After Effects - Cartoon Stars
 

Does anyone know how to recreate this type of effect in After FX ?
stupid cartoon cat gets knocked out - YouTubeI have an upcoming video that needs to have cartoon type KO's with floating stars or birds.

Re: After Effects - Cartoon Stars
 

Hi Dan. There are a few ways. Probably the easiest is to use shape layer stars placed in a horizontal row (just make one, then duplicate the polystar in the layer so you only have one shape layer, then reposition the copies) then add Effects/CC Cylinder. You can animate the individual stars to rotate/scale in the shape's settings and you can spin them all with the Cylinder's Y rotation. For Birds it's the same idea, make a row on an alpha background, precompose them and then add CC Cylinder.

Re: After Effects - Cartoon Stars
 

There's a lot of ways, some of them quite complicated. Much depends on what you're trying to put it into and how much flexibility you'd like when you get there.

The real basic one is to get a composition; add a shape layer; draw a star using the star tool; use the pan behind tool to offset the anchor point some distance away (that will be the centre of the rotation arc); make the layer 3d; then duplicate it 10 times or whatever you feel like.
Then from a top view you have to go through and rotate each copy layer for the Y axis so that each layer is arrayed around in a circle.
Then select every copy layer and make the original its parent.

And bingo. Now if you animate that first shape layer for Y rotation the whole array will spin with it. You can move it around, scale it, orient it as you like. Then you can add wiggles and so on to each one to make them more interesting as they go around. Put in a light etc.

It could start to get messy the more you try and make it do down the track. But if it's just for a quick gag it might to the trick.

--oh I'm little slow. I'll have to try that one.