The Bouncing Ball

Part 1
Using the Basic Animation Technique of the Bouncing Ball in
After Effects to learn advanced Ease Keyframes & Shadows

Shane Le Mar
0. Short Recap - Intro to AE & Project Setup

• Go to Google Classroom and Download the Project

Files I’ve uploaded
• Open up a New Project & Create a Composition
• Set it to the Standard Dimensions & Frame Rates
- 1920 x 1080 – 60fps – 10seconds -
• Import the Project Files you’ve downloaded
- Drag and drop the folder, or Right Click Import –
- What are we going to do?
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

What will you learn?

• Bouncing Ball
• Motion Blur
• RG Shadow
• Squash & Stretch
• Timing
• Anticipation
• Set Matte’s
• Parenting Layers
• Digital Animation
• After Effects
1. Creating the Ball
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Using the Ellipse

Tool create a
shape with 1:1
dimensions (by
holding shift)
• Align the Anchor
Point to Bottom
Centre using
Move Anchor
Point (or to the
best of your
freehand abilities)
• Don’t forget to
create a
Background!
2. Animating the Ball - Basic
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Right click on the

Position and hit
‘Separate Dimensions’
• Turn on Title/Action
Safe (TAS)
• Simply move the ball
to the base of the TAS
box (this will act as a
floor line)
• Record a keyframe at
the first frame on the
‘Y’ Axis
• All keyframes are to
be recorded onto the
‘Y’ Axis until noted
otherwise
3. Animating the Ball - Basic
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Move ahead
half a second
& create a
keyframe
• Go to the
centre of the
two
keyframes
• Move the Ball
Up on the ‘Y
Axis’ &
create a
keyframe
4. Animating the Ball - Basic
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Highlight all
keyframes &
copy
• Move to the
last recorded
keyframe (3)
• Paste
keyframes,
repeat
process until
around five
seconds
5. Animating the Ball - Basic
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Now you’ve
created the most
of basic
Bouncing Balls
• This is not very
well animated,
This is a good
therebut
start is no
looks too
easing to the
basic!
keyframes, no
smear
Why is that?
frames/motion
blur
6. Animating the Ball - Intermediate
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Delete all
frames but
the original
three
• Select the
mid-
keyframe
and make it
an ‘Easy
Ease’ (F9)
keyframe
• Zoom into
the timeline
7. Animating the Ball - Intermediate
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Click into the

Graph Editor
window &
select the
centre
yellow
keyframe
8. Animating the Ball - Intermediate
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Click & Hold

Shift, then
Drag the
yellow
toggles as far
left and right
as they can
go
• This will
make the ball
stay in the air
longer as you
are extending
the centre
keyframe
9. Animating the Ball - Intermediate
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Once again,
highlight the
keyframes,
move to the
final recorded
keyframe and
paste
• Repeat until
you get to
around 5
seconds
• Turn on
Motion Blur
10. Animating the Ball - Intermediate
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Now you’ve
got a
Bouncing
Ball to be
proud of…
• But we can
make it even
better with
SHADOWS!
11. Animating the Ball - Comparison
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

Advanced – Ease & Motion Blur

Basic – Only Keyframes

12. Animating the Ball - Shadow
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• See how
much more
just a simple
shadow adds
to the scene
• This shadow
was created
used an RG
Shadow
13. Animating the Ball - Shadow
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• In the
Effects and
Presets
Menu find
RG Shadow
• Drag it onto
the ball layer
• You won’t
see a
shadow to
begin with
14. Animating the Ball - Shadow
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Press Ctrl R
or
Press Cmd R

• This will show

you virtual
rulers, drag a
horizontal and
vertical ruler
to the base
and through
the centre of
the ball
15. Animating the Ball - Shadow
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Zoom right
into the Ball
and select
the RG
Shadow in
the Effects
window
16. Animating the Ball - Shadow
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Click – Hold
Shift and drag
the Baseline
Start & End up
to the ruler
line
• Then drag the
Height and
Slant to about
¼ of the way
away from the
base of the
ball along the
centre line
17. Animating the Ball - Shadow
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Set zoom to ‘fit

up to 100%’
• Drag the rulers
back into the
sides and hit
play – the RG
Shadow will
heavily
increase the
preview render
time but it’s
worth it
18. Animating the Ball - Shadow
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Now you’ve got

your bouncing
ball looking
pretty much as
good as it can
do being this
basic
• Ensure you’ve
got motion blur
on and render
out
• But….we can
make this look
even better by
moving it along
the screen
19.1. Rendering Rendering
Recap

Media Encoder Method

File – Export – Add to Adobe Media Encoder Queue

This way will ensure

you get the smallest
file size whilst
retaining the quality
19.2. Rendering Rendering
Recap

• Click the Blue text

• Select H.264 for .mp4 (or Quicktime for .mov)
• Choose a location to render out the
file and name it
• Choose Match Source to ensure best
quality
19.3. Rendering
Rendering
Recap

• Finally click the

Green play button

Unlike when you

render in After Effects
you can close After
Effects and get to
working on something
else without it taking
up much CPU
20. Moving the Ball – The Basics
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Now we’re
going to
make the
bouncing ball
move along
the screen to
create the
full bouncing
ball that you
know and
love from the
12 Principles
of Animation
21. Moving the Ball – The Basics
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Now we will
be recording
keyframes to
the ‘X’ Axis,
this is why
we split them
earlier
• So create an
‘X’ Keyframe
at the start of
the timeline
and another
at 00:05:30
22. Moving the Ball – The Basics
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• At this stage
you’ll want to
switch the
View Motion
Blur toggle
off along with
the RG
Shadow as
these will
cause the
Comp to lag
whilst you
animate the
next part
23. Moving the Ball – The Basics
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

Now you’ve got

the most basic of
movement, but
Slow
• it’s in and
missing a Out
lot
of Animation
• Arcs
Principles
• Anticipation
• Timing
What are they?
24. Moving the Ball - Advanced
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Select the
last ‘X’
Keyframe,
right click
and change
it to an ‘Easy
Ease’
keyframe (or
press Shift &
F9
25. Moving the Ball - Advanced
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Now holding
Shift, highlight
all the ‘Ease’
keyframes on
the ‘Y’ Axis
• Move to the
first
highlighted
keyframe, hold
shift and tap
the Down
Arrow until the
frames sit at
about half the
height of the
first keyframe
26. Moving the Ball - Advanced
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Repeat the
highlight,
shift & move
process for
the next 3
‘Ease’
keyframes –
each time
moving it to
half the
height of the
one prior
27. Moving the Ball - Advanced
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Set the Zoom

to 100%
• Move along
to the next
Keyframe
and move it
down 4
frames
28. Moving the Ball - Advanced
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Move the next

three
Keyframes
down by 2
• Finally move
the last
keyframe
down by 1
• Fit up to 100%
and preview
29. Moving the Ball - Advanced
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

It’s looking pretty

much done now.
• Timing
•But one or and
Squash two
things are
Stretch
missing.

What are they?

30. Moving the Ball - Timing
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Highlight all
frames to the
left of the
first set of
Keyframes
• Hold down Alt
(Option on a
Mac) and use
the arrow
keys to move
them along 2
paces
31. Moving the Ball - Timing
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Hold down Shift

and de-select the
first of the
highlighted frames
on the ‘X’ Axis and
move the rest
along 2 paces
• The reason we do
this is you can edit
the timings as
much as you want
however you must
ensure that the
two regular
keyframes either
side of the ‘Ease’
keyframe are the
same distance
decreasing
32. Moving the Ball - Timing
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Repeat this
process for
every other
set of
keyframes
increasing
the number
of paces
moved by an
extra 1 each
time
33. Moving the Ball - Timing
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Now move
the last ‘Y’
Keyframe up
to the
nearest .30th
of a full
second of
animation
34. Moving the Ball - Timing
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Go to the last
Keyframe on the
‘X’ Axis and move
the ball along to
about ¾ of the
Comp
• Move to the first
Keyframe of the
‘Y’ Axis and move
it back a little
until it the ball
enters from
offscreen
• Tidy up the
timings until
you’re 100%
happy with how it
looks
35. Moving the Ball - Timing
Bouncing Ball
Demonstration

• Now that the

Timing has been
smoothed out and
adjusted it’s
looking almost just
like the Bouncing
Ball you’ve done
before, hand
drawn
• But there’s one
thing missing –
Squash and
Stretch motion
‘Homework’ Task:

Create a Logo you’d like to use for your own personal brand,
created in Photoshop to a document size of 5000 x 5000
Pixels! Remember to do most things on separate layers!!!

Next Time: The Bouncing Ball

Part 2

- The Bouncing Ball Part 2

- Squash and Stretch & Timing
- Text Reveal – Showreel Intro