Frame-by-frame drawing in After Effects

[Jeff Hinkle]

Onion skinning is a common feature request (that seems to go ignored). A little searching turned up this script. I haven’t used it personally but folks seem to have had success with it. Might be just what you need.

https://www.aenhancers.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=871

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Chris Thomas]

Unfortunately the script doesn’t work because all of the “painting” in AE takes place within a layer window, not a comp window. That means onion-skinning a comp would only help you after you’ve already drawn the animation—not while you’re currently in the layer window painting it.

I think either one of two things needs to happen:

1. There needs to be a way of painting/drawing in AE without having to open the layer up in an official “layer window” (something that’s incredibly annoying and should go away regardless)

2. There needs to be a way to turn on onion skinning within a layer window

Thanks for the thought though, Jeff! Anyone else out there have an idea? I feel like there should be—somewhere—a third-party plugin that utilizes the brush tool for this sort of simple thing.

[Joseph W. bourke]

This sounds like a job for Photoshop – you should have no trouble doing your frame by frame animation in PS in a timeline, then exporting to After Effects:
https://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-746fa.html

Photoshop was made to do this.

Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com

[Todd Kopriva]

> Onion skinning is a common feature request (that seems to go ignored).

No, not ignored. I address this here:
https://blogs.adobe.com/aftereffects/2012/12/top-feature-requests-for-after-effects-in-2012.html

… and it was a major topic in a feature planning meeting that we were having today.

If you want a feature, submit a feature request:
https://www.adobe.com/go/wish
This really helps.

———————————————————————————————————
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
After Effects quality engineering
After Effects team blog
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[Chris Thomas]

Hi Joe,

Yes, I know this can be done in Photoshop.. but I still don’t find the workflow ideal—

• Make a new layer
• Change opacity of layer below
• Draw a new shape
• Repeat
• Change all opacities back to 100
• Export image sequence
• Import image sequence
• Review
• Make changes
• Repeat

AE is one step off from having a beautifully simple interface which allows me to draw, hit “page down,” draw again, then hit “0” when I want to watch the whole thing. It would allow for such better iteration and faster workflow.

I’ve been doing my animations in PS now and it’s just not as simple as it could be in AE. Being able to preview what I’ve done after a few frames would be unbelievably helpful.

Thanks for the thought, though—
C

[Chris Thomas]

Hey Todd—

Exciting that you’ve addressed this issue in a meeting yesterday! Glad to hear it’s on the table.

If you have a moment, I’d love it if you read my specific thoughts on drawing frame-by-frame animation in AE. I’m not sure of onion skinning will only be available in the Vector Paint effect, but it would be great to have it in the normal “Paint” effect, too.

It seems as if having a way to paint frame-by-frame in AE is such a low-tech solution that it’s not really addressed in the software. However, as motion graphics continues to use more and more hand-done work, it’s a feature that I find myself needing more and more.

Anyways! My two thoughts. Thanks!
Chris

[Jason Jantzen]

Some of the best frame by frame animators I know use PS for their workflows and have no complaints. Here are a couple of tutorials on the subject –

https://vimeo.com/23707998
https://vimeo.com/39659667

I mean, in the meanwhile, that’s probably the best way to get your looks. This is the guy who suggested those 2 videos –

https://vimeo.com/69938948

Jason Jantzen
vimeo.com/jasonj

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[Chris Thomas]

Thanks for the links! I’ve used both of those tutorials in the past, and they’re great. Also, love the work that Daniel does—he’s got a fantastic eye for frame-by-frame stuff.

I know a lot of people use PS (including me), but I still think there’s a huge market for being able to do a lot of that work in AE. AE is made for motion, and PS isn’t (despite their continued updates to the software). For me, I’d love to see it all happening within the software that I’m using for all the rest of my animation work.

In the meantime, PS will work for me.. I’m just throwing out a line in case anyone else feels the same way.

[Jason Jantzen]

I’ve never actually done any frame by frame animation, but of all the stuff I’ve seen, it would seem easier to me to do it in Photoshop considering all the painting tools you have vs the crude brush palette in AE.

Jason Jantzen
vimeo.com/jasonj

[Chris Thomas]

Oh yeah—for some stuff, absolutely! But for a lot of smaller effects, having a simple 2-10 pixel hard-edged brush is all I need.. and for that, AE would be perfect.