Goal

Trans­late the physics of the nat­ural world to dig­i­tal ani­mated compositions.

Objective

Cre­ate a short ani­ma­tion using an ani­ma­tion pro­gram that serves as a back­ground for future graphics.

Background

• Cre­ate an ani­mated back­ground in After Effects
• 5 Sim­ple Ways To Cre­ate a Back­ground in After Effects
• How to Cre­ate Infi­nite Loop­ing Back­ground in After Effects | After Effects Tuto­r­ial (added 02.20.2024)
• Cre­ate 2 Dynamic Loop­ing Back­grounds in After Effects (added 02.20.2024)
• After Effects Tuto­r­ial: How to Cre­ate an Infi­nite Loopable Background
• How to Loop Videos & Ani­ma­tions in Adobe After Effects
• https://​www​.schoolof​mo​tion​.com/​b​l​o​g​/​b​l​e​n​d​i​n​g​-​m​o​d​e​s​-​a​f​t​e​r​-​e​f​f​e​cts
• https://​www​.schoolof​mo​tion​.com/​b​l​o​g​/​g​u​i​d​e​-​t​o​-​a​f​t​e​r​-​e​f​f​e​c​t​s​-​m​e​n​u​s​-​e​f​f​ect

Exercise

Using the tools and tuto­ri­als of After­Ef­fects, Pho­to­shop and Illus­tra­tor cre­ate ani­ma­tions that explore the func­tional aspects of a loop­ing background.

Part One

Cre­ate a series of six (6) ten sec­ond (10 sec) back­ground ani­ma­tions for each of the fol­low­ing scenarios:

1. Mov­ing Gradient
2. Infi­nite Geo­met­ric Tunnel
3. Pat­tern
4. Organic Liv­ing Movement
5. Repeated Shape
6. Par­ti­cle

If nec­es­sary, use addi­tional soft­ware or tech­niques to advance the basic func­tional sce­nario to cre­ate some­thing with a fin­ished aes­thetic. For instance, use inter­est­ing shapes, tex­tures or layer effects to add depth, addi­tional move­ment or inter­est. Pay care­ful atten­tion to small details of move­ment and posi­tion­ing. The final result should loop with­out obvi­ous inter­rup­tion in the visual action.

Part Two

Edit the six clips into a one (1) minute comp and export the movie file for cri­tique. Mod­estly label your action with a small and unob­tru­sive over­lay cap­tion, and add audio.

Part Three

Take a min­i­mum of two back­grounds from Part One and com­bine into a sin­gle 10 sec­ond clip. Explore any avail­able blend­ing modes, adjust­ments lay­ers and/or layer styles. (updated 02.25.2023).

Technical Specifications

Cre­ate the ani­ma­tions at the fol­low­ing settings:

• File Size/Export Set­tings: HDTV 1080, 29.97fps
• Ren­der Set­tings: Best and Out­put Mod­ule: H.264
• 44.1kHz, 16 bit, 2 chan­nel audio
• File name: xyz_art378_exer00_part00.mp4

• The fol­low­ing rubric posted on D2L will deter­mine exer­cise score: Exer­cise Grading

Techniques

lay­out, sketch­ing, plan­ning, ani­ma­tion, rendering

Materials

pen­cil, paper, After Effects