How To Animate Object Using Puppet Tool In After Effect

Puppet Pin is one of After Effects' most powerful tools. With just a few clicks and keyframes, you can transform a static prototype into a lively animation! The tool has its own idiosyncrasies and methods, but with this tutorial, we'll assistance you larn the ins and outs of this neat tool.

The Puppet Pin tool will work on whatever visual layer, this includes Shape, Prototype and even Video layers. We'll echo this information later on to remind you but before we get started, but proceed that in mind.

Getting the Projection Files

Download the project files.
Afterwards the download has finished, be certain to unzip the file if it hasn't been washed for y'all. Yous should finish up with an After Effects Boob Pivot folder.

Project Overview

We'll be setting up the Shape Layers in the file for the Puppet Pivot first, as the tool requires some small-scale setup. Next nosotros'll be using the tool to animate a jellyfish swimming, then brand a few Precomps so nosotros can easily indistinguishable and add some more animation to the effigy. With just a few minor aesthetic adjustments at the end, we'll accept you creating a soothing underwater scene based around one powerful tool.

Let's get to it!

Animation Setup

1. Upon opening the file, y'all'll see a few layers already in identify. You don't accept to worry about them, they're just there to visually support the blitheness y'all'll be making in this tutorial. We'll be focusing on the jellyfish layers in the middle, labeled pink.

2. Select the layer left tentacle shape layer.

3. Click Y on your keyboard to activate the (Pan Behind) Anchor Point tool.

4. You'll meet a little circular icon on your selected layer. This is the Anchor Betoken, the point that After Effects uses to reference where your object is on the canvas. We'll need the plan to know which point the object "hinges" from in social club to create believable movement with our after tool. With the Anchor Point tool, you can either drag the Anchor Point up to the top of the tentacle.

5. With the layer however selected, you can click A on your keyboard to open up the Anchor Point options. This volition prove the Ballast Point coordinates, which should read nigh 120, 60.

6. Select the layer center tentacle shape layer.

7. Movement the Ballast Signal of the center tentacle shape layer to its topmost signal.

viii. Check the coordinates to see it read near 110, 33.

9. Select the correct tentacle shape layer.

10. Move the Ballast Bespeak to its topmost point.

11. Check the coordinates to see them read about 78, 57.

12. Now you have your Anchor Bespeaksouth all in the correct Position for our animation to await real. Onto the master consequence, the Puppet Pin tool! Close all your open layer attributes by beginning striking Cmnd-A (Mac)/Cntrl-A (PC) to Select All.

13. Press U on your keyboard to swivel shut all your layer attributes.

Puppet Pin Tool

Before nosotros get into the thick of it, only a reminder that this tool can be used on just almost any visual layer; shape layers, nested comps, images, etc. We've createdShape Layers for you in this tutorial and so you can focus solely on learning the Puppet Pin Tool, but for your own projects, you'll be able to piece of work with any media yous like.

1. Select the left tentacle shape layer.

2. Click on the Puppet Pin tool in the toolbar.

three. At present, the manner Puppet Pin works is that by inserting pins into your object layer, After Effects can then animate those pins with the keyframes you put in. Allow's try it out. Make sure your Playhead is at 00;00;00;00 so when we put the pins in, they don't announced in middle of your Timeline and are there from the beginning.

4. Click on the top of the tentacle in the left tentacle shape layer to insert your first pin.

5. Click the centre of the tentacle to insert the 2d pivot.

6. Click the lesser of the tentacle to insert the third and terminal pin. Your pin layout should look something similar this. The mesh over the object shows how far the program volition deform its appearance. This can be manipulated in the Mesh options in the toolbar but this will work fine every bit is.

7. To avoid putting in more pins than we need to, select the Selection Tool.

8. With the left tentacle shape layer selected, press E on your keyboard to open up the Furnishings on the layer.

9. Click the toggle icon to open up the Puppet options.

10. Click the toggle icon to open the Mesh one options.

11. Click the toggle icon to open up upward the Deform options. Nigh at that place, honest.

12. You'll see all iii of your Puppet Pivots in the layer stack. Shift-Click to select all three.

13. Click the toggle icon to open up up the pins.

fourteen. Each pin layer corresponds to a pin placed on the object layer. By clicking and dragging the yellowish pins on the object, a keyframe is placed on the Timeline that lets Afterward Effects know how to move the pin and by extension, the object itself. The lodge you insert pins is the order they'll be in the layer stack.

Motion the Playhead to the end of the clip, 00;00;03;00.

15. With all 3 pins still selected, click any keyframing diamond to the leftmost side of the pin layer. This will identify a keyframe on all three. Nosotros want this so that at the end of the prune, our tentacle returns to its initial position.

sixteen. Movement the Playhead to the middle, about 00;00;01;15.

17. Deselect the layers past clicking anywhere else in the program.

18. Select Puppet Pin three.

19. You lot tin can either move the pin effectually in the composition window to animate it, or change the Position to 490, 760.

20. Movement the Playhead back to 00;00;01;10. We desire the keyframes to a chip offset to add some life into the blitheness.

21. Select Puppet Pin 2.

22. Change the Position to 520,566.

23. Select all three keyframes

24. Hit F9 to Easy Ease them.

25. We'll exist repeating this with the other ii tentacles, so select the eye tentacle shape layer.

26. Select the Puppet Pin tool.

27. Similar before, identify the offset pin on the acme of the tentacle by clicking.

28. Place the second pivot in the center of the tentacle.

29. Click the bottom of the tentacle to insert the third pin. Your pin layout should look something like this.

xxx. Again, switch to the Selection Tool to avert adding more than pins.

31. With the eye tentacle shape layer selected, press Due east.

32. Toggle open Puppet.

33. Toggle open up Mesh 1.

34. Toggle open Deform.

35. Select all 3 Puppet Pivots.

36. Toggle them open.

37. Motion the Playhead to 00;00;03;00

38. Press the diamond shape to add some other set of keyframes.

39. Motion the Playhead to 00;00;01;00

40. Change the Position of Puppet Pin 2 to 576, 850.

41. Motion the Playhead to 00;00;00;25

42. Change the Position of Boob Pin 3 to 554, 646.

43. Select all iii keyframes.

44. Hit F9 in one case once again to make them Easy Ease.

45. Last one! Select the right tentacle shape layer.

46. Select the Puppet Pin tool.

47. You know the drill. Identify the first pin on the top of the tentacle by clicking.

48. Identify the 2d pivot in the eye of the tentacle.

49. Click on the bottom of the tentacle to insert the tertiary pin. Your pin layout will announced like this.

50. Switch to the Selection Tool then nosotros don't add more pins.

51. With the right tentacle shape layer selected, printing E.

52. Toggle open Puppet.

53. Toggle open up Mesh 1.

54. Toggle open Deform.

55. Select all three Boob Pins.

56. Toggle them open.

57. Move the Playhead to 00;00;03;00

58. Printing the diamond shape to add together another ready of keyframes.

59. Movement the Playhead to 00;00;02;00.

threescore. Alter the Position of Boob Pin 2 to 686, 594.

61. Move the Playhead to 00;00;02;05.

62. Change the Position of Boob Pin 3 to 687, 794.

63. Select all three keyframes.

64. Hit F9 once once again to make them Piece of cake Ease. Your jellyfish tentacles are all blithe! A little tedious but now you got the hang of it! We'll be collecting this blitheness in a Precomp to allow us to breathing the whole matter together next.

Precomping and Animation

1. Select all your jellyfish tentacle layers with Cmnd-A (Mac)/Cntrl-A (PC).

2. Press U on your keyboard to toggle all the layers closed.

iii. Shift-click on all the jellyfish layers, including the body, to select them.

4. Right click on any jellyfish layer to bring upwards some options.

5. Click Pre-compose. Nosotros're collecting all the layers into a Precomp, which is like a box containing all your layers. This is and then nosotros can hands add some animation and duplicate the whole jellyfish at in one case.

six. Name your Precomp, jellyfish.

7. Click OK.

8. To go along things organized, permit's change the color characterization of the new Precomp. Click the colored box next to the layer proper name.

ix. Choose Pink. Great! Now we'll make some copies of our jelly and change them up a chip to differentiate them,

More Jellyfish

1. Select your jellyfish Precomp.

2. Cmnd-D (Mac)/Ctrl-D (Windows) will duplicate your jellyfish, making an identical layer to a higher place the one selected.

3. Hitting Return (Mac) / Enter (Windows) to rename your layer.

4. Rename the layer to jellyfish 2.

5. At present press P to bring up Position.

half dozen. Let'due south move our new jellyfish to 1380,720.

7. Hit S for the Scale attribute.

eight. We'll resize this new jelly to 75% of its original size. At present it looks farther abroad, giving our piece some depth. One terminal detail to actually sell the illusion.

9. Hit T to open Opacity.

x. Lower it to 75%.

11. Duplicate this jellyfish with Cmnd-D (Mac)/Ctrl-D (Windows).

12. Press Return (Mac) / Enter (Windows) to rename your layer once more.

13. Rename the layer to jellyfish three if After Effects hadn't done so already for you.

14. Printing P for Position.

fifteen. Move this layer to 1700,500.

16. Now hit Southward for Scale.

17. Change the size to 50% and so it's the smallest jellyfish.

xviii. And finally T for Opacity.

xix. Change Opacity to l% too. All the jellyfish are prepare up and prepare for animative!

Animating the Jelly

10. Now nosotros'll add some animation. Select the first jellyfish layer.

11. Press P to open up up Position.

12. Hit the stopwatch to enable keyframes.

13. Motion the Playhead to 00;00;03;00.

xiv. Click the diamond to add another keyframe.

15. At present go dorsum to 00;00;01;twenty.

16. Change the Position to 960,590.

17. Select all keyframes.

18. Hit F9 to, yes, Piece of cake Ease them.

19. To shorten the time spent calculation keyframes for these, select both jellyfish one and jellyfish ii with Shift-Click.

xx. Move the Playhead to 00;00;00;00.

21. Printing P to open up up both layers' Position if they're not open already.

22. Printing the stopwatch to start keyframes on both layers.

23. Movement the Playhead to 00;00;03;00.

24. Press the diamond shape on both layers to add together another keyframe on both.

25. Click anywhere else in the plan to deselect the layers.

26. Move the Playhead to 00;00;01;x.

27. On jellyfish two, change the Position to 1380,750 to add a keyframe.

28. Move the Playhead once more to 00;00;2;00.

29. For jellyfish 3, change the Position to 1700, 440 to add one more keyframe.

30. Select all the keyframes in the jellyfish ii and jellyfish 3 layers.

31. Hit F9 to Easy Ease them.

32. Go back to 00;00;00;00.

33. Printing Spacebar on your keyboard to play your animation.

You're all washed!

Decision

At that place you go! Just with a little setup and know how of Puppet Pins, we were able to make a absurd underwater animation. You tin create all sorts of Shapes and Boob Pin them to make fifty-fifty more than detailed animations, and Precomp and adapt them to brand space variations. From jellyfish to cars to even humans and cities, with Shapes and Puppet Pin, you have a whole new world of animation possibilities before yous.

Happy animating!

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