the planet to move toward us, and then move off to the left, so that it appears we are flying past it. To accomplish this, we will need two animations. One for the planet to scale up, so that we appear to be getting closer, and then a second animation to move it off to the side as it moves through the air.

Let's animate the Scale property now.

Step 1. To move to the beginning of the animation, on the keyboard, press:

Home key

Let's view the scale sproperties.

Step 2. To view the scale properties in the timeline, on the keyboard, press:

S

NOTE: Remember that we can use the letters in the acronym TRAPS (opaciTy, Rotation, Anchor Point, Position and Scale) to quickly access our animation properties.

The Scale property appears. Let's set it up the way it should appear at the beginning of the animation. It should appear much smaller than it does now.

Step 3. To set the Scale property, in the percentage field,

Click 100%, then type: 40 Enter key

The planet appears much smaller.

Let's create our first keyframe.

Step 4. To create the first keyframe, in the Timeline panel, next to the Scale property,

Click 

We see the first keyframe appear in the timeline. Let's move to the end of the timeline. Since we want the planet to get bigger and bigger as we go through the movie, let's move to the end of the timeline and increase the scale there.

Step 5. To move to the end of the timeline, on the keyboard, press:

End key

We will need to increase the size of the planet layer beyond the edges of the composition size so that the increasing size of the planet will look natural.

Step 6. To set the Scale property at the end of the timeline, in the percentage field,

Click 40%, type: 150 Enter key

This may look too large, but remember, by the time it reaches this size, it will be off the edge of the composition.

Now we can animate the Position property.

Animating Position

In this animation, we'd like the planet to move off the edge of the animation once we get to a certain point. Today, we will have it begin moving at the halfway point of the animation.

Let's do this now.

Step 1. To move to the halfway point of the animation, in the composition window,

Click, type: 0;00;02;15 Enter key

Our playhead moves to the middle of the animation.

Step 2. To view the Position property, on the keyboard, press:

P

The Position property appears. Our planet is already in place and our playhead is set, so let's click the stopwatch and add a keyframe.

Step 3. To add a keyframe, in the Timeline panel, next to the Position property in the Planet layer,

Click

The first keyframe appears. Let's move to the end of the timeline and move our planet.

Step 4. To move to the end of the timeline, on the keyboard, press:

End key

Step 5. To move the planet, in the Position property,

Press & Drag the X value to the right until the planet is no longer visible

NOTE: If you want your planet to move a bit more slowly, you can move it so that the planet is still slightly visible.

Let's preview the animation.

Step 6. Preview the animation.

We can see that the planet moves, but the transition between it scaling and moving to the right is jarring. A traditional camera move would have the planet making the transition gently.

We can do this in After Effects by using a technique called easing.

Working with Easing

In animation, easing is a way for us to control the speed of the animation at either the beginning or the end. This enables the animation to take the same amount of time and cover the same amount of space.

We can either ease in or ease out. Easing in means that our animation will be faster at the beginning and slower at the end. Easing out is the opposite.

We can think of this like parking. If we pull into a parking space, we ease in, as we enter the parking space at one speed, but slow down as our car enters the space. If we pull out of a parking space, we ease out, as we pull out slowly to see if any traffic is coming, but then increase speed once we know it is clear.

In this animation, we want the planet to gradually move off to the side, moving faster as it moves closer to us, so we will ease out.

In After Effects, we can do this with a single menu command. We have to apply the easing to a keyframe.

Step 1. To select the keyframe, on the timeline,

Click 

Step 2. To add the easing, from the Menu bar,

Click Animation, Point Keyframe Assistant, Click Easy Ease Out

NOTE: We can also control this directly through Keyframe Velocity. To change Keyframe Velocity, from the Menu bar, Click Animation, Click Keyframe Velocity.

We can see that the keyframe turns into a small arrow. Let's preview the animation now.

Step 3. Preview the animation.

Step 4. Save the file.

Now that we have animated this composition, we can move onto the final piece of the movie trailer.