Wow, this just solidified that I dont have the patience to do this. When people of your ability talk about how simple and easy this is feels like a slap in the face to myself. (flips table and gives up lol)
Good question! One reason that I use after effects for a lot of this stuff is because, for me, it is a very fast path from making a drawing in Photoshop to having an animated character. If I need new pieces I can draw it in a few minutes, add it to the puppet and with a few tricks it is working. They also really keep the illustrated quality. I can show a client a concept, if they love it I can have that exact sketch moving in a day. The limitations also force me to be creative and resourceful.
I like this! I actually need this for an animation project I'm doing, where I'll be switching back and forth between 2D and "3D". Originally, I was going to go with Maya and make a 3D rig in there, but I don't think I'd have the time. I wanted something just like this, 2D with a 3D feel! Thanks for this
I have been working with Maya on some new techniques, for me, to animate illustrations in a 2.5D way and I have to say by the end of the day it seems to all be about the same amount of work with different results. The last thing that is really a benefit to After Effects is that I can animate a scene and have it fully composited with all of the effects and treatments in place and if something isn't working I can fix it and have a new shot ready right away without having to render 10 new passes.
Dan- Thanks for being the freakin' man! I would love to see some more discussion on expressions, and how you use them to control your rigs. So hard to find good tutorials beyond wiggle!
You just gave me a resolution on my work tools and flow for 2d animations,i love your works they are awesome, i av been off 2d animations for a while, been doing more of motion graphics with the same tools (photoshop, Aftereffects and Premiere) but wish to return to 2d.
A very interesting use of the 3D aspects of AE, which I tend to avoid for various reasons but may look into when the time is right. VERY CLEVER solution to get that 3D effect from AE - something to learn from for sure. Thanks for setting the standard in the Internet animation world! A bar for all of us to strive for.
Oh sorry, that is silly of me not to include some direction. Search for "Rigging a Realistic character in After Effects" It doesn't cover the head rotations using the nano girl method, it uses freeForm. However, all the body rigging is the same. Thank you for watching. I appreciate the compliment!
Hi Daniel, Im doing my thesis project and I know this video is VERY old. Im not sure if you would even see this comment. I was having some trouble setting up the camera and overall it gets too confusing. 15th Nov 2018 is my deadline so I would really appreciate the help before that. Keep up the great smart work. Kudos.
Hi, can't tell you how much your tutorial's are appreciated. Thanks. Would you like to post which expressions you used for each layer (especially the head layer)?
@grugrucarmim I am definitely working on a step by step right now. In fact I have a very detailed set of tutorials coming out at AETuts+ I iwll try to get it on you tube as well. It is pretty advanced but is certainly more detailed. They will be coming out all month. Thank you so much for the compliments, it is very encouraging. Definitely makes it worth all the effort.
That is really clever! Not simple enough for my lack of skill but damn is this cool. Definitely saving this to my favourites so when I improve I can come back and try this, so thank you for that :)
Hello Daniel, I have one question, do you have a tutorial to learn how to do this kind of animation using freeform, I have the plug in and I still have not found any good tutorials to learn how to use it for purposes like this animation you made. I would like to learn how to use it just for this purpose. thank you and thanks for this overview.
Hi again! Were you able to produce that tutorial? I am very curious how you linked everything to that FaceCenter null object to simulate the head rotation (as far as I understood, the head rotation depends only on that null, right?).
That's genius, I'd never think of using some parallax 2.5 d sort of animation to create the illusion. I am usually dependent on puppet warp which is a huge pain in the ass lmao
the eyes, mouth, etc are 3D enabled layers that are moved forward in space and parented to a null object at 0,0,0. When I use the head X slider and Y slider it rotates the null object which in effect changes the position of the eyes, mouth, etc. Does that make sense?
Hi Daniel, first thanks a lot for your tips, it kind of opened me a new world of possibilities and been a huge step up in my face animation work lately. I find you're the most helpful in explaining this. I do have a question tough. I was wondering if you were experiencing the same pain I'm in when I have to find the ideal spot for all the single layers, z position and scale talking or do you have a magic trick that would blow my mind? Another huge problem would be the fact that any change to my camera settings would alter the look of the face and show the empty spots... Thanks again for sharing!
no chance we ever get to see a step by step tut for that? :D Nice character design. Thinking about a concept for a fulldome show with a cartoonish drawn style like this!!! could be very nice with the 7.1 sound!
Thanks so much! I think it is the same here with regards to flash. I don't know why everyone is using it. It is a real pain to do a lot of the same type of things that AE does quite easily, not to mention, everything looks the same. I guess it is a look that the audience finds acceptable, it is a cheap program and everyone has already developed a pipeline for it. I don't think After Effects will ever be part of the commercial pipeline, but it is definitely used in a lot of animated films.
Hey Daniel, your work is AMAZING! I just subscribed to you. I am a 3d Artist, i just wanted to ask a casual question: The head rotation and tilting with all the different layers, its very complex (but obviously fun), wouldn't it be easier to model it in a 3d program (like 3ds Max or Maya) and then animate it? Why do you prefer to work in after effects? Granted it looks amazing but its a lot of work, which could be easily done in actual 3d. Also, many thanks for taking the time out to do these :)
this is sick... I've been self teaching myself on how to use after effects cs5 and seeing this video lets me know that is soooooo much more to learn... how did you learn man?
I have to say, you sir are on the list of my fav animators. Honestly. I remember doing stuff like this at university 4 years ago and not having anyone to help me understand fully rigging characters and make them look GOOD. I've been discouraged to stick with AE for character animating due to work not being catered to it (or at least in the UK). Do you find there's a lot of work out there willing to take on AE char animators over Flash?
Hey I was looking over ur vimeo page in search of the tutorial on how to make this head animation and I could only find the one of the CO2 molecule. Is it on the internet somewhere? I would LOVE to learn how to do this style of animation :) Thanks in advance. Keep up the good work!
There are some points which are not clear to me yet . 1. How are you masking the pupils when they reach the corner ? There is no pre-comp as far i can see. 2.What is the method you are using to move the pupils with the blink. Is there any expression?Also the distortion of brows with the blink. 3. There is a layer called Head BASE that you are using.But I can not see which one is it and how it is working here.You have parented several objects with it. Thanks,
Great stuff here man, love your work. I'm working on a character rig with similar attributes at the moment and am learning from this. However, i'm using vector assets for lossless quality and use the collapse transformation feature for carefree scaling, but I recently realised that this disables most comp effects and you can't have it both ways. How do u manage with the scaling problem?
Sorry sir. No actual step by step tutorial on this one. It is presented as a concept or way to approach doing things. Step by step tutorials take me way too long to put together right now. So all I can do is offer insights into discoveries and methods at this time. We are so busy and I just want to get whatever I could out there to help. I am sorry if this was not what you were looking for. Thanks for watching. Dan
Hi Daniel. I love this video, but I have a question. The Hair is not a composition but is deformed according to FaceCenter Y and X rotation parameters, and this is not a child of Facecenter. Can you explain briefly how is it animated/deformed please? this is the only thing can´t understand in the video :(
0:35 she shakes her head "no" in agreement with him lol and then at 0:38 when he says "she breaks at about 3/4" she nods in agreement again. lol it's like she's sentient
Oh My Lord! You expanded my AfterEffecs views for 8000 degrees!!! Thank you very very much for your tut!
Wow, this just solidified that I dont have the patience to do this. When people of your ability talk about how simple and easy this is feels like a slap in the face to myself. (flips table and gives up lol)
You just solved my million dollar question about the smooth 2D character animation lately...NICE!
1:17 blew my mind a little bit XD Did not expect that, super cool!!!
Good question! One reason that I use after effects for a lot of this stuff is because, for me, it is a very fast path from making a drawing in Photoshop to having an animated character. If I need new pieces I can draw it in a few minutes, add it to the puppet and with a few tricks it is working. They also really keep the illustrated quality. I can show a client a concept, if they love it I can have that exact sketch moving in a day. The limitations also force me to be creative and resourceful.
I like this! I actually need this for an animation project I'm doing, where I'll be switching back and forth between 2D and "3D". Originally, I was going to go with Maya and make a 3D rig in there, but I don't think I'd have the time. I wanted something just like this, 2D with a 3D feel! Thanks for this
Thats true, that way you have retained your unique style of work with great authenticity. Congrats to you. Looking forward for more stuff. cheers.
I seriously love everything that you do.
I have been working with Maya on some new techniques, for me, to animate illustrations in a 2.5D way and I have to say by the end of the day it seems to all be about the same amount of work with different results. The last thing that is really a benefit to After Effects is that I can animate a scene and have it fully composited with all of the effects and treatments in place and if something isn't working I can fix it and have a new shot ready right away without having to render 10 new passes.
Ur AE skills is sick, thanks for these tutorials!
Dan- Thanks for being the freakin' man! I would love to see some more discussion on expressions, and how you use them to control your rigs. So hard to find good tutorials beyond wiggle!
You just gave me a resolution on my work tools and flow for 2d animations,i love your works they are awesome, i av been off 2d animations for a while, been doing more of motion graphics with the same tools (photoshop, Aftereffects and Premiere) but wish to return to 2d.
A very interesting use of the 3D aspects of AE, which I tend to avoid for various reasons but may look into when the time is right.
VERY CLEVER solution to get that 3D effect from AE - something to learn from for sure.
Thanks for setting the standard in the Internet animation world! A bar for all of us to strive for.
Really clever idea and well explained too. Thanks for sharing!
This is so clever. Wow!
:)
Bravo and thanks for the inspiration.
Awesome tutorial. Thanks very much for sharing!!!
wow, i thought this was 3D at first... well done mate!!
Dude, you're brilliant.
Awesome work
You're my muse
Very good job. Thanks for teaching us.
Brilliant, thanks for the quick tips. I'll try this style this week.
Dude .... this is genius!
Oh sorry, that is silly of me not to include some direction. Search for "Rigging a Realistic character in After Effects" It doesn't cover the head rotations using the nano girl method, it uses freeForm. However, all the body rigging is the same. Thank you for watching. I appreciate the compliment!
Also: a big THANK YOU for doing these.
Whoa! I just came across this. Impressive for AE. I had no idea.
Awesome tutorial, thanks for sharing !
That's really awesome tutorial
Hi Daniel, Im doing my thesis project and I know this video is VERY old. Im not sure if you would even see this comment. I was having some trouble setting up the camera and overall it gets too confusing. 15th Nov 2018 is my deadline so I would really appreciate the help before that. Keep up the great smart work. Kudos.
Thank you for all. You are amazing! :)
Hi, can't tell you how much your tutorial's are appreciated. Thanks. Would you like to post which expressions you used for each layer (especially the head layer)?
Brilliant. I've subscribed to your channel. I've got a lot to figure out, in a short amount of time.
great job
Wow, here what i do with this tuto. Tanks.
thks you very muchhh! It's so helpfull and very good!
excellent tutorial thank you very much for sharing!
@grugrucarmim I am definitely working on a step by step right now. In fact I have a very detailed set of tutorials coming out at AETuts+ I iwll try to get it on you tube as well. It is pretty advanced but is certainly more detailed. They will be coming out all month. Thank you so much for the compliments, it is very encouraging. Definitely makes it worth all the effort.
Very NICE!
Thank you for sharing ... Subscribed!
wow, this is really good!
Very rare topic on youtube tutorials, bravo!. Any new tutorial on this topic?
Amazing!
That is really clever! Not simple enough for my lack of skill but damn is this cool. Definitely saving this to my favourites so when I improve I can come back and try this, so thank you for that :)
Hello Daniel,
I have one question, do you have a tutorial to learn how to do this kind of animation using freeform, I have the plug in and I still have not found any good tutorials to learn how to use it for purposes like this animation you made. I would like to learn how to use it just for this purpose. thank you and thanks for this overview.
insane thank you for these
Hi again!
Were you able to produce that tutorial? I am very curious how you linked everything to that FaceCenter null object to simulate the head rotation (as far as I understood, the head rotation depends only on that null, right?).
Thanks for sharing!
THANK YOU!!!
That's genius, I'd never think of using some parallax 2.5 d sort of animation to create the illusion. I am usually dependent on puppet warp which is a huge pain in the ass lmao
the eyes, mouth, etc are 3D enabled layers that are moved forward in space and parented to a null object at 0,0,0. When I use the head X slider and Y slider it rotates the null object which in effect changes the position of the eyes, mouth, etc.
Does that make sense?
Hi Daniel, first thanks a lot for your tips, it kind of opened me a new world of possibilities and been a huge step up in my face animation work lately. I find you're the most helpful in explaining this.
I do have a question tough.
I was wondering if you were experiencing the same pain I'm in when I have to find the ideal spot for all the single layers, z position and scale talking or do you have a magic trick that would blow my mind?
Another huge problem would be the fact that any change to my camera settings would alter the look of the face and show the empty spots...
Thanks again for sharing!
no chance we ever get to see a step by step tut for that? :D Nice character design. Thinking about a concept for a fulldome show with a cartoonish drawn style like this!!! could be very nice with the 7.1 sound!
It´s an amazing trick
MASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Such an interactive and informative video, I need a detailed tutorial how you did it from scratch , can you please link me up to that?
Thanks so much! I think it is the same here with regards to flash. I don't know why everyone is using it. It is a real pain to do a lot of the same type of things that AE does quite easily, not to mention, everything looks the same. I guess it is a look that the audience finds acceptable, it is a cheap program and everyone has already developed a pipeline for it. I don't think After Effects will ever be part of the commercial pipeline, but it is definitely used in a lot of animated films.
I♥️this!
nice technique
Hey Daniel, your work is AMAZING! I just subscribed to you. I am a 3d Artist, i just wanted to ask a casual question: The head rotation and tilting with all the different layers, its very complex (but obviously fun), wouldn't it be easier to model it in a 3d program (like 3ds Max or Maya) and then animate it? Why do you prefer to work in after effects? Granted it looks amazing but its a lot of work, which could be easily done in actual 3d.
Also, many thanks for taking the time out to do these :)
this is sick... I've been self teaching myself on how to use after effects cs5 and seeing this video lets me know that is soooooo much more to learn... how did you learn man?
OMG, you're a genious!
I have to say, you sir are on the list of my fav animators. Honestly. I remember doing stuff like this at university 4 years ago and not having anyone to help me understand fully rigging characters and make them look GOOD.
I've been discouraged to stick with AE for character animating due to work not being catered to it (or at least in the UK). Do you find there's a lot of work out there willing to take on AE char animators over Flash?
Nice!
youre amazing! have you ever tried using live 2d?
How did you mask the rosy cheeks? You know, so they don't extend beyond the head when it turns? Thanks!
such skills
hey I can see that this is a bit old video. Any hints on what has changed and what can be used to improve workflow?
So for 2d animation , which one is better adobe flash or After Effect ?
Did you use Freeform in After Effects for this?
ГЕНИАЛЬНО!
Hey I was looking over ur vimeo page in search of the tutorial on how to make this head animation and I could only find the one of the CO2 molecule. Is it on the internet somewhere? I would LOVE to learn how to do this style of animation :)
Thanks in advance. Keep up the good work!
I never know after effects can be used this complex :O
THIS IS FUCKIN AWESOME.
If I went to AEtuts what would I search for to see your series? Love your work
There are some points which are not clear to me yet .
1. How are you masking the pupils when they reach the corner ? There is no pre-comp as far i can see.
2.What is the method you are using to move the pupils with the blink. Is there any expression?Also the distortion of brows with the blink.
3. There is a layer called Head BASE that you are using.But I can not see which one is it and how it is working here.You have parented several objects with it.
Thanks,
Great stuff here man, love your work. I'm working on a character rig with similar attributes at the moment and am learning from this. However, i'm using vector assets for lossless quality and use the collapse transformation feature for carefree scaling, but I recently realised that this disables most comp effects and you can't have it both ways. How do u manage with the scaling problem?
Chalenge of the month.. try to do something like that! Man, post a tutorial please... I would like to make my work would go to the next level :)
thanks for sharing!! :>
you created this in photoshop? how did you made your graphics not blurry?
F'ing brilliant.
you see, you must climb the mount and say. "Wow" good job..
looks really good :)
How did you create the background, it has a storybook/watercolor feel to it, maybe a bit cutout, I really like it
Do you happen to know if this could this work in Apple Motion?
Okay so this is an overview but where can we find/buy the actual tutorial?
Sorry sir. No actual step by step tutorial on this one. It is presented as a concept or way to approach doing things. Step by step tutorials take me way too long to put together right now. So all I can do is offer insights into discoveries and methods at this time. We are so busy and I just want to get whatever I could out there to help. I am sorry if this was not what you were looking for. Thanks for watching.
Dan
How did you manage to get the hair to move along with the head!! (Also this tutorial is beautiful oh my god what.)
Hi Daniel. I love this video, but I have a question. The Hair is not a composition but is deformed according to FaceCenter Y and X rotation parameters, and this is not a child of Facecenter. Can you explain briefly how is it animated/deformed please? this is the only thing can´t understand in the video :(
I think it is made by liquify... isnt it? :)
Also I don't quite understand how you are linking the motion of eyes,nose and mouth with the changing face shape. :)
I'm sorry, is that 'FaceCenter' is only a Null Object? This is brilliant by the way
Oh my god ....I wish I would be your student 🙄🤓🙏
How times have changed. All this effort to just make the head rotation look 3D. Now you can do this in 5mins using Joystick n Slider.
What's "Head_BASE" layer? Can anyone tell me.
I use the technique to animate a video game?
What if i want to do a complete rotation seeing all the character
Hi. Would I look to project?
Which Version of Adobe After Effects is this?
Do export from 3dmax to AE
What program is that?
can i get the link to the movie "nano" on youtube
0:35 she shakes her head "no" in agreement with him lol and then at 0:38 when he says "she breaks at about 3/4" she nods in agreement again. lol it's like she's sentient
Thank You for this tutorial ^_^ Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
The head is very big. it is at least 1000X1000 pixels.