After learning how to use the timeline method to animate, we have completed the basic part of animation production. It should be emphasized again here that be careful not to switch to frame mode from the timeline mode at will, because this will cause the timeline definition to become invalid. If you make a mistake, you can use the undo command to recover.
In the previous lessons, when using frame transition, there were 3 parameters (5 in the case of masks), namely position, opacity, and style. We already know that position is the coordinate of the layer. For example, moving a text changes the position of the text layer. Opacity allows you to change the layer's translucency. The so-called style refers to the layer style. In the basics of Photoshop, we have already learned how to define styles for layers. There are many parameters in defining styles that directly affect the final effect. Such as shadow height, angle, etc. Most of these parameters can be used as animation variables. Can make very good animations.
When making static works, the most frequently used layer style is projection, so let’s start with projection and animate it to see the effect.
Before doing animation, you must first have a good idea of how to do it. This idea can be called a script. The script setting this time is to make a circle float. To show objects floating on a flat surface, you need to use projection to guide vision. Create a new 100×100 blank image and go to the document settings (click on the animation palette in the upper right corner
button) and change the animation duration to 1 second and the frame rate to 15. As shown below. This animation has a total of 15 frames. It should be noted that since the frame number starts from 1 and the time starts from 0, the starting time is 00:00, which is the first frame. Then the 15th frame should be located at 00:14 time, not 00:15. This issue has been mentioned before and will be repeated here.
Create a new layer, then use the Ellipse Tool's fill pixel mode (not vector) to draw a circle with a custom color, and then set a drop shadow style on it. As shown in the following figures respectively.
The above settings are all set at 00:00 by default. Now press the stopwatch button to the left of "Style" in the timeline.
, turn on this animation setting. Move the time benchmark to 00:14 (that is, the last frame), open the style setting box again, and change the "distance" in the projection parameters to 20 pixels. The effect is as shown in the figure below.
It seems something is wrong. This is because although the shadow moves, the object does not move, so the floating effect cannot be expressed. Therefore, when making such animations in the future, everyone should pay attention to the fact that objects and shadows must move in opposite directions at the same time.
Now go back to the beginning and open the "Position" item in the timeline. Then at 00:14 time (the clickable style item
button to find the moment) and move the circle a little to the upper left (you can use the keyboard's direction keys). Our projection is 75 degrees, so we need to pay attention to moving more upward and less to the left, about 2:1. The moving distance does not necessarily need to be 20 pixels. About 15 pixels is enough to achieve the desired effect. The modified effect is as follows.
This script is generally completed, and we can work on the details a little better. Modify the projection settings of the last frame, change the "Opacity" of the projection to 45%, and the "Size" to 15 pixels. This makes the shadow blurry and faded. More in line with the actual situation.
When we introduced the plot setting before, we did not advocate this kind of "going without returning", but should make it form a reciprocating circular motion, so we will modify it next.
First, change the duration to 2 seconds in the document settings and keep the frame rate unchanged at 15, resulting in a total of 30 frames of animation. Then at the last moment, keyframes for the style and vector mask position are established. These two keyframes maintain the state at the end of the original animation.
Then right-click on the keyframes at the beginning of the two projects and select "Copy Keyframe", then right-click on the keyframe at the last moment and select "Paste Keyframe". In this way, the state at the end time is consistent with the start time. The effect is shown in the figure below.
Now we feel that this circle is too monotonous, like a pie rather than a ball, so we can add a highlight effect to it through the layer style. This can be done using gradient overlay. Return to the starting point and set the gradient overlay style as shown on the left below. Note that the default highlight will be located in the center of the circle. When setting, drag it to the upper left in the image window (keyboard cannot be used). The effect is as shown in the right picture below.
At this time, have you ever thought of a question, that is, we have turned on the style item animation before, and now we have added a new style item, so how does this new style item behave in the animation? We only set this style item at the beginning, what about other times? Play the animation and you will see that as the animation progresses, the effect of gradient overlay gradually disappears. This is because the style item is not included in the next keyframe (as you can see from the layer palette at 00:14), which is equivalent to making the gradient overlay fade out.
Now to make the gradient overlay always effective, you need to add this style item in all keyframes. But this style involves dragging the mouse and cannot be simply reproduced through parameters like projection. Therefore, if you want to make the settings the same every time, it is equivalent to ensuring that the dragging action of the mouse is the same, which is unrealistic. Photoshop treats all style items as a whole and does not provide a copy function for a single style item. Therefore, it is impossible to add gradient overlay while retaining the projection style of the original animation.
The more feasible method now is to delete the 2nd and 3rd keyframes of the style item. Let it re-animate the projection project based on including gradient overlay. The layer position has nothing to do with this operation and does not need to be changed. The completed effect is shown in the picture below.
It should be noted that when using gradient overlay, gloss, and other styles that require the mouse to drag in the image to produce effects on the vector mask layer, it is best not to set the layer movement at the same time. Otherwise, these styles may not follow the movement when exporting to a file. This may be due to a program vulnerability in Photoshop.
To solve this problem of not being able to add new style items midway, a simple method can be used to solve the problem. That is, when you first create a layer style, turn on all the style items and save some that are not used temporarily. The opacity of the style item is set to 0%, which will not affect the effect and make it easier to re-enable it in the future. But you still can't avoid the trouble of resetting each key frame. Therefore, this should be fully considered at the script stage.
At present, the state of gradient overlay in three frames is the same. We can modify the style in the second keyframe and use the mouse to move the highlight point formed by the gradient a little to the upper left to imitate the change in lighting position caused by the movement of the sphere. The effect is as shown below. In reality, the shadow changes differently from this. It should change into an ellipse along the direction of light. And when a sphere stops on a plane, the height of the shadow should not be that low, it should be about 5 to 8 pixels. These issues are beyond the scope of this lesson.
Most of the layer styles can be animated, and drop shadows and inner shadows are used in similar ways to express the three-dimensionality of objects, just like the example we did above. The effects of outer glow and inner glow are similar, both are used to create the luminous effect of objects. "Direction" and "Angle" in Bevel and Emboss cannot be animated. Gloss can create more unreal animations. Color overlay can create a transition between two colors. Gradient overlay is a style item that can produce a variety of effects. In addition to angle, scaling and mouse movement position, it also requires basic gradient setting knowledge. You can watch the introduction of the corresponding parts in the basic tutorial.
In the pattern stroke mode in the pattern and stroke options, the scaling and blending modes of the pattern can form a good animation effect. You can study the specific content by yourself.
This assignment is to create the simulated radar animation shown in the picture below. Please pay attention to the details of the animation.