Maddie's Magnificent Movies!- Multiplane Animation

This week in Animation, we made multiplane animations. Multiplane animation is when you use several layers of animation and move them all separately to create a feeling of depth. It was invented in 1957 by Walt Disney, and he did it using a special device called the multiplane camera, which he and his crew invented. Back then, animations were made using transparent celluloid sheets with drawings on them and large glass frames with cameras above them so they could take a picture of each frame. Then they put the frames together to create an animation. It was a long process, and because of this, old animation studios looked like factories because of how many people it took to draw so many frames.

Now, we don't need to do that anymore because we've got computers! My class made our multiplane animation using Photoshop's multiple layers and AfterEffects' instant motion tweening. I put mine on the moon, because I thought that had a lot of creative possibilities. The first thing I did was draw the earth in the background. Most people in my group put the sun there, but since mine is on the moon, I thought the earth would be more fitting. Then, I created 3 layers of a moonscape, all in different shades of gray, and then added craters on each layer. Then, I added details. On the front layer, I added the Moon Rabbit (a white rabbit from Japanese folklore that lives on the moon, making rice cake) and Majora from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, who lives inside the moon. On the middle layer, I added the American flag from the Apollo 11 (complete with footsteps that will never go away due to the moon having no wind) and Desmond the Moon Bear (from TomSka's "asdfmovie" videos). On the back layer I added a lunar rover and, of course, the one named Sailor Moon! Then I trimmed down the back and middle layers to make them shorter, put them into AfterEffects, and made them move across the screen. And that is how I made my multiplane animation!

Maddie's Magnificent Movies!- Inchworm Animation

This week was a great one. Why? We got to animate something that wasn't a bouncing ball! YAY! This was our second project this year, and we learned how to use the Puppet Pin tool. So, without further ado, here it is. My inchworm animation.

In this project, we had to create an inchworm and an environment for him to be in using Photoshop, and then make him crawl across the screen using AfterEffects. I made an alien planet covered in thick clouds of gas, some purple grass, and a brightly colored alien worm. The Puppet Pin tool was very easy to get the hang of, and I managed to get it done rather quickly.

I learned how to use the Puppet Pin tool and how to animate something that isn't a bouncing ball. I also learned about subcompositions, parent layers, and how to make shadows.

Overall, I think it turned out nicely! The worm and alien planet both look appealing, the animation is smooth, and the shading looks natural. Overall, I'm happy with how this turned out and am SUPER psyched for the next project- a character walk cycle!