What's going on guys!
Over the years that we been developing
Photomotion, one of the most frequent
questions we keep hearing is, can this picture,
or that photo, or that, or that, or that,
be turned into photo animation?
Well, usually the answer is yes.
Most pictures can be animated if you choose
the right tool to do it.
Photomotion comes with five different tools
like that also called projections, so it covers
quite a lot of different use cases.
It is important to know which one to use,
not
just to save your self some time but also
to make your animations look better.
In this video I'll show you few tips and tricks
to help you decide which projection will be
a good fit for your animation so the next
time
you animate you'll know what to look out for.
Alright, let's get into it.
Alright let's just jump into this folder over
here
and I've prepared couple of animated photos
that we did before so I just want to kinda
show
you what type of projections we have in Photomotion
and this will, hopefully, help you to understand
the difference between them.
Alright so the first one is Parallax, Parallax
is
super simple because all it does really is
just
kinda spreading different layers across your
scene,
so then you offset your first layer in different
speed
then you'd offset your background and that
will
kinda give you that 3D feel even though the
3D
is actually not real it's 2½ D and looks
something like this.
You can see that those two guys are moving
different
to the background.
All we did really was just kinda putting those
guys into, kinda their own layer, like that,
both of them into the same layer like this
and
then put background into different layer
and then obviously we used Photomotion Parallax
to animate them.
I think we added a couple of particles as
well
as you can see over here.
Same with this one, this guy here.
What we did with this one was that we put
him
into mask, put this rock into different mask.
I think this one went into separate mask as
well
and then the background went into the background
basically and the final result looks like
this.
Again, we are always using these particles
because
it kinda gives you another depth
into your image so use them when you can.
Another one, this one. Final result, just
like this.
You can see what we did here.
The original image looks like this without
that tree on this left side.
We added that tree over here in post production
so it kinda gives you even better Parallax
effects,
so again, you're not limited to your image,
you
can always add new things in after effects
in
Photomotion if you want to and just put them
in the different layers.
So basically this tree over here will go to
layer one.
He and that rock will go to layer number two
and then obviously background goes in background.
That's all.
Just real quickly.
She is in one layer, we are adding particles
just
to give it that extra bit of depth.
Otherwise, super simple picture.
This is the original, this is the animation.
This image for example, again, you would put
him into a mask, just like that and then,
I guess everything else can go into separate
mask.
What we did actually with this one was that
we separated his hand just like that and put
it
into separate layer so then we could kinda
animate it by using puppet tool.
I'll show you what I mean if I jump to that
animation.
So you can see clearly that his hand is moving
towards that way and again we are animating
a
camera and we are adding these particles.
This one, really nice picture, really dynamic
but it's lacking the movement so these are
the pictures that are super, super easy to
animate
with Parallax.
I mean again, with Parallax, one thing you
should
kinda keep in mind is that if you have subject
or object standing close to the camera, you
don't
see their feet like you don't need to pin
point them
into specific position, specific location
into that picture.
Then use parallax because it is easier to
set up
then any other projection that we have and
it
kinda gives you really nice results so, this
is the
original image and then this
is the animation that we created.
Again, if you look at that she and these snow
hits
that is in one layer and then these little
particles
down here were added in post production,
I mean we have plenty of particles to
choose from so, every projection can use our
particle system.
So these are snow particles, they kinda gives
you
possibility to create really nice animations.
Again, for picture like this, you can clearly
see
that this guy is standing on the ground like
that so I would usually recommend using something
more complex like Horizon for example.
But then again, you can use Parallax if you
crop
your image and kinda try to hide what's going
on below there because he is kinda floating
if
you look closely in our animation.
You can clearly see that the last few frames,
he's
kinda moving different to that position.
I mean we have a projection for specific scenarios
like this, it's called Horizon,
I'll show you that one as well, but this one
I mean
is it really necessary that we use Horizon
for this?
Not really.
This one for example, again you put the rock
here
and her into one layer.
Put this rock into layer number two.
What you have to do is do something like this
and that's gonna be your background and
the final animation looks like this.
Again, those particles are adding that extra
bit
of depth, use them whenever you can.
Alright so that one was Parallax animation.
Think about Parallax as something that kinda
gives you the flexibility of creating really
nice
looking animations without spending hours
trying to just kinda set up everything.
All you have to do really is just split your
image
into layers and then use Photomotion Parallax,
to kinda offset them and use our controller
and
all of that.
Alright, so the next one we have in here is
called
Portrait.
Portrait is for animating faces.
So, picture like this for example, she is
standing
close to the camera so you need to ask yourself
what's the most important part/feature to
animate
on this picture?
Now because she's standing close to the camera,
I think the most important thing to animate
here
is her nose, her eyebrows like this, probably
these
branches over here. Oh that looks creepy.
Give it a feel that's a face basically, and
you do
that by using Photomotion Portrait and this
is the
final result you get from it.
So you can clearly see that we, in this image,
we
are not really focusing on animating backgrounds
or anything like that or splitting anything
into
layers, we are really just focusing on certain
aspects of this image so that would be nose,
eyes,
mouth, hair and stuff like that.
That's why I'm thinking Photomotion Portrait
is
really good for pictures where you have someone
standing close to the camera, something like
this
for example.
Again, she's standing here so like, what's
the most
important thing?
If you put it into Parallax, you would see
movement
between here and the background which is not
gonna give you super interesting
animation anyway.
So what is important in this image is again
because
she's standing close to camera, it's her eyes,
super important, nose, mouth, chin needs to
be
animated properly, her hair as well,
probably this thing over there, then obviously
she needs to be animated as well because this
shoulder is kinda tilted towards that direction,
this one is closer to the camera so obviously
they should be moving in different directions.
All of that is possible in Photomotion Portrait
and this is the final result.
I mean we just try to kinda outline that you
can
actually rotate that camera as well.
You can do things like this and it's actually
seamless
loops so if you put it on Instagram or something
like that, it's gonna play in continuous loop.
This one, again, classic.
So what we are trying to do here is separate
her
from the background and kinda
put emphasis on her face.
That's all really and the final result looks
like this.
You can clearly see that she is moving in
a
different way to that the background is
moving and we added these people here in post
production to kinda give it more interesting
feel I guess.
This one, again really nice picture and this
is the
final animation that we created.
Now with this specific image you can clearly
see
that she, her hand over there and over there,
are moving in a different way to the back
to the
background is moving.
You can clearly see that over here and that
is because
Photomotion Portrait comes with a feature
that
you can separate your subjects from the
background as well and that gives you
again, extra bit of depth.
This one, I just want to outline on this picture
that if you have two subjects like that,
even though that's a reflection and that's
still the same person.
Even then, if you have reflections like that,
you
should probably use our new feature in Photomotion
and that is for animating multiple people.
So you put he into one Photomotion Portrait
layer
and her into layer number two and that will
give
you this animation over here.
So you can clearly see that it is
mirrored because she...
that's just a reflection of her so obviously
this
part of nose should move in a different way
than this one because that's a reflection.
But again, all of that is possible
in Photomotion Portrait.
This one, again, not going to go into
details about that one.
You have two people standing here.
We added couple of particles over there and
then obviously we used one Photomotion
Portrait for that and one for him.
Alright, this picture for example, I think
it's
really nice and it kinda outlines a couple
of
features of Photomotion Portrait.
So you have two people over there.
So I guess gonna use Photomotion Portrait
layer
number one here, layer number two here, that
will give you two different animations.
They can be looking in two different
ways as well, she's looking that way
and she's looking that way.
I mean her face is tilted that way, that way.
Again, if you use multiple faces in Photo
motion,
you can still control everything independently,
so for example her eyes.
You can control them independently from her
eyes down here.
So these pictures like this are quite important
in
terms of understanding that if you have something
like that with a black background and only
your
faces are visible, those kinda animations
require
proper attention to detail I would
say on those faces.
But again, Photomotion Portrait is really
good
for that because it focuses on facial features.
So, the final animation looks like this.
You can clearly see that we added particles,
we
always add those particles because I mean
it looks better I guess.
And then you can clearly see that these faces
are moving in different directions and you
can clearly see that her eyes for example,
look at her eyes. As she tilts her face
towards that way, her eyes are still pointed
towards
the camera, still looking towards camera like
this.
We have special feature for that in Photomotion
Portrait so that will lock your eyes onto
camera.
It's really nice, really easy to use as well,
it's just
one checkbox.
Alright and this one, again, nice picture.
Really nice, but quite complex.
So you would have to put her and him into
two
Photomotion Portrait layers,
so face number one and face number two.
And then you would have to put the
rest into custom depth maps.
These custom depth maps are also super important
addition to our new Photomotion Portrait because
they allow you to separate your facial animations
from the rest of the body
for example or things like hair, stuff like
that.
This shelving unit over here as well.
So you can put that into custom depth map
and
then rely on animating facial features,
everything is integrated into Photomotion
Portrait
so you still have just one controller for
the animation
and if you drag that it will effect your face
and
the body as well.
So it looks really nice and natural and so
this is
the final result that we created for that
picture.
You can see that we added particles again.
This shelving unit was animated as well because
we used custom depth maps so that kinda gives
you 3D feel of those bottles as well.
Alright so that was Photomotion Portrait,
you
can clearly see this is for animating faces.
Now, think about when someone is standing
close
to camera what's the most important thing
you are trying to animate.
Well it's very likely going to be face.
It's not really important to animate the background
because that's not the
focus point of that image anyway.
If someone is standing close to camera, probably
use Photomotion Portrait.
Alright, so the next projection is called
Mirage.
Mirage is for animating things like water,
smoke,
stuff like that. So if you have image like
this,
obviously you have this waterfall here.
Think about what is the most important thing
to animate in this picture?
I mean, we could use parallax and put him
into
layer and put everything else into background,
that would give you animation, little movement
between him and the background.
But, is that the final thing your trying to
achieve
in this picture?
I mean we could also use mirage and then animate
this water fall and create that seamless movement.
This is the final animation, this is how it
looks.
You can clearly see that is actually
seamlessly looped.
Picture like this, again, water fall so straight
to
mirage right?
So this is the final result that we get when
we
use mirage on it.
And that animation, again, is seamlessly looped.
That means if you put it on Instagram, I guess
Facebook as well, it will be looping forever
even though it's only, lets see, six seconds
long.
Again, something to think about.
Alright this image for example, really nice
wave going on here so what we want to do
with this one is give it that movement so
you
can actually feel the water moving
and this is the final result.
You can clearly see that this again, looping,
it's only two seconds long but if you put
it somewhere where that feature is enabled,
it will create that seamless loop and
will play forever without any noticeable cuts,
that's the most important thing.
This one again, straight to mirage because
you
have these really nice kinda water surfaces
here.
So, what we gonna do is put that in Mirage
and
create something like this.
Let's see that water now flowing.
Alright, this picture for example, you can
clearly
see smoke going on here.
So think about how would that animate or move
in real world if you capture
this on really slow motion camera.
So all of these kinda organic movements, mirage
is amazing for that, so all you have to do
is just
use Mirage on these areas over here.
Over there as well.
That's all really.
And this is the final animation you get from
it.
You can clearly see that smoke is moving as
if
it was captured on video.
Alright, the next one I have is Glacier.
Glacier works in slightly different fashion.
In Glacier, you are not importing that static
picture
there but you are importing a video where
you
are freezing a part of that video and
keep the rest moving.
So that gives you really interesting effect
so, for
example, something like this.
You can clearly see that we have frozen everything
else except for her hair.
So only that part is moving, everything else
is
frozen in time.
So this one, we have frozen this part of the
image
and let this one seamlessly looped in boomerang
and simple animation like this just to illustrate
what's going on.
So you can clearly see that water is still
while
this is moving in, again, that seamless loop.
So we are actually calculating that loop for
you
so you can clearly see that.
Let me just pause it while we transitioning.
Over here, you can see that now, on this frame
on these couple of frames, we are transitioning
back to the beginning of that animation.
So don't worry about anything in terms of
how
this will loop in the final result,
we take care of all of that.
Alright, the next one is Horizon.
Horizon is our most advanced projection that
kinda
allows you to animate different types of things
like 3D backgrounds and putting layers
in front of that.
So think about Parallax but supercharged.
So Parallax but in the actual 3D space so
that's
what Horizon actually is.
Let's just open that and this is the original
image
that we were trying to animate.
And again if you put this again into Parallax,
for example, you would put her into one
layer and then what you gonna do then.
You gonna put this in the background layer
and then obviously you gonna see her
kinda floating and not being pinpointed
into that specific location down here.
That's exact use case when you should use
Horizon
instead of Parallax.
I mean if this picture was cropped in a different
way, so let's say something like this.
Then ask yourself, do you really want to use
Horizon
or is Parallax enough.
In that case, I would say Parallax is enough
because
you don't see her standing on that floor any
more
and so therefore you don't need to pinpoint
her
down to that specific location.
So you don't care that she's actually floating
down here because it is out of frame.
So, use Parallax, it is easy to set up.
In Horizon what you would do is put her into
one layer.
Pinpoint her down into that specific location
so she's not floating and then you put this
into
3D scene so you would create this
3D scene like that.
That will do for now.
So, this is the final result that you
would get from it.
Looks really, really nice.
I mean if you look at her, she's
literally standing there.
So that gives you that super realistic
3D feel for that scene.
We also added these things here
into separate layer.
So that kinda brings that depth even more.
And, obviously, particles.
This picture over here, I actually created
full
tutorial for that one, it's on our Youtube
channel so go check it out after this one.
I put them into one layer, that rock into
separate
layer and then I created that 3D feel,
3D cage it's called by using Photomotion Horizon
floor just to create that sea floor like that.
And that gave me an animation that
looks something like this.
This thing, again, I'm using particles just
to give
it that extra depth right?
This picture over here is really interesting
because
you have these separate fire layers.
So we have one, two probably three over here
and then you have her, she's got her hand
over here and she's actually standing, not
standing
but she's kinda pinpointed to
that specific location on that image.
So for that image we are obviously gonna use
Horizon and this is the final result.
I mean you can clearly see that she sits down
on that floor like that and these
fires are in separate layer.
So what we did in this image is that we put
background,
we put that floor going on this way, just
like that.
And then put her in separate layer.
Pinpoint her down to that specific location
and
then those fires are going into separate layer
as well and as you can see, we are again using
these fire particles going on to give it that
extra
bit of depth and this is the final result.
This image, again, use Horizon for this because
you can see them standing.
Actually just him on the ground.
Pinpoint him to that specific location and
then
create floor that goes like this and then
obviously sky as well, just gonna do that.
That's gonna be your background, this part
over
here and then obviously
putting them into separate layer.
Together, that's absolutely fine I mean they
are
just standing in same location, no need for
us
to pinpoint them anywhere else.
Put them in one layer and this is the final
result.
I have couple of more here, so this one for
example,
just to show you how
deep you can go in your pictures.
So this was the original image and we added
that
3D camera into it by using Photomotion Horizon.
Just to outline a couple of things here, this
is
the cage that we used for that so that's the
floor.
Goes like this, so this part of the image
over here
is going to be projected on that specific
cage wall.
This one is going to be on that one.
This one is obviously the floor going like
that.
This is the background and this is the roof
or sky,
something like that.
And then obviously we put them into separate
layers and then animated the camera to go
left,
right and tilt it a little bit as well.
I mean it's important to use Horizon for animation
like this because you can see him standing
on the
floor like this, so you have to pin point
him
down there.
This one, again, Horizon because you can see
them standing there.
If that picture was cropped in a different
way,
let's say something like this, where you don't
see them standing on that ground and there's
nothing
really behind them apart from the background.
You might get away with Photomotion Parallax,
just putting them into one layer and put
everything else into background.
But again, you can see them standing there
so
then use Horizon.
And the final example I have here is this
one.
Again, they are standing on the ground, so
pinpointed towards that specific
location in that 3D scene.
So this doggo is going into one layer,
he's going to be pinpointed
into that location, they are going going to
be
pinpointed into that one and obviously
everything else will go into that 3D scene
which
you can create in Photomotion Horizon.
Alright, I have this folder here full of different
Photos, just going to pick a couple of them
and just gonna show you what type of projection
you should be using for them.
This one, for example, I would probably use
Parallax
for this or Portrait.
If you use Portrait, again focus is on her
face
again and then you put this, you put her body
and that umbrella into separate objects.
We call them objects in Photomotion Portrait
so that's a really important distinction between
those different projections.
So focus on here face, do here face animations
first and then you do displacement map on
her
and another one on the umbrella and then everything
else will go into background.
I mean if you use Parallax for example, then
that
focus kinda shifts from
her face to the actual overall image.
So you would put this umbrella into one layer,
put her and her hands into another layer
and put background into completely
different layer.
So Parallax would work for this one as well.
I mean it's a matter of preference really.
This one is for Portrait obviously.
She is standing close to camera, background
doesn't matter.
Nothing matters there, so we gonna focus on
her face, so we gonna put her into Portrait.
Eyes, nose, smile as well, hair and then we
gonna put custom displacement map on
her hands and her body here as well and that
will give you really
nice animations in Photomotion Portrait.
This one is for Horizon because you can clearly
see that sea bed is kinda our floor, like
that.
Going around that rock because that rock will
go into separate layer.
So that's gonna be one layer, this gonna be
another
layer and then everything else
will be as a 3D cage in Horizon projection
so,
that's gonna be our top cage.
And that will give you really nice animation.
And again, don't forget to use Particles because
we have particles like bubbles and other water
elements so that will give that extra bit
of depth
in this image.
This one, again, think about this.
You could use Horizon, because you want to
pinpoint her to that specific location and
then
just zoom the camera in, but then think about
that water fall.
Is that water fall the most important
part of the image?
Which probably is, because if you look at
it.
That waterfall is kind the focus point of
that image,
including her obviously.
Therefore I would use Mirage instead of
Horizon because Mirage allows you to
add that movement to that water.
So I would separate her but include in this,
so this whole thing would be in one layer
and then we gonna animate that waterfall in
Mirage.
This one.
Parallax I guess.
Really simple, we don't see him standing on
that floor so he's gonna go into one layer
and the background is going into another layer.
One thing you could do in Parallax is separate
I guess these propellers into separate layer.
Like that and add a little bit of movement
to them
so they are actually rotating but really slowly.
I mean think about photo animation as really
really
slowed down video recording like, you're not
trying to rotate that propeller in proper
speed,
you are just kinda slowing it down really.
That's all.
This one.
This one is really, really difficult and that
is purely
because of this table going on here because
you can clearly see those straight lines like
that,
so any Photoanimation you wanna do on that
will
either distort those lines or it will just
not look
that good.
Let's just illustrate what I mean by creating
this
3D cage. If you put this table into this specific
position, that would mean this other leg would
be floating in space because, I mean, they
are
in one object, they are one object but occupy
two different depths and that's really difficult
to animate, especially if those things, if
those
two different depths.
This and that are connected here as well.
That is super difficult to animate.
You can try but I think that will give you
different
results to what you would think.
And also, to add to this, you also have another
depth going on here with this leg.
Don't. It would be so much easier if that
table
was not here, then you could use Horizon and
just put her into one layer and create that
3D
cage and put that in the background.
That will be a really nice animation otherwise.
Again, you see smoke going on here, Mirage.
Easy, just put Mirage effect on this.
That will create that seamless loop and everything
else will look like it's frozen in time,
so that will give you really nice animations.
We actually animated this picture before and
I think we used Mirage for this.
So we separated that sky and we added that
little
bit of movement to it so it kinda looks like
the
sky is moving but the guy's not moving.
But you can also use other things like probably
Parallax.
just put this into one layer and I would put
this
into separate layer, just like that so you
have
layer number one, layer number two and, you
could also put this in layer number 3, so
that
would be layer number 3 the whole thing.
Just like that and you put this in the background.
That would give you really nice animation.
Really depends on what kind of effect you
are
trying to achieve with your animations.
Another difficult one and purely because of
this
lens flair going on there.
The only issue with this is if you move her,
if
you put her, let's just say you are using
Parallax.
If you put her and this thing, whatever this
is, into
one layer and put everything else into background.
And you start animating your cameras so that
means your background will be moving at
different speed then your foreground, then
this
lens flair is gonna cause a couple issues
because
in real life if you obstruct that lens flair
with something,
that lens flair should adapt dynamically – it
shouldn't stay in place like that.
What I would recommend in doing is, use Parallax
but do a couple of things here.
First one is remove that lens flair from it
by using
either clonestamp tool or levels or just jump
into
Photoshop and just remove it from there, and
then do your animation and then you add that
lens flair from our post production library
that
comes with Photomotion.
So you can just Pinpoint that lens flair over
there
and that will then animate properly.
Again, you don't see her standing anywhere
so,
straight to Parallax.
I mean you can use Horizon for this font as
well
and then if you've used Horizon, that would
be
something like this. So this is your cage
and then
she is in layer.
This one is difficult because you have this
object
here, really difficult to animate because
it's tilted,
it also has this reflection going on here.
So one thing I would recommend if you have
image like this, try to play with zoom a little
bit,
like crop it in a different way.
So, for example if you do this, then you can
use
Photomotion Portrait and then obviously
focus on her face, ignore that reflection
I mean,
it's not gonna cause any major distraction
there.
Put her into Portrait, animate her face and
that's
gonna be the focal point of that animation.
Again, portrait for this one.
Slightly difficult because you have two people
here so you use one Portrait on him,
one Portrait on her; do custom depth map for
this
flower here and for the bodies as well and
I would probably put their hands into completely
custom depth map.
So therefore it allows you to animate their
hands
in a different fashion than you would animate
the background what's behind them.
So, faces are gonna be moving slightly less
than
their arms that will give you that 3D feel.
And then obviously everything else goes to
background.
Let's do couple more.
This one, again, you see him standing here
but
it's way to close the edge.
I mean you just might as well use Parallax
for
this animation, that's gonna be a lot easier
then using Horizon.
This one.
Well, ok.
This one is, I would say either Horizon or
Parallax.
I'm thinking if you use Parallax on this image
you
split that into one layer, those de-focused
ones.
Just like this, that's gonna be layer number
one.
That looks ugly already but you get my point.
So that's gonna be layer number one, then
you
select couple of these, put these in layer
number two, just like that, and then put her
into layer number three.
And then I mean you can use layer number four
some of these here as well but I don't think
that's necessary so you just put that in a
background
and that's all. You should get pretty nice
animation.
Again, if you crop this image in a different
way,
like this for example.
Then I would use Portrait for that because
again,
focal point now is her face and these obstructing
things, they don't matter that much.
I mean, you can either get rid of them or
put a
custom displacement map on them
so they move in a different way.
So there you have it, I hope you found this
video
useful as I've tried to cover
as many types of images as possible.
If you have any questions, leave them in
the comments below.
Don't forget to like and subscribe and
I'll see you in the next one.
