Story Animation Blog

     So, I made a full animation using After Effects, and the end result is something that I think is better than anything else I have ever done! Basically, I had to edit a character in Photoshop, upload that into After Effects, and then make a story with it using backgrounds that I made in Photoshop as well. The entire project was fun to do, and I just let my imagination run wild! It was seriously a fun project, I can't stress that enough.

       My original idea was to actually have two characters fighting to "save the universe" or some cheesy crap like that. Instead, I started to think about having one of the characters steal something, then the other character try and get it back before the main character leaves. I then realized that that would be way too difficult to animate in the time that my teacher allowed. So I just went for the traditional, "Person-Creating-A-Universe" idea. It turned out way better than I imagined, and I am very proud of my accomplishment.

       I learned many helpful components along the way. Like how to make it look like the character in my story was turning around to walk in a different direction. Another big thing I learned was how to make a walk cycle. True, that had been an earlier project in the semester, but I mean I learned how to incorporate it into a story. It was a (somewhat) grueling process, but it paid off in the end.

       What I would do differently in the future would definitely try and find the final product for my animation towards the beginning of the time allowed. I was going through idea after idea until I found what (I had initially thought) was the final idea. But the after that, I kept thinking and thinking, and then I came to a new, and better, conclusion.

       Then there's the prospect of what I would do the same. I would love to use the character model again, because this one was very easy to work with, and turned out to be very cooperative when it came to positioning his arms and legs. And the whole process of making the animation, I wouldn't change for the world. After Effects is a very good program to use, and I would love to keep using it.

       I will OBVIOUSLY try and keep an idea earlier on in the project until the absolute end of it. I needed to find an idea, and stick with it, but I had to start over multiple times. What I would do in the future is just try and use my time better to my advantage, because I only have a limited amount of time before the project window is up, and I didn't realize that at first.

       This project was so much fun, and I would love to do it again! I hope that we do more projects like this in the future! When my teacher reads this, I hope he knows that story projects are super fun, and that it's a good way to use the imagination that so many of us need in our tech-driven age.