10 Underrated Motion Design Techniques I LOVE

This is one of my favourite projects  I have ever made in After Effects and   in just 15 seconds there are 10 subtle  techniques I'm using that you might be   missing from your work that you could  apply right now to take it to the next   level These are quick tactical methods with  simple effects that reinforce big picture   animation concepts So get your eyes into a  comfortable viewing position and let's begin Oh and please do help yourself to a fresh serving  of Project File down in the description For these   stylized splashes I used a very neat trick  Here's what it looks like without any effects   First I drew a spiky crown shape and then I key  framed its path every two frames just moving the   spikes randomly with the pen tool for just four  different poses Then copied and pasted them to   create a loop Now this can work great for a very  simple graphic fire But to get it rounded for the   splash we can use the effect simple choker which  shrinks or expands the edges of your layer And   in doing so it removes the detail especially the  points I choked this to minus 8 to make it bigger   and then added a fill effect to get the same color  back But if you want to keep the same size and   just make it more rounded we could also duplicate  that simple choker effect and put in the opposite   value which here would be eight So we have minus  8 and then 8 And we could dial that in to suit   our needs In the final animation because I had two  splashes I did adjust the key frames to put them   out of sync so that they weren't showing the same  shapes at the same time and it looked less obvious   like I just duplicated them For the streams of  blood from the vampire bite I used CC Particle   World Now to match this particle system to the  designs of those streams I changed the physics   animation to a directional axis to get it to point  in one direction I made the producer emitter which   is the point where all the particles come from  as small as I possibly could just by lowering   the radi I increased the gravity way up and the  resistance and lowered the extra as well Now I   don't use particles often so really I was just  messing with the settings until it matched the   rough shape of the designs Now it was important  for me to have that stream pulse and vary as the   heart contracted And the particle simulation made  that a lot easier and more accurate than doing it   by hand because I could just animate the position  of the producer where all the particles are   emitted from So I key framed the X and Y position  of the producer and lined that up with the holes   in the heart and it creates that wonderful wave in  the stream as the heart pumps Now the edges were   still very crunchy so I used the old simple choker  technique I chugged it larger to remove the crunch   and then chugged it smaller to get it back to the  same size and make it a little bit smoother Then   put a fill effect on top and duplicated it The tip  of the producer was still too pointy so I added   back the original design layer and masked out  just the top to be visible Lovely lovely streams One of my favorite details are these little  splashes when the fangs puncture the heart   Seeing the result of an action makes you feel  the impact much much more Here it is without   the splashes and it doesn't feel as strong With  those back now we have something to look at and   linger for a second in the result of that action  And we also get a clear visual cue that those   fangs really have pierced the flesh which up until  this point who knows This could have been a couch   cushion And this splash is just a shape layer with  three key frames With the pen tool I drew a splash   shape that I wanted I key framed its path at the  height of the splash And on the first frame that   it would be visible after the puncture I shrank it  down animating its path property so it looked like   a smaller splash So I've now got two poses for the  splash And then about half a second later made the   splash bigger and moved the peaks of the splash  moving further outwards and then just moved the   whole thing down under the surface of the heart  And this made it feel like the peaks of the splash   would follow an arcing motion I added a drop in  the same way I drew a rough blob shape This time   animated its position with three key frames so it  would move in an arcing position across those same   timings I animated its scale going down as well  And I animated its path property very slightly   just making some tiny adjustments every couple of  frames so it felt a little more like a wobbling   liquid and not the same static shape Now it does  look very smooth and kind of motion tweened but   once all the effects are on we don't really notice  it The lowered frame rate from the posterized   time on the effects layer set to 12 frames per  second really helps make it feel a bit more like   handdrawn frame by frame animation And we've got  a lot of control because we did draw most of the   five frames that that blood is actually visible  for If you're not super confident with animating   shape paths something like this is a great place  to add something a little extra without going full   frame by frame Gate weave is a slight subtle shake  over the whole animation that is mimicking the   instability of a film projection and scanning And  that's caused by mechanical imperfections in the   film gate which is the part that holds a frame  still And that's film gate Not to be confused   with the film "The Gate" [Someone has opened. . .

the Gate.  ] Gate Weave is subtle but you can notice it especially   on older titles or graphics which is really why I  love it It adds a subtle complexity and richness   to the motion that makes it seem just a little bit  less clean and digital Now we can create this by   adding a transform effect to an adjustment layer  which adds all of our transform properties And   what we want to do with this is move this whole  composition's position very slightly very randomly   And we can do that with a wiggle expression So  I'll alt or option click the stopwatch next to   position That'll open up the expression window And  we'll just type in wiggle And then in parenthesis   we have to put in two numbers separated by a comma  The frequency and the amplitude So I'll just put   a frequency of 12 and an amplitude of three  which means it'll change position randomly 12   times a second and up to three pixels in either  direction And here is what that looks like We   have gate weave And you can adjust these values to  your own taste I like these ones because it keeps   it subtle and jittery but still noticeable  This is about as extreme as I would go but   you can weave more at your own risk Now because  this is on an adjustment layer at the very edge   of our composition it will start wiggling it away  from the edge but it's very easy to combat this I   just like to go to the scale property in that  transform effect and change it from 100 to 101   That makes everything a tiny bit bigger and covers  it up Unless you have an absurdly large wiggle but   at that point you've got bigger problems [You got  demons] And if you want extra gate we could even   copy that transform effect and paste it onto  an individual layer like our title here So now   it and the background are weaving independently It  creates a tiny bit of separation from the smallest   amount of parallax possible But now the motion  is doubled So it is twice as intense So we might   need to dial that back a bit just so it doesn't  feel like we are mainlining Earl Grey freebase   Now why that cake weave helped a lot with this  puncture scene in particular is because it adds   a subtle tension to the motion That shake kind of  feels like the pressure from the fangs against the   heart right before it pierces is kind of causing  them both to shake with that tension Now I didn't   end up using this but I experimented with adding  an additional layer of gate just to ramp up this   tension in here even more So on a new adjustment  layer that we will call shake because we always   label our layers I pasted that same transform  effect I ramped up the wiggle's amplitude to 12   and I trimmed that layer to right before the  pierce happens and made it last about half a   second And now you can feel it even more It's  even more exaggerated Now it's probably a bit   too much here but if you'd like to do the same but  make it more controlled we can animate that on a   null that is attached to everything And we can  key frame its position property and then maybe   every other frame just nudge it slightly in any  direction and then slightly increase the amount   you're nudging it as we get closer to the puncture  and they get more erratic So now that shake builds   up over time Again this is way too exaggerated  but now we have complete control And to make   it subtler we can pull these positions closer  to the center there That feels a little more natural Another extra bit of path animation  was this drop of blood falling from the fang   Now I've used this technique before to animate  drops of melted ice cream And I'll show you on   an ice cream that I've got set up First we are  just going to animate the position of a circle   dropping We'll start a little bit away from  the ice cream and then have it dropping out   of frame There we go I'll easy ease that first  key frame with F9 so it accelerates a little bit   as it drops And we'll work backwards to create  that main dripping shape So I'll deselect that   layer select the pen tool and start drawing  to create a new shape layer And I'm going to   try to create a drippy shape and kind of  trace over our existing circle to try to   match its position there That looks pretty good  I'll adjust it slightly to get it as smooth as   possible And make sure those shapes blend into  whatever it's dripping from here An ice cream   And then we'll key frame that shape's path right  here where it overlaps our circle And we'll trim   the end of that layer to finish right there  And we'll also trim the start of that circle   layer to start there as well Now maybe a second  before this Let's key frame it again And this time   we want to move all of these points up to align  with our existing ice cream Move them up roughly   first I am also going to move them all further  outwards as well And try to make them roughly   equal in distance I'll grab the convert vertex  tool to make smoothing these out much quicker   And because we spread those vertices out evenly  it all feels like they're pulling downwards into   that one single drop Now it's almost done It's  just a little bit snappy when that drop falls   So let's extend that layer a little bit more And  we can copy that first key frame of our smooth ice   cream And we'll paste that maybe 2 seconds later  this time So now we have that drip forming back   up into our spherical ice cream which doesn't look  right So let's add a key frame immediately after   our circle appears and starts dropping down And  then go in to adjust these points to make it look   like that mass of the drop has just been removed  And we can flick back and forth between those   two frames to see where things are kind of moving  around a bit and just smooth those out There we go   We kind of just want it to feel like this section  here is disappearing and everything else is   staying as still as possible There that feels much  smoother And the blood drop is even simpler than   this because it falls off the fang completely It  is just a circle falling down And then I have this   layer which is parented to the fangs and it's just  a Vshape that forms a bubble at the end over the   last two frames And then that layer ends as soon  as the circle comes on and takes over the drop Now   that drop also adds a nice bit of eye trace Eye  tracing is how animators direct the path of the   viewer's eyes to guide them to what we want them  looking at Here it's directing the path of the   viewer's eye downwards So we start with the main  motion following the fangs upwards Then this drop   becomes our main motion and we start to follow  it down And whilst our eyes are down here maybe   we're noticing the holes slightly shrink before  the streams pour out Eye tracing like this helps   keep what's happening on screen clear The other  two shots are very static This is the only shot   where things are leaving and entering the scene  So that drip was a nice device to keep the eyes   on the action Really in every shot that you make  you should know what the most important thing is   that you want the audience to see and understand  If there's too much going on they might miss   what's important while they're trying to catch  something not important distracting them over   in the corner We solve that by having a clear  hierarchy of what the most important things in   the shot are I want to show you these amazing  frames that use hierarchy in their composition   incredibly well These are designed by Greta  Radzeviciute for their major project in my course   Design Breakthrough Art for Motion I really love  how this frame in particular tells a story so   quickly and cleverly is organic jam made from real  strawberries Immediately with the most saturated   shapes and the highest contrast we are drawn here  Strawberries then led down here They squish into   jam Clear hierarchy One strawberries Two jam Three  the background character Color has much lower   contrast so it is less important But designs like  this don't appear out of thin air They were built   with a process with mood boards with storyboarding  and experimenting Greta also created many other   amazing designs throughout the course I love how  these ones use shape language and composition   so well to create a contrasting sense of stress  and calm If you want to level up your design and   animation skills I teach all of my courses with  practical projects and processes like these You   can also access bonus content and save 20% when  you bundle two or more together Enroll now at benmarriott. com Here's a tip for creating  starves or any other symmetrical shape So   I'm in a square composition and I'm going to  hit control or command R to drag out our rulers   because we're going to drag out some guides onto  here First I'll turn on title action safe so I   can see where the middle is I'm going to click  and drag this ruler to drag one perfectly into   the middle horizontally I'll get a little  closer to line that up And then one on the   left to get it vertically there Turn these  guides off now and the rulers Now with the   pen tool I want to draw a part of a star up in  this left quadrant And we don't need to be too   precise yet Then we are going to add the mirror  effect to replicate this in the other quadrants   I'm going to grab the reflection center and  drag that right to the very center And we've   got it reflected Now we can just duplicate that  mirror effect again The reflection center still   right in the middle So we just need to increase  the reflection angle to 90° And now our shape is   reflected perfectly symmetrically We can grab our  pen tool and we can adjust everything here We can   make our star more pointy We can make it a little  bit more chunky make it more tall than it is wide   It is really quick really easy to adjust and  experiment And we could even animate that shape   property to create something quite hypnotic  If we wanted to go really crazy we could even   try stacking more mirror effects up here changing  the reflection angle again and moving this center   around to create some more interesting  wild shapes and then have some fun with those Music and sound effects have  a huge impact in your animation   I am not a professional sound designer so I don't  think my sound design here is brilliant by any means but it certainly enhances it and it's a fun  process For my YouTube videos I do all the sound   in Premiere just dragging in clips and adding a  few effects and that works fine for what I need   it to do there For this project I used Ableton  Live because I wanted to add some simple synths   to score it as well I use sound effects that I got  from Epidemic Sound I have an account there where   I get the music to use in my YouTube videos and  they have sound effects as well so it works great   for me There are plenty of other options available  Going to freesound.

com is a perfectly great place   to start Even recording your own just using your  phone And even without the sound effects you can   find a music track you think suits your project  and animate to that Ideally choosing the music   before you animate so you can really enhance  the timings It can do a lot of heavy lifting   for a scene really enhancing the mood and  also keeping the audience engaged if there   isn't much animation happening on screen Which  one of these do you think has the most impact Now my favorite detail in the  sound design here is that I I   filtered the heartbeat to sound like it  went underwater when the hard was fully submerged It is barely noticeable in the full mix  and I wouldn't really expect anyone else to pick   up on it but I know it's there and that's that's  enough and and now you know So that's at least   twice is enough Now I love to spend the time to  get the tiny details just right on a project My   favorite part of the process is working over  multiple layers of feathered masks to get   the reflected light and the subtle ripples just  right in the shot Individually any one of these   details are not essential but together I really  think they make the animation At the end of the   day this animation is a heart scaling up and down  with a red rectangle getting higher up the frame   It is not technically complex at all but all those  little touches the splashes the shadows the sound   design the attention to detail that I really enjoy  is what takes this beyond those bare bones And   these do take time And I know that is a luxury we  really have on client projects For years I was so   used to churning out quick animations for clients  that I started to think that all animation must   be made that quickly and rushed out the door  because there was no time no time to plan or   play or storyboard anything other than the first  thing that came to mind Because any time spent   thinking was time not spent animating It wasn't  until I freelanced at Buck that I really learned   just how much time care and attention goes into  everything the design the animatic before even the   final animation starts The real value that great  motion designers have is in their thinking and in   their ability to craft the best possible result  It is not in how fast they can churn out slop Now   more than ever when the bare minimum is getting  easier and easier and the bar is just getting   lower and lower taking shortcuts might seem like  the best way to get ahead But in my experience   that is just not the case In order to show what  you are capable of and make your best work you   need to take extra time So I would encourage you  for your next personal project do give yourself   extra time to consider those details And I really  think you will enjoy the process and the results   even more And if you want to dive even deeper  you should watch this video And to enroll in my   courses go to benmarriott. com to learn more It is the  most Rootin'est Tootin'est place for motion design   on the whole internet Yeehaw! This video is now  cowboy themed right at the end.

You can't stop me.