After Effects Breakdowns: Social Tech Infographics

1h 44mAdvanced2016-03-18

Authors

Eran Stern

Teacher and Motion Designer, 20+ years of post-production experience

Course details

After Effects Breakdowns is for artists who want to better understand advanced techniques, design concepts, and approaches to complex motion graphics projects. The infographics-driven video in this installment, designed for the nonprofit organization Com.unity, explains how social tech is designed to solve large-scale social problems, such as obesity, accessibility, and car accidents. Watch Eran Stern reverse engineer the finished project using his favorite tools: After Effects and a few third-party plugins (Animation Composer, Particular, and Newton).

Eran shows how to decode a client brief, perform storyboarding in Illustrator, and then transition the design to After Effects for animation. Along the way, he weaves in tips, shortcuts, and professional techniques that will amaze both veteran After Effects users and new motion graphics artists.

Learning objectives
Analyzing a client brief
Designing a storyboard with Illustrator
Automating animations with Animation Composer
Creating custom particles with Particular
Crashing simulations using Newton

Skills covered

Animation ComposerMister HorseNewtonMotion BoutiqueParticularRed GiantMotion GraphicsIllustratorAfter EffectsRenderingMotion Graphics and VFXVisualization and Real-TimeAdobeAECProduct and ManufacturingAnimation and IllustrationOne-Off

Concepts

0. Introduction

01 - Welcome
02 - What you should know before watching this course

1. Concept & Design

03 - Client brief & references
04 - Building an infographic story
05 - Designing a storyboard with Illustrator
06 - Splitting a multi-artboard Illustrator document for animation

2. Automating Animations

07 - Intro to Animation Composer
08 - Animating a packshot with Animation Composer

3. Custom Particles

09 - Walk-through of the tech-startups scene
10 - Creating a flat-look globe animation
11 - Intro to Particular
12 - Creating a stars atmosphere with Particular
13 - Creating a rockets fountain with Particular

4. Collision Simulation

14 - Intro to the Newton plugin for After Effects
15 - Preparations in Illustrator
16 - Creating a lettering crash collision in Newton

Conclusion

17 - Wrap-up