Mograph Techniques: Shape Animation in After Effects

Use the shape tools in After Effects to create animations that are elegant, render quickly, and scale beautifully at any size.

Introduction

• Welcome
• What you should know before watching this course
• Using the exercise files
• Overview of the project

1. Custom Wipe

• Why use shape layers?
• Basic circle animation reveal
• Stylize the wipe using expansion masks and layer styles
• Creating a cascade animation using masks and modes

2. Monkey Head Animation

• Preparation of artwork in Illustrator
• Dividing to separate shapes and paint over time
• Create a digital squirt
• Composite the final shot

3. Text Reveal

• Preparing instances of text
• Create animated shape layers to reveal each letter
• Revealing text automatically

4. Repetitive Shapes

• Overview of the composition
• Design a cascade sunshine animation using shapes and Trapcode Echospace
• Integrating the animation into the main comp

5. Hourglass Morph

• Convert artwork to shapes
• Animating the hourglass
• Adding motion to the elements
• Morphing to the glass and the bottle

6. Shape Madness Animation

• Converting to shapes and cleaning duplicates
• Working with automatic rotation animation
• Shape duplication and animation

Conclusion

• What's next?