Animating 2D drawing

[AdobeUserCH]

Hi all,

first time here. I need some help please. I would like to animate my art works. They are classic 2D draw. My idea is to animate them like in the Guild Wars 2 cut scenes like this one Guild Wars 2 | To Glory - YouTube . I need the softwares to do it but i don't know what to use so i need some help please. I think i should use Photoshop and After Effect right? I saw some animating tutorials and they told to create a multilayer draw so that After Effect can be used to give them movements. Is this right? And finally...is it possible with someone who never used those softwares?

Thanks all

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

That kind of animation can be done in After Effects. You separate your artwork into layers and animate the layers. It's best to do that kind of work in AE's 3D space.

It will take you some time to learn how to use AE and how to do the separations in Photoshop if you did not create your original artwork in layers. There are also tools that help you kind of automate the process. Here's one that is pretty good for some workflows: Virtual 3D Photos - VIDEO COPILOT.

You could also use Motion and Photoshop. The technique is sometimes called "The kid stays in the picture effect." Sometimes called the "Ken Burns Effect" or "Camera Projection" or "2.5D" but the basics are as old as taking pictures. In 1857, Oscar Rejlander created the world's first "trick photograph" by combining different sections of 30 negatives into a single image. It's all based on the same concept - layers.

[AdobeUserCH]

Thanks for your help. Ok, so if did understand correctly i need both Photoshop and After Effect right? Sorry if i'm asking again but i need to be sure on which software i need to buy. I know it will take long time to know how to use them but i really want to give life to my art works and that kind of animation really looks great. I hope i will be eable to achive that result...well...ok...not that good...but close.

Thanks again your answere was really helpfull!

[Rick Gerard]

After Effects is just one option. It has the longest learning curve but is the most capable. Photoshop is required to separate the layers unless you created your artwork with layers originally.

Apple's Motion is an inexpensive option if you are on a Mac. There are other solutions.

You can even do the whole thing in a 3D app using camera projections. Blender is an open source 3D app that is free, a little difficult to get a handle on, but plenty capable of doing this kind of work and more.

You'll have plenty of support for AE but it will require a fairly substantial computer to run well and you will need to learn about and understand video formats and standards to be successful.

[AdobeUserCH]

They told me about Blender...but i thought it was a 3D tool. Meaby i can try to find a tutorial for that. So, first thing is to buy Photoshop as i need it for layers. Thats the easy part. The tricky one will be give life to them. If After Effect will work I can try it out hoping i will learn how to use it. My PC can run it without problems, the only one will be, as you said, to understand how it works...and that scares me a little bit since those software are not what you could call "cheap". But if Blender can do the same job it would be nice.