AfterEffects

Manually animate an image with the Puppet tools

The stopwatch switch is automatically set for the Position property of a Deform pin as soon as the pin is created. This means that a keyframe is set or modified each time that you change the position of a Deform pin. This is unlike most properties in After Effects, for which you must explicitly set the stopwatch switch by adding a keyframe or an expression to animate each property. The auto-animation of Deform pins makes it convenient to add them and animate them in the Composition panel or Layer panel, without manipulating the properties in the Timeline panel.

  1. Select the layer that contains the image to animate.
  2. Using the Puppet Pin tool , do one of the following in the Composition panel or the Layer panel:

    • Click any nontransparent pixel of a raster layer to apply the Puppet effect and create a mesh for the outline created by auto-tracing the layer’s alpha channel.

    • Click within a closed path on a vector layer to apply the Puppet effect and create a mesh for the outline defined by that path.

    • Click within a closed, unlocked mask to apply the Puppet effect and create a mesh for the outline defined by the mask path.

    • Click outside all closed paths on a vector layer to apply the Puppet effect without creating a mesh. Outlines are created for paths on the layer, though an outline is only visible when a Puppet tool pointer is over the area that the outline defines. Place the pointer over the area enclosed by a path to see the outline in which a mesh will be created if you click that point. (See How the Puppet effect creates outlines.) Click within an outline to create a mesh.

    A Deform pin is placed where you clicked to create the mesh.

    Note: If an image is too complex for the Puppet effect to generate a mesh with the current Triangle value, a “Mesh Generation Failed” message appears in the Info panel. Increase the Triangle value in the Tools panel and try again.
  3. Click in one or more places within the outline to add more Deform pins.

    Use as few pins as possible to achieve your desired result. The natural deformation provided by the Puppet effect can be lost if you over-constrain the image. Just add pins to the parts of the figure that you know that you want to control. For example, when animating a person waving, add a pin to each foot to hold them to the ground, and add a pin to the waving hand.

  4. Go to another time in the composition, and move the position of one or more of the Deform pins by dragging them in the Composition or Layer panel with the Puppet Pin tool. Repeat this step until you have completed your animation.

You can modify the Deform pins’ motion paths as you would any other motion paths.