How to Be More Efficient - Animating Using Expressions

About This Class

Create a looping GIF! Be the creator, not just the consumer. Animation is a way to express your creativity through the art of movement. Expand your skill set by becoming an organised designer.

In this class, I'll go through the process of animating a looping animation that you can render out as a GIF!

This class will enhance your efficiency while animating and improve your workflow for streamlined edits! I will cover techniques from creating a 2D vector animation to workflow and animation basics. You will learn about expressions, naming, setting up efficiently, linking properties – and how this will improve your animations.

If you come from a programming background, you will enjoy this class, as expressions within Adobe After Effects are based on JavaScript.

What You'll Learn

• Set-up in Illustrator

  • I'll show you how to prepare your Illustrator file, with the After Effects animation in mind

    
    

• Set-up in After Effects

  • We will import our scene from Illustrator, into After Effects and prepare our compositions for efficient animation

    
    

• Animation using Expressions

  • I'll show you some useful expressions to automate your animations and make your life easier

    
    

• Creating a motion path

  • I'll go through the steps of linking properties from multiple layers, across different compositions, to a motion path

    
    

• Exporting your animation

  • I'll show you the simple process of getting your animation social media ready and how to render out a GIF

    
    

What You'll Do

You will animate a looping scene that you can share online! You will write expressions, use the pick whip tool and use slider controls. I will show you the process of a precise and efficient workflow to to get you animating faster and cleaner.

Why You Should Watch

This class is the foundation for upcoming classes. You will get to grips with more complex animation, involving animating multiple scenes, characters and shapes.

Having workflow basics in mind, we will be able to focus on animation basics and get your skills to the next level.