Stretch and Squash Tutorial in After Effects

Download Project Files here.

Intro

Stretch and squash are part of the basic principles of animation. It refers to how shapes are either compressed or extended as they move in accordance with physics.

Whether working with text, a character, or even just a general shape, there are certain methods and ways of movement that motion graphics artists should be aware of. Keeping these principles in mind will allow for pieces that have a believable “weight” and motion to them, selling the illusion of actual movement.

Overview

The first thing we’ll be doing is animating the orange’s bounce and squash alongside each other. Once that’s done, we’ll make sure to Easy Ease the keyframes to smooth out the animation. We’ll be doing the same for the apple, though that one will be a bit more in-depth and longer to do. After both layers are animated, the last thing to do is turn on Motion Blur and we’ll be done!

Orange Animation

1. Make sure the Playhead is at the start, 0;00;00;00.
2. Select the ORANGE layer.
3. Hit P for Position.
4. Hit Shift-S for Scale in addition.
5. Hit the keyframe next to Position to set a keyframe.
6. Change the Position values to -75,556.
7. Click on the paper clip icon next to Scale to delink the X and Y values.
8. Hit the stopwatch to start keyframing the Scale values.
9. Move the Playhead to 0;00;00;09.
10. Hit the diamond next to Scale again to set another keyframe.
11. Now move the Playhead to 0;00;00;11.
12. Change the second Scale value to 64.
13. Change the Position values to 105,770.
14. Again, move the Playhead to 0;00;00;13.
15. Hit the diamond keyframe next to Position.
16. Do the same for Scale.
17. Move the Playhead to 0;00;00;15.
18. Change the Scale to 100, 100.
19. Finally, move the Playhead to 0;00;01;01.
20. Change Position to 255,456.
21. Hit the diamond keyframe next to Scale.
22. Cmnd-click (Mac) or Ctrl-click (PC) the first keyframes of both the Position and Scale keyframes. There should be two keyframes selected.
23. Right click on any selected keyframe.
24. Go to Keyframe Assistant >Easy Ease In.
25. Now Cmnd-click (Mac) or Ctrl-click (PC) the LAST keyframes of both the Position and Scale keyframes.
26. Right click on any selected keyframe.
27. Navigate to Keyframe Assistant >Easy Ease Out.
28. Drag a marquee box over the middle bunch of keyframes or Shift-click them to select them all.
29. Right click on any selected keyframe.
30. Go to Keyframe Assistant >Easy Ease.

That’s the first animation done!

Apple Animation

1. Let’s go back to the beginning by moving the Playhead to 0;00;00;00.
2. Select the APPLE layer.
3. Hit P for Position.
4. Hit Shift-S for Scale as well.
5. Click the diamond next to Position.
6. Change the Position to 1168,663.
7. Unlink the Scale values by clicking the paper clip icon.
8. Click the stopwatch next to Scale to set a keyframe.
9. This time, Shift-click on both those keyframes.
10. Right click on any selected keyframe.
11. Go to Keyframe Assistant >Easy Ease In.
12. Move the Playhead to 0;00;00;03.
13. Hit the diamond next to Position to set another keyframe.
14. Change Scale to 100,60.
15. Move the Playhead to 0;00;00;05.
16. Change Scale to 100,110.
17. Shift-click on these three keyframes we just set.
18. Right click on any selected keyframe.
19. Go to Keyframe Assistant >Easy Ease.
20. Move the Playhead to 0;00;00;17.
21. Change the Position to 1018,435.
22. Change the Scale to 100,115.
23. Now move the Playhead to 0;00;00;26.
24. Here, change the Position to 760,650.
25. Scale values here should be 100,71.
26. Almost there! Move the Playhead over by one frame to 0;00;00;27.
27. Hit the diamond next to Position.
28. Change Scale to 100,60.
29. Move the Playhead to 0;00;01;12.
30. Change Scale values to 100,100.
31. Move the Playhead a bit to 0;00;01;13.
32. Change Position here to 492,423.
33. Right click on the new Scale keyframe.
34. Go to Keyframe Assistant >Easy Ease.
35. Right click on the last Position keyframe.
36. Navigate to Keyframe Assistant >Easy Ease Out.
37. Lastly, if the Switches are not visible, hit Toggle Switches/Modes in the bottom left corner of the layer stack. These are the rows of boxes with icons next to them.
38. Shift-click on both the ORANGE and APPLE layers.
39. Turn on the Motion Blur option for them by clicking on the empty box in the Motion Blur column. This is denoted by the three overlapping circles.

Now we’re all done!

Conclusion

Stretch and squash is a technique not limited to just objects, but can be used for really anything that’s animated. What’s great about it is that it can be controlled with just the Position and Scale options, so no fancy Effects needed here. Getting better at knowing when and how to use it is very experiential, and those skills can be built over time. Simply by observing the natural world and other types of motion work, designers can hone their skills with the basic principles of animation and apply it to their own projects.

Happy animating!

Credits

Background vector created by cornecoba - www.freepik.com

Video Transcript

Hi everyone. We're going to be learning how to do a stretch and squash tutorial today. The project files are linked in the description. So let's get started. The first thing we're going to be doing is click on the orange layer. It's called orange and it is an orange. And we're going to be in position isn't it? And it's still.

And let's have this flare and make sure it's at its origin. Right at it's beginning. We're going to hit a keyframe next to position to set a keyframe. And we're going to change the position values if they're not already there around -75 and six. Perfect. And and if there's a paper clip here, make sure to click on this paper clip to link the X and Y values of scale.

Now, the thing about surgeon's flash it's very useful because it is one of the principles of animation and it learning how chips react to physics in motion will give your designs a sense of believability. And what we're doing here. That's why scales important. And let's hit this stopwatch to start key framing these scale values. I'm going to move our playhead to about nine, and I'm going to hit the diamond next to scale to set another keyframe And then we're going to move our playhead to go back to Lebanon.

And we're going to change these scale value to 64 X value. I mean, the Y value on time, scale or position is going to be one to five. 7570 And I'm going to move down to in the diamond keyframe next to position and do the same scale, because we're going to hold this close for a little bit and we're going to move to point 15, and we're going to change the scale to 100 and a hundred that will automatically set a keyframe And we're going to be moving our playhead to 11 OK, so back in position will be 225456 perfect.

And we're going to hit that diamond keyframe next to scale Now we're going to be selecting the first keyframes of position and we're going to right click go to right click on either Keep Them Keyframe Assistant Easy and and then we're going to click the last ones last right click keyframe assistant. Easy, ease out And all of these ones in the middle, right click on any keyframe.

Just easy And this is our orange animation. You go back to the beginning move. We played it all the way back beginning. Click on the Red Apple layer and teeth for position shift. As for scale, the diamond next to position. If they are linked forever to unlink skill x y value.

And if the apple is not already there, we want our roles to be 1168 and 663 for position on the apple. And let's just hit the stopwatch next to scale to set a keyframe and now let's actually select both of these keyframes. And we're going to we're going to be doing our uses as we go along here this instant is using Google play head to a point in the diamond next position to sit in other keyframe and we're going to be changing the scale to 160.

The position stays the same but it's getting squished but and then we're going to move ahead two frames to five and then we'll change scale. It'll row a lot to 110 and let's let all this cute parents we just animated. We're going to go to keyframe assistant this is let's hit that down to that point 17 in and we're going be changing the position to turn a teen or a three by and still be 115 now let's move ahead 2.26 and no position is going to be seven 6657 6650 still values here should be 170 71 we'll see let's move the playhead over by one frame just point 27 and position is going to be just keyframe. All that at scale is going to compress just a bit down to 160. Let's move the plant over to 112 scale. We'll now even out to be a hundred and just a bit over two, 113 is going to be on position or nine to or 23. And we're going to right click on this latest Skill Keyframe. We're going to go to Keeper Assistant, we're going to go to where it's not already there.

We're going to do is, is but as you can see, it's really been considered and these is we're going to click on a on the position and this is just going to be easy is out. Lastly, if the switches aren't visible meaning you don't see like these guys then toggle switch this mode and next orange we're going to click this fox one of the three overlapping circles and we're going to be doing the same for Apple.

Now this is motion work and that's just going to get a bit of movement blur and our notice so on. So now you can see this is our final animation and you can see that the frame compresses and react to physics as it moves along. Certain Swatch takes a bit of intuition, observe your surroundings, observe animation, and you begin to think of it in a time this has been so far from the desktop.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and happy animated.