INFORMATION DESIGN: PROJECT 02 & EXERCISES

04/01/2022 - 21/01/2022 (Week 02 - Week 07)

Alicia Teng Yi Ling / 0345159 / BDCM

Information Design

Project 02: Motion Graphic & Exercises

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LECTURE

Week 2 / Motion Graphic

Animation is essentially a series of images strung together that creates the illusion of movement. There are 4 types of animation:

• 2D animation 
• 3D animation
• Stop motion animation 
• Motion graphic

In practical class, Mr. Martin taught us how to use Adobe After Effects to create a kinetic typography animation using the text animation tool and parenting them to null objects. This was done using the lyrics "So, so what? I'm still a rock star" from the song "So What“ by P!nk. He conducted a few demonstrations of how to do so and then we followed along throughout the lesson to learn the animation.

Fig 1.1 Animating text by parenting all the text

layer to a null object & adjusting the text layer times

Fig 1.2 Animating text using the text

animator tool, null object, & enabling 3D layers

Week 4 / Vector Character animation 

During this week, we learnt basics of animating vector character grahics in Adobe After Effects. Mostly using position, scale and rotation keyframes. Advanced versions would include using the wiggle effect and the puppet position pin tool which I have used in my semester one classes. It is a very handy tool in creating life like movement due to the fact that it allows you to manipulate specific parts of the elements without affecting other parts of it.

Separate the layers in Adobe Illustrator first before importing it to Adobe After Effects, to be able to move the different elements around and for easier animation.

For our in-class activity, our task was to choose a file from the four Adobe Illustrator files given to us and animate the characters in it using what we've learnt. I chose file A to practice animating it as I like the overall aesthetic and colour scheme the most.

Fig 1.3 Vector Character Animation

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INSTRUCTIONS

Project 2: Motion Graphic, Exercise 3: Kinetic Typography, Exercise 4: Weather Forecast

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Idea Development

Exercise 03: Kinetic Typography

This exercise is a group task, in which we are required to make a kinetic typography animation video. We decided to choose the song "So What" by P!nk. We divided the lyrics between everyone according to the template Mr. Martin provided. I chose the lines 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 24A, 44 and 45 (some lines are repeated so some people animate that one line to be reused throughout the video to make things less complicated) to animate. It's basically the end of the song and I chose it because I liked one of the last lines that says "WOOO".

Fig 1.1 "So What" - P!nk lyric breakdown template (11/01/2022)

Idea Development

Fig 1.2 "All I Know So Far" Album Cover by P!nk (11/01/2022)

Fig 1.3 Colour Palette Choice (11/01/2022)

During a group meeting, we all watched the "So What" video together several times to try and get a better understanding of the lyrics, dynamics and overall feel of the song. We then agreed of the colour palette above which was inspired by the album cover in fig 1.2, it is a variety of hot pink tones and black. I liked it a lot as it has great contrast which would look great in a lyric video.

Fig 1.4 Kiss You by One Direction (11/01/2022)

Following this, we watched a few different lyric videos together to try to get some inspiration for our own video. We agreed that the video above is a great reference, due to its interesting transitions and well thought-out colour design in different frames according to the song.

Animation of Individual Parts

Testing

Below are two videos of me trying out different styles of animation for kinetic typography. I did this around the same time as Mr. Martin's kinetic typography animation lecture. The first one being a BLAH BLAH and the second one being BLAH BLAH.

Fig 2.1 Animation Testing #1

Fig 2.2 Animation Testing #2

Final Line Animations

I used the position tool a lot for this frame to shift the words in with motion blur. I also used the shape tool to frame some words for dynamic effect using a rotation mask effect and also used scale to enlarge shapes to move into different lyric scenes. Then, I used a null object to parent a swing motion for some words. In the last frame, I used a flicker effect for the fall word to add to the dramatic aesthetic.

Fig 2.3 Animation of Lines 39, 40, 41 & 42 (22/01/2022)

For the beginning frame, I used position and scale keyframes for the words and a mask with rainfall effect for the lower half of the frame.

Fig 2.4 Animation of Lines 43 & 24A (22/01/2022)

For this ending scene, I went with a simple, large scaled word to slide across the screen using position keyframes then followed up with multiplied words to create a merging effect.

Fig 2.5 Animation of Outro - Lines 44 & 45 (22/01/2022)

Fig 2.6 Keyframes for the word animations using text animator (22/01/2022)

Fig 2.7 Keyframes for word animations and circle shape animation (22/01/2022)

To summarise, I used a lot of position and scale keyframes to present words and then opacity and position keyframes to fade them out. I also utilised the null object to swing words and the shape tool for visual effects. I made use of animation effects like the rain and blob spurt at the last frame as well to look more aesthetically pleasing.

Final Kinetic Typography Video

Fig 3.1 Final "So What" Kinetic Typography Video - Group 2 (23/01/2022)

Exercise 04: Motion Graphic Chart

Progression

For this exercise, our task was to create a motion graphic animation of a specific type of chart assigned to us. Firstly, Mr. Martin showed us the slides that demonstrate how to do the animations for these charts and they included demonstrative YouTube videos. I was given the donut chart to create.

Fig 4.1 (28/01/2022)

I chose a pastel coloured theme and a neutral background for a cute aesthetic and easy viewing along with vibrant orange hues to contrast against them for clear viewing.

Fig 4.2 (28/01/2022)

Above is all the scale, position and opacity keyframes I used for the words and donut chart movement. Additionally, I added motion blur to the words so it would not look so stiff and out of place. I also used masking to create sliding effects for my colour blocks.

Final Motion Graphic Chart

Fig 4.3 Final Donut Motion Graphic Chart animation (28/01/2022)

Project 02: Animated Infographic 

For project 02, we are tasked to use the assets from our infographic poster in Project 1 and animate it using Adobe After Effects. We are required to add in music and suitable sound effects as well. 

Idea development 

Animation in Adobe After Effects

I maintained the same colour theme I used for the infographic with two scenes having a differing coloured background for contrast to present the final food dish. I used a lot of opacity and position keyframes for the movement of ingredients and words.

Fig 5.1 Animation Timeline for Ingredients List (21/02/2022)

I added a slight bounce effect by slightly off-setting position keyframes when items fell from the sky. For the salt shaker, I used rotation and position keyframes to mimic a shaking motion and opacity for the salt falling out of it. It was a similar process for the olive oil bottle but for the oil itself, I used an upwards mask path.

Fig 5.2 Animation Timeline showing Graphical Elements Positioning (21/02/2022)

Fig 5.3 Section of Total Animation Timeline (21/02/2022)

I did the whole animated infographic one shot in a single Adobe After Effects file so I had almost one hundred layers, I believe I had 97 of them. While it is time consuming, I like to do so to see the overall flow and view of the video instead of it being separated. 

Final Animated Infographic

Fig 6.1 Final Animated Infographic (24/02/2022)

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FEEDBACK

24/02/2022 - Thursday

• Not bad for a first timer, well done
• It is ready for submission

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REFLECTION

It was my first time animating an infographic in this manner so it took a while for me to get an understanding of what kind of video I wanted to create, it felt like the flow was a little stagnant at first. Slowly, after reading through my infographic I understood that I wanted to create a simple, minimalist video that is easy to understand but also with good movement animations. Overall, I learned and gained a lot of experience practicing different things in Adobe After Effects and I can confidently say that my animating skills have improved.