Animating precisely with Separate Dimensions

Separate the x, y, and z dimensions of the Position property to gain precise, independent control over animations.

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Requirements

To complete the tasks demonstrated in this tutorial, you need the following software and files:

Adobe After Effects CS4

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Sample file

lrvid4067_ae.zip (ZIP, 19MB)

Prerequisite knowledge

Basic knowledge of adding keyframes using the Timeline panel

Animating precisely with Separate Dimensions

Adobe® After Effects® CS4 introduces a new animation feature to the Timeline that allows you to create separate keyframes for each dimension of an animation. In this tutorial, you will create a simple bouncing ball animation that uses this new feature.

Adding an ease to an animation

To illustrate the power of creating separate keyframes for each dimension of an animation, the author has created a basic rotation animation of a bouncing ball. The keyframes for this motion have been blocked into the Timeline. As indicated in the RAM preview, the timing of the ball bounce is too even. For a more realistic animation, the ball needs to reach the top of its arc more gradually. Note that adding a motion blur does not address this basic issue.

Figure 1: Adding a rotation animation

To create a more realistic animation:

1. Open the sample file named bouncing ball_2.
2. Choose the keyframes that correspond to each peak in the animation, where the ball reaches the top of its arc.

   

   Figure 2: Selecting peak keyframes
3. Choose Animation > Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease.
4. Open the Graph Editor by clicking the icon in the Timeline panel.

   

   Figure 3: Opening the Graph Editor

Animating in separate dimensions

The y keyframes in green have eases at the top of each arc and sharp transitions at the bottom. However, the x keyframes also have eases, causing the ball to hesitate as it moves left to right across the frame. The animation still lacks realism.

Figure 4: Tracking eases in the Graph Editor

To add realism to the animation:

1. Delete all keyframes except for the beginning and ending keyframes.
2. Select Position in the Timeline panel.
3. Choose Animation > Separate Dimensions.
4. To create a simple up and down animation, choose just the y position in the Timeline panel.

   

   Figure 5: Selecting the y position
5. Copy and paste the keyframes at the bottoms of the arcs.
6. Copy and paste the keyframes at the tops of the arcs. Make the first peak a little higher than the rest to add a sense of decay across the animation.
7. Choose Animation > Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease to add eases to the peaks of the ball bounce.
8. Add the left-to-right motion by adding two linear x keyframes. Add one keyframe at the beginning and one keyframe at the end.

Where to go from here

• After Effects CS4 Help and Support
• Learn After Effects CS4
• Introducing After Effects CS4, by Chad Perkins
• Using the Cartoon effect, by Mark Christiansen
• Creating After Effects mobile compositions, by Liz Myers
• Lynda.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License

About the authors