Animate shape layers

In this video, we will animate the shape layer as we pay special attention to how shape players have multiple levels of transform controls.

If we look at our project, you can see I have a background Space Illustrator CC layer.

I have a shape layer called Planets Outlines.

And if I turn that off and on, you'll notice I have two different planets that are contained within this one shape layer.

That's right, shape layers can contain multiple objects.

If I go ahead and open up my shape layer here in the Contents section, you'll notice I have a group of Planets and in there I have a Small Planet and I have a Big Planet.

And then, I have Transform options for both of the planets as well as Transform options for the layer itself.

So, just to understand, when you have Transform options for a group of shape layers, if you go ahead and rotate those elements, usually the anchor point will be centered somewhere in between those shapes.

So, just undo that last command here.

So, what if I want to rotate around the center of the composition?

Typically, the anchor point remains around the center of the composition, so, if you rotate on the layer itself, it will go ahead and rotate around the center of the composition.

All right, I'll just undo that last command.

Now let's look and see what happens when you have a single object on a shape layer.

I’ll collapse Layer 2 and open up the Options for Layer 1, my Moon layer.

Notice I have a group for the Moon, and if I open that Moon group, you can see I have an Ellipse that makes up the Moon and there is a Stroke, but its visibility is off.

There's a Gradient, its visibility is on and then I have Transform options for the Moon group.

I'm going to make the Timeline panel a little bit larger and I want you to notice there is Transform, that's for the layer itself.

This is Transform for the Moon itself.

So, if I go to the Rotation and I scrub, you'll notice the gradient is moving around and it's rotating around itself because I have one object on the shape layer.

So, the Transform options pertain to the single object.

Now, if I go up to the top and select my shape layer Moon and press R for Rotation, this will open up the Rotation on the Transform properties for the layer.

Just to show you that, I'll collapse Layer 1 and open it up and notice here's my Contents which contains my Moon group which contains my Transform options for the Moon group.

But here for Transform when I go to Scale, or I go to Rotation you'll notice these elements pertain to the layer itself.

So, I want to go ahead and animate the Moon orbiting around this planet.

And since the planet was at the center of the composition, the Moon will easily orbit around the planet by just going ahead and keep framing this rotation.

So, I'll set the Rotation parameter to 0 at frame 0 and, click the stopwatch.

Then I'll go ahead and move three seconds down the Timeline, and I'll say I want it to have rotated one full rotation around this planet.

So, I'll say 1 and press Enter.

Then, if I move my Current Time Indicator back to the beginning of the Timeline and press the Spacebar, you'll see I have the moon rotating around the planet.

And that rotation parameter was setup with the Transform options for the layer which is separate from the Transform options for the Moon group.

Now, remember shape layers can contain multiple levels of control for each individual object within the shape layer as well as Transform controls for the overall layer itself.