making wings flap on a shield/crest in CS3

[Jon Geddes]

In my Butterfly Bliss Menu Template, I achieved wings flapping by using a much more advanced method (expressions), but it yields very nice results.

I started by creating 3 separate layers in photoshop: 2 wings and the body. Imported those into After Effects and made them into 3D layers. You then create a Null object named ‘Butterfly Controller’, and apply a few expression controls: A Slider control named ‘Wing Rotation Amplitude’ with a default value of 80, another Slider control named ‘Wing Speed’ with a default value of 6.73, and an Angle control named ‘Wing Rotation’ with an expression applied to the value:

amplitude = effect(“Wing Rotation Amplitude”)(“Slider”)/2;
frequency = effect(“Wing Speed”)(“Slider”);
amplitude*Math.sin(time*frequency)+amplitude;

You can then select the Anchor point of each wing, and using the pan behind tool, move the anchor point to the edge of the body. Now parent each wing to the body, and parent the body to the Butterfly Controller (the Null object). Then apply an expression to the Y Rotation of the Right Wing:

thisComp.layer(“Butterfly Controller”).effect(“Wing Rotation”)(“Angle”);

Then Apply a similar expression to the Y Rotation of the left wing (notice the *-1):

thisComp.layer(“Butterfly Controller”).effect(“Wing Rotation”)(“Angle”)*-1;

Now you can use just the Null object to control the movements. The position of the null dictates where the butterfly travels (you can also parent a particle generator to the null and have pixie dust trailing behind it!). The rotation amplitude sets how wide the wings flap. The Wing speed adjusts how fast the wings flap. You should enable the graph view while changing this value since modifying the value of a sin function can create strange anomalies.

Here are the results:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pcEnUMASZA

If this was a bit too complicated for you, then I suggest using the other methods mentioned.

Jon Geddes
Motion Graphics Designer
http://www.precomposed.com

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[Lawrence Digges]

That is excellent, Jon. Just what I what I needed. Thank you so much!

-Lawrence

[Shane Knuth]

I was using this tutorial, and I found something that wasn’t working, and wanted to let you know what I did to make it work.

At this point

“thisComp.layer(“Butterfly Controller”).effect(“Wing Rotation”)(“Angle”);

Then Apply a similar expression to the Y Rotation of the left wing (notice the *-1):

thisComp.layer(“Butterfly Controller”).effect(“Wing Rotation”)(“Angle”)*-1;”

I had to change “Angle” to “Slider” because it’s a slider controller and not an angle controller.