Plant Growing Animation in Adobe After Effects

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Plant-Growing Animation:

Step 1: Preparing the Layers in Adobe Illustrator

Before starting the animation, separate the layers in Adobe Illustrator for the different parts of the plant: pot, stem, leaves, and flower.

Step 2: Setting Up the Composition

1. Open Adobe After Effects.
2. Create a new composition named “Plant Animation.”
3. Set the resolution to 1920×1080 Pixels, frame rate to 30 Frames per second, and duration to 10 seconds.

Step 3: Importing the Plant Vector

1. Go to the File Menu > Import and select the plant vector file.
2. Set the Import kind to Footage.

Step 4: Creating Shape Layers

1. Drag the Plant Vector file to the composition.
2. Right-click on it, go to Create, and select “Create Shapes from Vector File.”

Step 5: Organizing Shape Layers

1. Duplicate the shape layers three more times.
2. Hide the other shape layers.
3. Under the visible shape layer, go to Contents and remove all groups except the flower groups.
4. Rename the group to “Flower.”

Step 6: Organizing Other Shape Layers

1. Hide the flower shape layer and unhide the second shape layer.
2. Under the Contents, remove all groups of flowers, leaves, and pots.
3. Rename it to “Stem.”
4. Hide the stem layer and unhide another shape layer.
5. Delete all groups of flower, stem, and pot.

Step 7: Adding Pot Shape Layer

1. Delete all groups of flower, stem, and leaves.
2. Drag the pot layer just above all layers.

Step 8: Animating the Stem

1. Under the stem shape layer, click the “Add” button and choose “Trim Paths.”
2. Under Trim Paths, add a keyframe on the End value and decrease it to 0%.
3. Go to about 2 seconds on the timeline and change the End value to 100%.
4. Select both keyframes, right-click, and choose Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease.

Step 9: Animating the Leaves

1. Drag the leaves layer above the flower shape layer.
2. Unhide the leaves’ shape layer.
3. Select all groups, go under Transform, and add a keyframe on the scale.
4. Press U on the keyboard to reveal all keyframes.
5. Select each leaf group, and use the anchor point tool to drag the anchor point to the corner.

Step 10: Keyframing the Leaves Scale

1. Change the scale to 0% for all keyframes.
2. Go about 2 seconds forward and change the scale to 100% for each group.

Step 11: Animating the Flower

1. Unhide the flower layer and drag it above all layers.
2. Change the anchor point of the flower petals. Select all petal groups, go under Transform, and add a keyframe on the scale.
3. Change the scale value to 0%.
4. Press U to reveal keyframes, go a few seconds forward, change each group value to 100%, and adjust the keyframe position.

Step 12: Adjusting the Flower Position

1. Press V on the keyboard to select the move tool.
2. Drag the flower layer to your desired position.

Step 13: Completing the Animation

Congratulations! You’ve successfully created a professional plant-growing animation in Adobe After Effects.