Animation question
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- fyoucher10
This is how I would approach it and perhaps someone else has a better idea and can chime in. I'm sure this could be done in some sort of 3D app but if you're looking for an AE approach this is how I would go about it. Obviously depends on the styling but assuming you're doing some type of 2D style / flat colors etc. Basically key framing the different states, tweening some things, and then adding in some small details afterwards.
Comp up the different states in AI/PS or whatever.
- How the clump appears right before it falls (does it accumulate in just one area or over a wide area, Is it a solid white at that point etc).- How it appears as it's falling (does it fall down in chunks, or disperse like some wind hit it, or perhaps both)
- How it appears after it has fell (does it build up on something else, the shape it forms, how far it spreads, etc)
Now you have three states. Now go in and create more states for in-between those states. Continue doing that until you have as many states as how fast you'd like the animation to happen (or until you go crazy). The more states you have the smoother it will appear.
Then go into AE and animate each of those states going from one to another. You could use a mask to reveal each state, or even morph shapes that are used as masks to reveal or transition each state. Again, the more you add in, the smoother it'll feel. Perhaps you want it to feel clunky and only need so many states.
Then after that, add in as many small details as possible. Such as small particles flying off, pieces bouncing off of something, pieces that fly off in a totally different direction, perhaps some begin to fall and then blow away from wind. Even going as far as taking those separate small animations, duplicating, transforming them somehow (scaling them, rotating them, etc), and reusing them a bunch of times throughout.
As far as the actual main clump, I would build it in, in as many layers as possible. A less dense clump that sits lower for the start, then gets more dense and piles higher later on. Then animate those layers one after the other -- again depends on the style on how you approach that. Same thing applies as to how it goes into the next stage, except in reverse.