TeacherPants: 2014

You're on the right track. A square keyframe or house-on-its side is called a Hold keyframe. The only way to get it is to select a linear keyframe and go to "Animation menu/Toggle Hold keyframe." This command means "change the currently selected keyframe to or from (toggle means to-or-from) a Hold keyframe." Then all keyframes created after this will become holds as well. To have a keyframe turn back to a linear (diamond shaped keyframe), simply select that Hold keyframe and choose "Animation menu/Toggle Hold keyframe" again.

Some animators I know don't use Hold keyframes at all. Instead, they'll create a regular (linear) keyframe at 1 value, and 1 frame later change the value to a different number. For instance, to turn a layer off really quick at 1 second in the timeline, at 29 frames they'd create a keyframe at 100% opacity and at 1:00 (30 frames) they'd create a keyframe at 0% opacity. To change it back to 100% at 2 seconds, they'd create a keyframe at 0% opacity at 1:29 (1 second 29 frames) and then a 100% keyframe at 2:00 (2 seconds). I don't usually do this (because I dislike extra keyframes: 4 keyframes instead of 3 in this case), but some animators prefer this method of 1-frame-apart keyframes to have something "pop" to a new value.

For more nerdy info on keyframe shapes and what they mean, check out Adobe's AE help page on "Keyframe Interpolation Methods."

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Illustrator: release to layers situation

So some of my Adobe Illustrator-savvy students complain that the "Release to Layers/Sequence" is a pain to use to actually release multiple Illustrator layers to "top-level" layer status. Well, there's an App for that. Ok, not really, but there's a SCRIPT for that.

It works really well! I found it on the Adobe forum:
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/287812

The script is downloadable here.

And then select your top-level layer, break the groups down based on how you want to animate them, then choose "Release to Layers Sequence." Go to File/Scripts/OtherScripts, and navigate to the JET_X_Layers.jsx file.

OMG magic! It pops all your layers to top-layer status, perfect for After Effects! Bangarang!!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Vimeo compression notes

QT 7: movie to MPEG 4

Settings: H264, 5000kbps, 1280x720, 29.97

Video options: Main, best

Audio tab: AAC-LC, 320 kbps, Stereo, 44.1, Best

480p is 854x480 when it's 16:9, 640x480 when it's 4:3
720p is 1280x720

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Time-saving tips in AE

http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/10-time-saving-tips-in-after-effects/
http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/10-more-time-saving-tips-in-after-effects/

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Designing a graph?

Fake a graph!

Use http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx?ID=f132839312fa483da5701072d851594e
And type in your info. Download a PDF. Design it pretty in AE or Illustrator. And done.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

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