Dive into this comprehensive After Effects tutorial detailing the process of combining nesting compositions, adding audio, and adding motion blur to create intricate animations.
This exercise is excerpted from Noble Desktop’s Adobe After Effects training materials and is compatible with After Effects updates through 2023. To learn current skills in After Effects with hands-on training, check out our After Effects Bootcamp, Motion Graphics Certificate, and motion graphics design classes in-person and live online.
Topics covered in this After Effects tutorial:
Combining Nesting Compositions, Adding Audio, Adding Motion Blur
Exercise Preview
Exercise Overview
In this exercise you’ll combine multiple compositions together inside another composition to form a complete animation.
- Let’s see a preview of what you’ll be making. If you’re in After Effects, keep it open but switch to your Desktop.
- On the Desktop, navigate to Class Files > After Effects Class > Infographic Animation > Preview Movie and double–click infographic done.mp4.
- Notice that scene 1 plays through, then does a zoom in and rotate transition into scene 2, while music plays throughout the animation.
Getting Started
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You should still have Your Name - Infographic Animation.aep open in After Effects. If you closed it, re-open it now by going to File > Open Project then Desktop > Class Files > After Effects Class > Infographic Animation. We recommend you finish the previous exercises (3A–3C) before this one. If you haven’t, do this sidebar.
If You Did Not Do the Previous Exercises (3A–3C)
- Go to File > Open Project and navigate to Class Files > After Effects Class > Infographic Animation > Finished Projects.
- Double–click on Infographic Animation - Ready for Nested Comps.aep.
- Go to File > Save As > Save As. Name the file Your Name - Infographic Animation.aep and save it into Desktop > Class Files > After Effects Class > Infographic Animation.
Organizing the Project Panel
- In the Project panel, select infographic screen 1.
- Hold Shift and select infographic screen 2 Layers so all the infographic screen elements are selected.
- In the Project panel, drag them down to the new folder button
at the bottom of the panel.
- Name the new folder nested comps (If the name is no longer editable, select the folder, hit Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows), and type the new name.)
- Expand the nested comps folder to see its contents.
Creating Nested Compositions
One way to make longer and more complex animations is to create your different animations in separate compositions and then combine those comps together into a new main comp (a technique called nesting compositions).
- Select infographic screen 1.
Hold Shift and select infographic screen 2 so both comps are selected.
Still in the Project panel, Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on either of the selected comps and choose New Comp from Selection.
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In the dialog that appears, choose the following options:
- Under Create, make sure Single Composition is selected.
- In the Use Dimensions From menu, keep infographic screen 1 selected.
- Check on Sequence Layers.
- Do not check Overlap.
- Click OK and After Effects will automatically create a new composition with the other composition nested and put into sequential order for you!
- In the Project panel rename infographic screen 3 to infographic animation main
- Take infographic animation main out of the folder by dragging it to an empty area of the Project panel.
Double-click on the infographic animation main to make sure that’s the timeline you’re seeing.
In the Project panel, click the arrow next to nested comps to close the folder.
- The sequences have a bit of extra time that we need to trim off. Move the playhead to 3;15
- Hit Cmd–Shift–A (Mac) or Ctrl–Shift–A (Windows) to deselect all the layers.
- Select the infographic screen 1 layer.
-
Hit Option–
]
(Mac) or Alt–]
(Windows).This trims the layer’s Out point to the playhead.
- Select the infographic screen 2 layer.
Press [ to move the layer’s In point to the playhead.
Adding Audio
Let’s import the audio. Choose File > Import > File (or hit Cmd–I (Mac) or Ctrl–I).
-
Navigate to the to Desktop > After Effects Class > Infographic Animation > Media and then:
- Click once on the audio folder to select it.
- Make sure Create Composition in unchecked.
- Click Open (Mac) or Import Folder (Windows).
- In the Project panel, click on any empty area so nothing is selected.
- Click the arrow next to audio to expand it.
- Drag electronica_sample.wav into the timeline so it’s the bottom layer.
Use the Spacebar to preview the timeline so you can hear the music.
Adding a Transition Between the Scenes
This animation was designed so that the text color in the screen 1 comp matches the background color that screen 2 starts with. All we have to do is create a transitional animation to bridge them.
- Move the playhead to 3;00
- Select the infographic screen 1 layer.
- Change the infographic screen 1 layer’s label to Red (so we can better see its anchor point).
- In the Tools panel, select the Pan Behind tool
or press Y.
- To the right of the Tools panel, make sure Snapping is unchecked.
-
In the middle of the Composition panel you should see the layer’s anchor point
. Drag that to the the right side of the letter O as shown below:
- Switch back to the Selection tool
by hitting the V key.
- Hit S to reveal Scale for the selected layer in the Timeline.
Click on the Scale stopwatch
.
Hit the O key to jump the playhead to the Out point of the selected layer.
- Set Scale to 3000
-
Use the Spacebar to preview the timeline.
We now have a transition between the first and second comps, but it might look better with a little rotation added in.
With the infographic screen 1 layer still selected, hold Shift and press R to reveal Rotation.
Move the playhead to 3;00
Click the Rotation stopwatch
.
Press the K key to jump the playhead to the next visible keyframe.
Change Rotation to 0x+60
Use the Spacebar to preview the timeline.
Hit Cmd–Tilde (Mac) or Ctrl–Tilde (Windows) to hide the layer’s properties.
Adding Motion Blur
The animation is looking good, but when objects move in real life, our eyes usually perceive a bit of a blur. After Effects can imitate this movement with the motion blur.
- Move the playhead to 3;01
-
Near the top of the Timeline, click the Motion Blur button
to enable motion blur for the composition.
-
Even though we enabled motion blur for the entire timeline, we must also enable motion blur on the specific layers we want it on.
Each layer has a motion blur switch
we need to turn on. If you do not see the switches
and instead see a Normal mode, go to the bottom of the Timeline and click the Toggle Switches / Modes button.
- Click the motion blur switch
for the infographic screen 1 layer.
-
Use the Spacebar to preview the timeline.
Notice the motion blur as the scene 1 text scales up and rotates.
- Choose File > Save or hit Cmd–S (Mac) or Ctrl–S (Windows).
You’re done, so choose File > Close Project.