Click on any phrase to play the video from that point.
[♫New age music]
[ADOBE® TV Presents]
[CLASSROOM] [Basic Compositing & Animation][In After Effects CS5]
In the previous episode
we looked at Basic Masking techniques,
as well as some Effects.
In this episode, we're going to be looking at
the process called Parenting--grouping motion together to create unified motion.
Let's get started.
Go ahead and open the AE_TitleSequence folder,
then navigate to the AE_Lessons folder
and open up lesson04.
Now what I'd like you to do is open up the Video folder in your Project panel;
then select the bike_wheel movie,
and drag it on to the New Comp button to create a new Comp.
Move the new Comp that you just created into the Comps folder
to keep your project organized--
and then you can close your Video folder.
The bike_ Composition is now created,
and on your Timeline--it's the fourth tab.
And if you scrub your current time indicator through the Composition,
you'll see it's pretty simple.
It's just a bicycle wheel turning.
The goal of this exercise is to actually get a Text layer
to move at about the same rate that the spokes are moving on the Composition.
So we're going to create a new Text layer here.
To speed things up, instead of creating this layer from scratch,
we're going to actually copy a layer from one of the other Compositions.
So I'd like a layer that's Aligned Left--
so I'm going to select one of the Text layers that has Aligned Left text.
Let's look at that one--oh, the recycle_bin is Aligned Right
so we won't copy that layer.
How about the light_bulb--that one's also Aligned Right.
Looks like we have to copy text from the very first Composition,
which is the faucet_drops Comp.
Select the Text layer;
then hit Command+C or Control+C, if you're on a PC, to copy the text.
Then select the bike_wheel Composition tab on the Timeline panel;
then hit Command+V to paste the current Text layer.
This will paste the Earth Pictures Text layer into the current Composition.
Once again, we'll want to remove all the keyframes.
So you'll select the "U" key on your keyboard
to reveal the Animated properties.
Then click the stopwatch to remove all pre-existing keyframes.
What I'd like to do now is to reposition the layer
so that it's lined up along the left-hand side of the bike,
so that it's kind of lined up along the rim of the bike wheel.
Now this is a little bit tricky because if I was to just start rotating this layer,
as I show you--let me hit the "R" key to reveal Rotation--
and then begin a little bit of rotation,
notice how this layer rotates.
That's not exactly consistent with the way that the bike wheel is rotating.
So, to reset it, I'll hit the Undo key, Command+Z--
or Control+Z, if you're on a PC, to undo your previous action.
And instead of rotating the layer itself,
we're going to need to create another layer--
to drive the motion for this particular layer.
The layer we're going to use is called the Null layer.
To create a new Null layer--
you can do this by going to the Layer menu;
then going to the New category,
then select Null Object.
This will create an empty layer
or a layer that's just basically invisible.
It's primarily used to group motion together.
So if you have a bunch of different layers
and you want to move them all together,
you can use the Null to do your animation--
and Parent your other layers to the Null.
So go ahead and click the Null Object,
and reposition it so that the top left-hand corner of the Null
is positioned at the center of the bike wheel.
Then you'll want to Parent the Text layer to the Null layer.
You'll see on your Timeline area a little column called Parent--
which, by the way--several columns are available to you in After Effects,
and this is just one of many that are available.
So we're going to select the little pull-down,
underneath the column called Parent, for the Text layer.
And you'll see that there's a list of layers to select.
By enabling Null, in this case, what we're saying
is that this particular layer will now be grouped with the Null layer.
So by doing this, you enable a Parented relationship
where the Text layer is the child to the Null layer.
The Null layer--because it's the Parent--
controls the movement for the Text layer,
but the Text layer can still move on its own.
So go ahead and select Null 1 on the Text layer Parent column.
This can also be done by using the Pick Whip tool,
simply clicking on the little swirly icon--
clicking and dragging, and pointing it up--to Null 1.
This is another way to do the same action.
Now that we have this Parented relationship established,
we'll want to begin doing some of the rotation with the Null Object.
So select Null 1 and hit the "R" key, to reveal the Rotation attribute.
Then, let's find a moment in the video
where we want to see this Text layer move in.
What I'm looking for is when the bike wheel is at full motion.
I think at the beginning of the video it's a little bit slower
so I'm not going to begin right at the very beginning.
Instead, I'm going to use my current time indicator and slide it forward
so the reflector is below the Text layer,
lining it up between 2 spokes.
Then I'm going to place a Rotation keyframe on the Null Object.
Now I'm going to move the current time indicator
backwards in time, so that the 2 spokes that I'm aligning to
are placed vertically.
Just watch, as I do this--
moving this layer backwards,
so that those 2 spokes that we're aligning to are positioned in a vertical manner.
Go ahead and do this now.
Simply move your current time indicator
so that the 2 spokes you're aligning to are positioned in a vertical manner.
Then rotate the Null Object, in a positive value,
until you arrive at the degree value of 90 degrees.
This will ensure that the Text layer is now positioned vertically.
So when I scrub through my Timeline with the current time indicator
you'll notice that, as the Null Object moves,
the Text layer follows.
Let's go ahead and preview that.
[Earth Pictures presents] [video only]
One more time through.
[Earth Pictures presents] [video only]
So it looks pretty good, but what I want to do
is also add a little bit of drift movement
so that after the rotation it drifts down slowly.
So go ahead and park on the second keyframe.
If you're not currently parked on it, you can use your "J" or "K" keys
to move between your keyframes.
Now that you're parked on that second keyframe,
place a Position keyframe on the Text layer.
To do that, hold the Option key and hit the "P" key--
or if you're on a PC, it's Alt+P.
Now advance to the very end of your Composition
by moving your current time indicator
down to the end of the Timeline
or by hitting the End key on your keyboard.
Then modify the Y Position attribute for the Text layer,
to move it down, by simply clicking and dragging it to the right
so that it moves almost to the very bottom of the frame.
I don't want it on the very edge of the frame
because that would be kind of distracting for the viewer--
but I do want it to drift as low as it can go.
This is about what I'm comfortable with.
So let's watch it.
[Earth Pictures presents] [video only]
I think it looks pretty good.
[Earth Pictures presents] [video only]
So then, what I'd like you to do is turn Motion Blur on.
It should already be on for the layer but if it's not,
you can do so by enabling the Layer Switch on the Text layer;
then move your cursor to the Composition Switch, and enable it there as well.
You can confirm that Motion Blur is working
by moving your current time indicator backwards
during some of that more heavy motion,
and you'll see that some of that blur is occurring.
The last thing I'd like to do is advance forward,
so that you're between the last 2 keyframes on the Text layer.
Now let's modify the text to read: STARRING, and then add a name.
Once again, we're going to want to move the Script font above the Impact font.
So change to your Text tool and then double-click the words "Earth Pictures"
and modify this to read: KATE,
then hit the Return key on your keyboard, and type: MARQUEZ--
M-A-R-Q-U-E-Z.
Then I'd like to select the "presents" text;
hit Command+X, to cut it;
Delete, to return to the previous line;
and then the Up key, to move back to the very beginning of the text.
Hit Command+V to paste that text in,
and then Return. so that that's on the second line.
We also want to modify the word "presents" to read: "starring".
And that's just about it.
The only other thing I would consider doing is spacing it out between the lines,
using the Leading feature.
So you can go ahead and do that now to make it look a little bit cleaner.
So that's about it for this episode.
We've covered Parenting and how to group motion together.
It's pretty cool, right?
In the next episode, we're going to be looking at tying it all together
by combining each scene into a Master Composition,
and then adding Transitions and grouping motion together--
like we've done in this one. [♫music resumes]
[Adam Shaening-Pokrasso] [Presenter/Course Design]
[Bob Donlon] [Executive Producer/Instruction Supervisor]
[Kush Amerasinghe] [Director/Graphics/Assets/Course Design]
[Karl Miller] [Producer] [Erik Espera][Editor/DP]
[ADOBE® TV Productions] [tv.adobe.com]
