Creating a basic logo animation in After Effects is a great way to learn some easy key frame animation techniques.
Getting Started
Before going to After Effects, create a layered composition in either PS or Illustrator. Anything you want to animate needs to be on a separate layer. Help yourself by clearly labeling each layer.
For this exercise, I created a square file, so that will be the size of composition AE creates.
Importing your design
Next, go to File > Import and choose the your layered file. Make sure Import As: reads as Import As: Composition – Retain Layer Sizes. This ensures your layers remain separate.
Once imported, doubleclick the file in the timeline panel to expand and see the layers.
Starting the animation process
To animate, click on the layer/shape you want to animate. Next, click on the dropdown of the shape/layer you want to animate. Then select how you want to transform – rotate, scale, etc.
Finally, click the keyframe next to that animation. Then, move down the timeline. Set the transformation.
To create smooth animations, right-click then go to Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease. (One option here is to Use the Graph Editor Tool to adjust the curve to control smoother movement.)
Play around! You can use these techniques to animate all of the shapes until you’re happy with your animation.
To add video
First, drag your Adobe Stock video into your composition work space. Then, place the video under the layer shape you want to mask.
Next, choose the shape layer, right-click, and choose Blending Modes > Stencil Alpha. Finally, group (Command G) the video layer and the shape layer. Then Right click and Pre-compose, the layer will look flattened.
To Export
Add your final composition to the Adobe Media Encoder Queue. To speed things up, open the Encoder first. You can choose settings appropriate to your project goals.
Table of Contents:
00:20 – Start with a layered PS or AI file
00:37 – Have separate layers
00:40 – Name each layer
00:50 – Comp size equals file size
01:12 – New project
01:27 – Import file
01:54 – Import as Comp Retain Layer Sizes
02:09 – Double click comp to open layers
02:25 – Changing playback view
02:34 – Change playback
03:09 – Changing background of comp
03:27 – Change duration and comp size
04:15 – Opening layer to animate
04:27 – Rotation animation
05:09 – Press spacebar to play
05:20 – Copying keyframes
07:35 – Position animation
08:18 – Creating bezier curve
08:34 – Making objects bounce
09:21 – Combining animations
10:25 – Copying keyframes to a different layer
10:57 – Editing Keyframes
11:32 – Masking in video
13:24 – Adding ease to keyframes
14:00 – Precomp layers
14:27 – Export
17:01 – Add layer solid to have a solid BG
