After Effects CC 2021: Character Animation Essential Training

Bring your characters to life with Adobe After Effects. Explore the essential tools and techniques for character animation in After Effects CC.

Introduction

• Welcome
• Before we start
• After Effects for animation
• Big picture concepts
• Version of After Effects

1. Working with Layers and Shapes

• What art assets can I use?
• Prepare and import Photoshop files
• Prepare and import Illustrator files
• Shape layer intro
• Shape layer vs. masks
• Track mattes
• Precomposing
• Artwork tips and tricks

2. Rigging Character Controls

• What is rigging?
• Anchor points
• Parenting character parts
• The Puppet tool
• Fine-tune the Puppet tool
• Introduction to expressions
• Set up a slider controller
• Version master properties
• Useful effects for rigging

3. Working with Animation

• Principles of animation
• Add and adjust keys
• Use the graph editor: Speed
• Use the graph editor: Value
• Looping animation
• Motion paths
• Work with audio tracks
• Switch art for lip sync
• Animate with motion sketch

4. Creating Multiplane Environments

• Use 3D layers for multiplane parallax
• Add cameras
• Create a mood with lights
• Rendering

Conclusion

• Next steps