How I Built a Social Media Animated Gif Ad
Overview:
This how-to guide is for illustrators and graphic designers wanting to create a social media animated gif like the one I created for a client above.
Initial Instructions:
- I started out with 2 scanned sheets of doodles. (assets)
- A hint of a color scheme.
- Direction for the text to be stationary and the doodles to have movement.
- Loop for social media.
RESEARCH (GOOGLE & YOUTUBE)
I knew the client wanted to have this posted on Instagram and Facebook. I googled the limitations for both regarding file size and format of images and video since
I decided since Instagram has the most limited size (1:1 ratio), I would design for the square, but with something that could be cropped to a 4:3 ratio and still work. I also didn’t want to go over 10 seconds. Since I have 2 pieces of text I want to cycle, I decided on 3 seconds per text for a total of 6 seconds total.
IMAGE STILLS (KEYFRAMES / STORYBOARD)
My first goal was to come up with a composition for each text still. These would be the main keyframes that I will loop between. Because this is a simple loop. I didn’t storyboard this project other than the two keyframe compositions.
PROCESS
- Open .tif in Illustrator (all my asset scans are .tif)
- Autotrace making sure to ignore white under “Options”
- Select shape with Direct Selection (A) then click General Selection (V)
- Copy (ctrl-c) shape to a new document the correct size and resolution for the animated gif.
- Paste (ctrl-v) shape
- Create a composition with black shapes.
- Add color.
- Repeat steps 1-7 for the second keyframe. For the LOVE OF SLEEP! SAVE IT! 😉
- Leave your saved Illustrator file open and now, let’s move into After Effects.
- Create a New Project
- Create a New Composition within that project
- SAVE!
- Import AI file into AE as Composition (this will be our blueprint)
- Next, I copy and past each shape from Illustrator into After Effects. There is no shortcut to this step. Each shape that is animated will need its own layer in AE.
- There are about 3 types of movements I’m doing.
- a bounce
- a reveal
- a shake
Bounce
Open up Contents > Shape 1 > Transform Shape 1
Scale (S) –
- Keyframe 0% scale (nothing shows)
- Move 3 frames to the right & Scale 100%
- Move 3 frames & Scale 150%
- Move 3 frames & Scale 90%
- Move 3 frames & Scale 105%
- Move 2 frames & Scale 100%
Select all keyframes Easy Ease (F9)
Reveal
Select Shape Layer
Layer > Mask > New Mask
- In Mask Path layer click Shape and select Rectangle / Ellipse
- Each keyframe, I shaped Ellipse mask to reveal the underlining shape.
- To Hide, I copy and pasted keyframes and reversed order.
Jiggle Shake
Transform > Rotation (R)
- Keyframe 0.0 rotation
- Next frame keyframe +3.0
- Next frame keyframe -3.0
- Next frame keyframe +4.0
- Next frame keyframe 0.0
Render Composition
Composition > Add to Adobe Media Encoder Cue
Select final size, speed, and format.
NOTE:
If you are like me your hard drive is almost full to capacity. In order for both Illustrator and After Effects to run smoothly, I attach external hard drives and have them used for extra scratch-disk space.