After Effects / CC Page Flip Aimation / Process and Production

Today I learnt a new process to animation, using a tool called CC page flip. This tool creates a nicely layed out animation and is a great method to bring still scenes to life. We was shown an example of this to get an insight to how we can structure a scene of our own and animate the layers.

MGMT - All We Ever Wanted Was Everything from oneedo on Vimeo.

First of all, we created a scene of our set theme of a universe in illustrator. Once satisfied with our layers we exported our scene into after effects. From here, we clicked the icon on each layer to enable 3D editing and to construct a scene in z-space. Then we added a camera to the composition and pulled it from the background into the foreground, using key-frames to animate this process. Now the camera will pass all of the layers in the composition as it pulls through the z-space, building the scene the further away it moves away from the background.

Next, we searched the internet for textures to apply to our layers, creating a more visually compelling scene. To apply the textures to my layers, I precomposed each layer and opened up the layer composition and added the desired texture. I then connected the texture to the layer by selecting alpha matte and using a blending mode with the original layer to complete the effect.

After, I then applied the page flip effect to my layers. To do this, I selected effect/ distort/ CC page flip. From this point, a tab opened up to allow me to programme my layer to flip in any way I wanted. I programmed my layers to flip in from the bottom upwards, creating a flow and direction towards my design. It is almost as if, we are watching in reverse and I am peeling off the layers. I like this effect, It seems very fluent and natural in the animation. In addition, I also programmed a flicker effect to the stars in my scene. I 'alt clicked' the opacity keyframe and entered in a bit of code, 'wiggle(2,60)'. This brought the stars in space to life and added a different dimension to the scene.

After Effects Exploration One, CC page flip animation from Charlie Hamnett on Vimeo.

Above is my finished outcome from the tutorial today. Everything flows in accordance and creates a unique animation. I will definitely continue to use this method of animating. It works great to establish still scenes and will go hand in hand with animation to create an effective communication. I will expand upon what I have learnt with what I already know to resolve the animation above. I will add music and animation to build the animation, to make the design more interesting.

After Effects Exploration, CC page flip animation from Charlie Hamnett on Vimeo.

Above is my improved animation. I have animated the space ships to collect and drop off the aliens in the video, with both flying off at the end. Plus, I added a soundtrack and key-framed my layers to flow in time with the music. Its amazing how much this helps the aura of the animation and create a more compelling outcome. I want to make more animations using this process in the future.

CC PAGE FLIP + VIDEO FOOTAGE EXPERIMENT

Page flip experiment / Video footage / Mobile from Charlie Hamnett on Vimeo.

I did this as part of my current hyper reality project experimentation's. While having my tea one night, I decided to create a response to a video I had seen called 'Theo' by Passion Animation Studios. Using the techniques I have learnt in the tutorial with Sarah, I was able to apply this effect to video footage and making it look like I was simply placing the food on my plate with out cooking it, if only. I also applied a little rotoscoping to lift the hand above the CC page flip to create the effect of placement. A skill I also learnt from a Sarah Nasteruk tutorial.