Naydine shares her tip for creating 3D shapes in Adobe Illustrator and animating them in Adobe After Effects.
Create 3D shapes.
In Illustrator, use the shape tools to draw a star on a circle and then choose Window > 3D and Materials. Select the circle and choose Inflate to make it a sphere. Experiment with the settings as needed.
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Add light and material.
On the Lighting tab, select a preset to create a lighting angle. Naydine added two light sources.
Choose the Materials tab and then select the star. Click the Add Materials (+) button and choose Add as Single Graphic. Select the circle and click the newly added star graphic to use it as a material for your 3D object. Then delete the original star.
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Export for animation.
Choose Window > Asset Export and drag the 3D objects you want to animate to the Asset Export panel. Select GLTF as the format, click Export, and save it to your computer.
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Import your artwork.
In After Effects, choose File > Import > File, and select the Illustrator (.ai) file and the GLTF folder. From the Import dialog box, select All Acceptable Files, Composition - Retain Layer Sizes, and click Open. Double-click the composition in the Project panel to add the layers to the timeline.
Drag the GLTF object onto the timeline. Resize and reposition it as necessary and then delete the sphere layer (from the .ai file). Once the object is in the correct position, right-click it and choose Transform > Auto Orient > Orient towards Camera to have the graphic facing forward.
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Animate 3D objects.
To add a rotation effect, select the sphere layer and press “r” on your keyboard. Click the stopwatch next to the X Rotation property to add the first keyframe. Move the playhead and change the X Rotation value to add more keyframes. Press the spacebar to preview the animation and then make adjustments as necessary.
To loop the animation, right-click on the X Rotation property and choose Edit Expression. Click the Expression language menu (arrow icon) and select Property > loopOut (type = "cycle," numKeyframes = 0).
Tip: To speed up production, copy and paste keyframes from one layer to another. Then shift the keyframes left or right to create an offset effect. You can also extend the keyframes on each layer to get unique timing effects.
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Export for sharing.
Choose Composition > Add to Render Queue. Then specify the output location and click Render.
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