This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Previewing the composition
You’ve created several shape layers using shape tools and the Pen tool, animated them, and used null objects to parent them. It’s time to see how it all comes together.
Press F2 to deselect all layers.
Press the Home key or move the current-time indicator to the beginning of the time ruler.
Press the spacebar to preview your animation. Press the spacebar again to stop playback.
Make any adjustments you need to make. For example, if the leaves protrude from the flowerpot as they rise with the stem, use the Selection tool to adjust their position, or animate the leaves’ opacity so that they are visible only as they emerge from the pot.
Choose File > Save to save the final project.
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Animating layers to match audio
You can time animation to match the beat of an audio file. First you need to create keyframes from the amplitude of the audio (which determines loudness), and then sync the animation to those values.
To create keyframes from audio amplitude, right-click or Control-click the audio layer in the Timeline panel, and choose Keyframe Assistant > Convert Audio to Keyframes. After Effects adds the Audio Amplitude layer. The new layer is a null object layer, meaning it has no size or shape and won’t appear in a final render. After Effects creates keyframes that specify the amplitude of the audio file in each frame of the layer.
To sync an animated property with the audio amplitude, select the Audio Amplitude layer, and press E to display the effects properties for the layer. Expand the channel you want to use. Then Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (macOS) the stopwatch for the property whose animation you want to sync with to add an expression; with the expression selected in the time ruler, click the pick whip icon (
) on the Expression:[property name] line, and drag it to the Slider property name in the Audio Amplitude layer. When you release the mouse, the pick whip snaps, and the expression in the shape layer time ruler now means that the property values for the layer will depend on the Slider values of the Audio Amplitude layer.
