Tuesday, March 22, 2016

How to Create a Parallax Pan Walk Cycle using After Effects

These 5 videos will show you how to create a parallax pan walk cycle in After Effects. A parallax pan shows depth to your scene by using the 3D features in After Effects. You will animate a character in a walk cycle. You will then create a multi-layered background in Photoshop. You will import these elements into After Effects and use the 3D layer, and camera, features to create the parallax pan effect.

Part 1 - How to create a parallax pan walk cycle - Pencil Test -in After Effects.
This video explains how to set up your Walk cycle line art drawing to be exported from Photoshop as individual .psd files. It explains how to keep the character 'opaque' and make the 'background' transparent. It then shows you how to run the Script 'Export Layers to Files"


Part 2 - How to create a parallax pan walk cycle in After Effects.
this video explains how to set up your back layers in Photoshop. You need to make your background at least 4x the width of your final composition width. You also need to create background using multiple layers to achieve the 3D parallax pan effect.


Part 3 - How to create a Parallax Pan Walk cycle in After Effects. This video explains how to import the walk cycle .psd files as an image sequence. It shows how to use the "Interpret Footage - Main" dialog box to set the walk cycle frames per second - fps and how to Loop the cycle so walks for the duration of your composition.


Part 4 - Setting up the Walk in After Effects for creating a Parallax Pan walk cycle. Set the walk across your over sized background so your character walks across the screen with their feet placed properly. You want to avoid the the feet from 'skating' or sliding forward, and from slipping backwards.


Part 5 - How to set up a Parallax Pan for a Walk Cycle in After Effects.