Apply professional animation techniques by using the Linear Wipe effect to create clean transitions in your compositions. This article walks through layering, masking, and logo positioning to build a polished visual sequence in motion graphics.
Key Insights
- Use the Linear Wipe effect from the Transition category to create a straight-line fade, revealing only part of a background layer by adjusting the transition completion and wipe angle settings.
- To create a smooth animation, strategically position and layer assets such as logos and background elements, adjusting placement using keyboard shortcuts like Shift + Arrow keys for precise control.
- Noble Desktop’s training highlights how to duplicate and manage layers effectively using shortcuts (Command/Control + D) and layer naming conventions to streamline complex animations.
Note: These materials offer prospective students a preview of how our classes are structured. Students enrolled in this course will receive access to the full set of materials, including video lectures, project-based assignments, and instructor feedback.
So there's basically five, six things in here. We're gonna split this 2B into two parts. One is what's gonna finish up the animation, add the other layers in, and the other part is basically gonna be used to like control what's gonna export.
Okay, so it's gonna be the fading that background layer out, so it basically left side we see, right side is hidden. Okay, because when we did this originally, the background is so large because it was supposed to be behind everything. And then we did it and it's like, you know, that'd be better if the logo was behind a black or empty background.
That was the idea, okay? We're gonna fade that out. Then we're gonna add the company logo, which is basically that PNG file that we imported in images, okay? Then we're gonna need to make that logo, add it, we're gonna need to add it to what the controller is controlling. So that as all the other layers slide to the left, it slides in for you.
So it's gonna be a reversal. It's like everything's gonna slide to the left and the logo is gonna slide in, okay? And it's a couple more things that's gonna require, okay? So the background layer, hello background, is fricking enormous. That's how big it is when I zoom out.
So it was made to be about two or three times as wide as the comp is, okay? Because this was that. Now, what I would like to do is this. I'd like the left side of that to be visible and the far right side to be faded out.
I basically wanna fade out. I wanna go a straight line fade, a linear fade, okay? So basically I wanna be able to see this side so I can see the four pics and I want this side to be hidden. So there is an effect called a linear wipe.
A wipe effect is basically anything that makes part of a layer appear. A linear wipe is a straight line fade out in any direction you want, okay? A radial wipe goes in a circle. There's another type of wipe called a gradient wipe that uses a layer's bright areas to control what fades in and out, okay? It's kind of cool, by the way.
But a linear wipe basically is a straight line. Now, so I'm gonna apply it to the background layer. I'm not gonna animate this.
I just wanna basically apply it so it fades out the right side. But we could animate it and use it to make a layer appear or vanish, okay? So there's not gonna be any key frames. It's just gonna be set.
I zoomed out so I could see it because, so this side, fully visible. This side, fully transparent. That's my goal, okay? I'm gonna zoom back in, option slash, okay? I'm gonna go about halfway in the animation so I can see the background here.
And in Effects and Presets, this is my library of my effects, I'm gonna search for the word linear, L-I-N-E-A-R, it tells you in the book. L-I-N-E-A-R, linear. Ignore anything you find in Animation Presets, okay? Ignore that.
Ignore the thing in Keying. It's in the group called Transition, Linear Wipe. To apply an effect, you can either grab it and drop it onto the layer, or if the layer's highlighted, you can just double click to apply it.
So drag it onto the layer name or the layer color over there, whichever one you like, I do the name. Or double click when it's selected. It pops up there.
Only got three settings. And again, I'm not gonna animate them as I set it. Transition Completion, how much of the layer do you want hidden? I want 50% hidden, half of it.
And that's what happens. It's the wrong 50%. The left side is now hidden, the right side is now visible.
That means my four pics are now hidden. So I go back to the beginning, they're freaking hidden, okay? Okay. So it's the wipe angle, the direction.
Instead of 90, it's negative 90, so the side, other direction. This side is now visible, that side is now hidden. That straight line is what it does.
A straight line fade. Raise the feather until that fades to something you like. So it becomes a fade out.
So what you end up with is that. Visible over here on the left before the animation slides over. And as it slides over, it's revealing the background color, black.
By the way, that's why the background was set to black for this effect. Technically, when you see the background color of the comp, you're actually seeing empty space. But when you export video, it's gonna be black, okay? There's a button at the bottom of the comp panel, right here, this little grid.
It would show you the transparency that you see in other programs, okay? But like I said, you see background color of the comp, you're really seeing nothing. It's empty space, okay? That's what I want. I like this.
Excellent. Okay, so there. So on that side, it's fully black, background.
So background, nothing! Okay, now for the record. If you wanted to, you could add linear wipe to anything you wanted. If you animate transition completion, it'll make the layer fade in or out.
If you wanted that text layer to be like kind of faded out at the bottom, you could add linear wipe to it, okay? It's kind of fun, it's kind of fun. That's what it does. Now, the company logo.
I need my project panels. That was step one. Linear wipe to fade it out.
I need my logo. Logo PNG. Where does it want this? It wants it… Timeline above the smoke two layer.
So it's below the photos. Why is it below the photos? I have no idea. It just is, okay? Now, that's where it is at the beginning of my animation.
That's where it is at the end of my animation, okay? Now, here's my problem. At the beginning of the animation, I need it to be over here, outside of the screen, and at the end, it needs to be right here, okay? Now, here's where I gotta be careful. I'm just gonna move this up a little bit.
So the layer's highlighted. Shift, up arrow, one, two. Shift and the arrows move things around.
The arrows move the layer one pixel at a time. Pixel being the smallest amount of space here. Shift and the arrows move it 10 at a time.
So just push it up 20 pixels. So it's not exactly in the center. Now it's a little above.
Okay. If you don't wanna move it, don't, but the Designer did not want it in the exact middle. That was the call of the Designer, okay? Now, I'm gonna make two of these babies, okay? I'm just gonna duplicate it, okay? I'm gonna name the top one, Logo, White.
I'll name the bottom one Logo Black. You call it whatever you want, Bob probably did. I miscapitalized White, which does not affect anything, except it annoys me.
Duplicate is a keyboard shortcut, Command D or Control D for Windows users. You could also go to Edit, Duplicate. Duplicate is not an option when you right-click.
I don't know why. It is not an option. It never has been.
So yeah, keyboard shortcut on the menu control.