The skills that you need to develop in the field of character animation are wide and varied. The technical abilities can feel impossible to grasp, and you may feel trapped with amazing ideas that you are struggling to bring to life. Therefore, many animators are finding great benefit in taking specialised educational courses in the use of certain software packages that allow them to master the technical skills they need to bring their creations to the screen. One such software package is Adobe After Effects.
The Challenge of Adobe After Effects
As anyone who has tried to use the software will know, animating characters in after effects is no easy feat. It can be a difficult program to understand and the techniques for creating even simple movements can be tricky to get to grips with. In order to progress as an animator, you need the confidence to use complicated programs to create what you have imagined in your mind and sketched in your notepad. A great way to get started is by taking an animation course on Adobe After Effects or reading an article about animating characters in the program. You can also learn how to use the software by watching tutorials or videos, discussing tips and tricks with other animators, or taking a class. With some patience, dedication, learning, and time spent practising the usage of the software, you’ll be able to create your own animated characters in no time!
The Features of Adobe After Effects
After Effects offers features and effects that allow users to create character animation quickly and easily. It has a variety of software tools that allow you to tweak your characters and their movements. You can begin your illustration in Photoshop and import it into After Effects, where you’ll be able to animate your character with ease. Animating characters in After Effects is a great way to bring your vision to life. The more complex your character, the more tasks involved in 3D character animation. You can use After Effects to animate your character, perform magic tricks, and much more. It can also be used for 2D character animation and other tasks that works with effects.
The Add-Ons for Adobe After Effects
As an animator or video editor, Adobe After Effects is a great choice for creating stunning animations with plugins and effects. There are many additional add-ons and plugins that can be used in conjunction with Adobe After Effects that can enhance the end result of your animation project or make the process of animation easier. For example, a plugin called DuikBassel can help you create a skeleton of your character that makes it easier to animate. After Effects offers a great animation plugin, the Puppet Tools, that allows you to easily rig and animate your characters. Using the Puppet Tool is a great way to create a skeleton rig for your character. With cartoon animator you can also enjoy pre-made templates and easy animations. Using After Effects in conjunction with these plugins can bring your characters to life with amazing effects and animations.
The Basic Steps of Adobe After Effects
There is an outline of basic steps involved when using Adobe After Effects in animation. The typical workflow for animating characters in After Effects is to begin by setting up a project, then creating or importing a character rig, and finally animating it. There are different ways to go about this process, depending on how dynamic your character needs to be.
You can begin your illustration in Photoshop and import it into After Effects, where you’ll be able to animate your character with ease. To start this animating process in After Effects, you need to rig the character animation and get your characters ready. After that, you can bring body parts and details into shape by using just placement or separate parts of the body. You also have the ability to animate entire limbs, so you can make a differentiation between hands and feet if needed. The process of putting body animation together can take some time but with practise and the help of some handy plug-ins it can be made into a much quicker and simpler process.
The Speciality of Character Animation
Since character animation is such a specialised area of the general animation process, it makes sense that you would need to master unique skills and specific software in order to become confident in it. Character animation is quite the art, as you have a responsibility to breathe life into a 2D or 3D character, portraying their emotions, personalities, even their thoughts. It has often been said that character animators have to be “actors with a pencil” (although it’s likely to be acomputer mouse or touch pad in this day in age) and it’s very true. To be able to animate lifelike characters, animators need to understand life itself and how to portray it in a way that others can understand, interpret and relate to.
The Applications of Character Animation Qualifications
Why invest so much time and effort in learning about character animation? When expend yourself in learning the software used to enable it? Animated characters are more than just Disney characters in the field of entertainment. Over the years, character animation has grown out of the box of entertainment and is now seen as a valuable business tool that can be used in branded, charity, healthcare, or educational videos. Not only are animated characters fast and flexible in their creation, but the potential is limitless too. Anything you imagine can be brought to life through animation. Animated characters appear as neutral, trustworthy beings that through use over time can encourage an emotional attachment for the brand. Businesses are made human, friendly, approachable by the use of an animated character that becomes synonymous with the brand. Furthermore, animated content is likely to be more appealing, more memorable and more share worthy. A world of potential can be opened when you learn how to use Adobe After Effect, and other software packages, in the art of character animation.
