Animating still image

[cathy]

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to animate trees in a game I'm creating for learning purpose.
It is mostly 6 to 9 images looping. I managed to do that one and it's far from perfect as it is mostly moving 2 light foliage layers left and right but i didn't manage to do better.



I am trying to animate a weeping willow for a few days without success and it's far more complicated to have something that doesn't make your eyes bleed.
Does someone knows what technique I should use to do it ? Moving layers won't work on that one and I don't think I can use bones in Photoshop like in 3D programs.

 

[IamSam]

Hey.

There are multiple ways to approach this type of animation. Based on what information you have provided, I will assume you're trying to animate a single image of a willow tree like the one in your example you have provided above. As you may have already learned, you will have to create multiple layers of the tree in various states of motion.

I would use a much larger and higher resolution image of a tree. Your sample image is far too small. The animation will not turn out as well using such a small image. You can always size down the animation once you're done.

Open the image.
Copy the layer. Tun off the first layer.
Use Puppet Warp to move the branches. Puppet Warp works best because you can stabilize the trunk and branches of the tree while moving others.
Copy the new warped layer. Turn off the second. (note: you could copy the first, original, layer and warp that with each step.......this might stop some of the blurring.)
Repeat until done.

This is an extremely fast example with your tiny low res example with only 5 frames. I didn't stabelize the trunk well, you take your time and do it with more accuracy, subtle movements, and frames.

 

[cathy]

Wow that tree is dancing

I tried this tool but I didn't understand it properly and didn't come back to it. Now I understand better what it's used for.

I'm going to work on using it, thank you very much Sam.