Motion Graphics
Cartoon Video Explainer
Hey Buddies! Last week I have worked on a cartoon style video explainer for the Italian website vivere.bio. In shorts, I have used Cartoon Animator, After Effects, Adobe Audition, Soundly, Photoshop.
I have tested a slightly new workflow for this gig, as I have massively used Cartoon Animator 4 Pipeline for the creation of the animation. Some weeks ago I already used it for a passion project, the animation of a famous Klimt painting, but this time I used a completely rigged character… but let me give you all the details!
After preparing the script, I have used the motion capture function of cartoon animator 4 to record the voice and the body/face movements of the character. You just need the plugin and a webcam to be able to do the movements capture. This function is similar to Adobe Character Animator. You can set the lip sync function to work directly on the recorded Voice over. You still need to go and edit the movements of the arms, as only the torso and head movements are automatically set. I also had to fix some of the lips movements.
As a side note, as I could not quickly find a female Voice, the VO has been registered with a male voice, then enhanced the pitch in Adobe Audition, to obtain a pretty acceptable female voice.
After that, I added a complete scene behind the character and also some props for visual enhancement. I felt anyway pretty limited in the choice and quality of secondary props and text animations. Hence I compiled the scene to a MP4 file and imported it into After Effects, where I know I can do almost everything can be imagined 😉
I have added all the texts, titles and most of the animations on the left of the main characters.
It is so easy to do a quick PNG in Photoshop and import it into After Effects to animate.
Regarding the shot with the plastic bottles falling from above, I have used the standard particles plugin in After Effects, with a bottle I have quickly drawn on my Wacom.
I must say that Cartoon Animator let the animation process to be really straightforward. I was impressed by the good quality you can have in such a short time. I am aware that the movements could have been improved even more, but that was not possible due to budget/time limitations. In conclusion, I am pretty happy with the workflow used for the production of this Cartoon Video Explainer.
You need to create a Bar Chart Race in After Effects, but have no idea where to start from, or may be you just have no time to create it!
Well, I have you covered: I have developed the right After Effects script for you. Easy!
You will only have to click a couple of times to create a composition containing a working Bar Chart Race.
After that, you can directly use it or customise it to your needs.
I have been pretty productive last december, mainly because I wanted to experiment some animation ideas in Adobe After Effects.
The first is the one I prefer: it started by wanting to have some fun with the new tape properties in After Effects 2021. The first Christmas tree grows by animating the end of a line shape layer. The width varies along the length using the tape properties.
I have also used the a lot the internal Particle effects in AE. in the first shot, the origin of the particles is even linked to the moving end of the Christmas tree layer.
The second part is the darkest one, where the corona virus is killed by the vaccine. Here I just tried to transmit the creepiness of the situation and the fatigue of the scientists, who finally achieve the goal of killing the virus.
The third scene is where Santa is coming back, using the CC Scatterize effect, and wishes a safer 2021 to everybody 😉
This is the tutorial I made, where I am going through most of the main issues I had to face during the realization of the video:
The second one was inspired by a tutorial I found for recreating fake 3d tape animations, so I came up to use the 3D tape to build a very stylized Christmas tree.
Let me know what you think about these videos in the comments on youtube! I try to answer all comments :=p
It’s December, almost Christmas time, we are worried because of the corona pandemic and we are not sure if we will be able to spend holidays with our families and friends. That is the starting point of this Christmas Animation video card.
I have done it in Adobe After Effects in a couple of days, using 3d, camera movements and some particle emiters here and there. I have finally added some sound effects. The voices included are synthetically created.
Christmas Animation Breakdown
The Animations starts with a gray atmosphere, which I have obtained using an adjustment layer with a couple of effects:
- Vibrance: to set the saturation to 0 and obtain the gray scale sensation
- Uni.Grain 16 from Red Giant Universe: to add some subtle grains
After a few seconds we get into Christmas colorful mood. The adjustment layer is gone, and a quick camera movement is starting, to follow the trim path on the 2 paths depicting the Christmas Tree. I have created a null layer which follows the end of the trim path and attached a particle world effect to it.
At this point a new particle effect starts from the top of the tree to bring the eyes of the viewer to the bottom, where the text appears.
A moving background slowly appears, while the text adjusts to the final version with a stop motion style.
At the end the corona viruses are popping off and transforming to balls, while a third explosive particle effects fill the scene.
Let me know if you want me to publish a video to go through the details in the After Effects project.
-
Motion Graphics5 years agoIllustration for Motion
-
Motion News1 year agoCapCut vs Premiere Pro: The Ultimate Video Editing App Showdown
-
Motion News2 months agoAFTER EFFECTS vs RIVE vs CAVALRY
-
Tutorials4 years agoGreen screen in After Effects with keylight
-
Motion Graphics4 years ago
Two more Christmas Animations and Happy New Year After Effects Videos
-
Motion News1 year agoComparing CreateStudio Pro vs Vyond: A Comprehensive Analysis
-
Tutorials4 years ago3D Animated Infographics in After Effects and Rotobrush 2 Tutorial
-
Motion News3 months agoManaging ADHD for Creative Designers