Creating Animations in Photoshop and SketchUp

Note: The following catalog of content covered in this webinar is time stamped to allow you to follow along or skip to sections of the video that are relevant to your questions. You can also search for content on this page using the FIND command in your browser (CTRL + F in Windows, Command + F in Mac OS.)

• Intro/TOC
• Working with a timeline and keyframes in Photoshop
• Creating scenes and animations in SketchUp
• Combining the two animations in video editing software

0:00 – 7:59: Intro/TOC

Planning the scene in SketchUp (2:30)

 

Planning the scene – sources for Photoshop (3:10)

 

Overview of animation and scenes in SketchUp (3:50)

 

Placing a camera to grab a scene (4:35)

 

Looking and “walking” around the SketchUp model (5:05)

 

Saving and exporting a scene using the Scenes Manager (6:25)

8:00 – 19:39: Working with a timeline and keyframes in Photoshop

Selecting the film & video presets (8:10)

 

Setting the aspect ratio and resolution (8:30)

 

Importing (dragging and dropping) the saved image from SketchUp into Photoshop and centering it (9:00)

 

Transforming the image evenly to the correct size (9:20)

 

Placing a foreground image over the first one (example: a sliding door) (9:40)

 

Making a copy of the original image, then rasterizing its layer (10:25)

 

Adding a blur effect (example: tilt shift blur) to the layer to convey depth (10:40)

 

Cutting out portions of the foreground layer (11:25)

 

Cutting and pasting the foreground onto new layers (11:35)

 

Naming layers (12:45)

 

Creating a video timeline in Photoshop (13:00)

 

Animating the position of a layer (14:15)

 

Adding keyframes (stopping points for movement) and creating movement (example: opening a door) (14:40)

 

Playing the animation (15:20)

 

Moving layers up and down in the view order (15:40)

 

Moving additional keyframes for additional movement in the animation (16:28)

 

Using the F key to toggle between full screen and the workspace (17:45)

 

Previewing the animation and adding focus using an opacity keyframe (18:15)

19:40 – 28:42: Creating scenes and animations in SketchUp

Opening the initial SketchUp scene we created earlier (20:00)

It’s a good idea to create more scenes than completely necessary because SketchUp will “guess” what to animate between the scenes we create. Having an abundance of scenes will ensure a smoother animation.

 

Adding more scenes (21:00)

 

Updating a scene to improve a transition (22:15)

 

Configuring the animation settings (23:40)

• Changing the transition time (24:00)

The default transition time is 3 seconds, which may be too quick. We’ll set it at 4 seconds.

 

• Changing the scene delay time (24:22)

This setting controls how many seconds the amination will stop on each scene before moving on.

 

Exporting the animation (24:50)

Make sure the export options (e.g., resolution and frame rate) are set how you want them in the animation.

 

Question: Is it true that it’s not possible in Photoshop to select a layer to turn on or off in an animation timeline, but rather that you can only change individual layers’ opacity setting? (27:05)

Answer: Yes, this has been our experience. If you want, you can put the keyframes extremely close together where you make that transition, so the change in opacity (that is, the layer appearing or disappearing) is extremely fast.

 

Question: Why did you check the option to Return to Starting Stage when exporting the SketchUp animation? (27:40)

Answer: Unchecking that option causes the video to end on the last scene. Checking that option causes the video to return to the original scene at the end.

28:43 – end: Combining the two animations in video editing software

Quick look at the two videos (29:00)

 

Opening a video-editing program to edit the videos (29:20)

We use Camtasia in our office, so we’ll use it in this example. Other options include Apple’s iMovie and Windows Moviemaker.

 

Importing the two videos (29:53)

 

Setting up a video project, including resolution (30:20)

 

Creating a transition (31:03)

 

Adding a fade effect to add subtlety to a transition (31:55)

 

Adding a clip speed (32:30)

 

Saving and exporting the video (33:00)

 

The final product (33:30)

 

Question: Is there a way to add a background image or sky? (33:53)

Answer: Yes. We were just focusing on the technique in this video. You can add backgrounds in SketchUp. Here’s how (34:40).

 

Adding a gradient layer in Photoshop to resemble glass, dropping the opacity to 20 or 25% (36:09)

 

Moving keyframes around to convey a quicker transition (37:55)

 

Reversing a blur effect (38:10)

 

Moving the length of a layer’s length on the timeline to change the time when that layer shows up in the video and adding a Gaussian blur to the beginning of the layer to ensure a smoother transition (38:27)

 

Saving an animation from Photoshop as an mp4 (40:20)