Create animated backgrounds

Generate effect create animated graphic elements from scratch that you can use to create an animated background.

What you learned: Create an animated background using a Generate effect

You can create seemingly complex animated elements from scratch using Generate effects. These effects need to be applied to a layer and are typically applied to a layer solid or an adjustment layer.

• To create a background filled with animated stripes:
  1. From the main menu, choose Layer > New Solid.
  2. In the Solid Settings dialog box, click the Make Comp Size button, change the Width to 20, and choose any color from the color box below and click OK.
  3. Select the Layer Solid in the Timeline and select Effect > Generate > Checkerboard from the main menu.
  4. Press S to open the Scale parameter, click on the chain to unlink the proportions, hold down Shift and scrub on the X parameter to the right, until it covers the composition edge to edge.
  5. Press T to open the Opacity setting of the solid and change the value to 21%.

• To animate the Checkerboard effect:
  1. In the Effect Controls panel, start at the top and set the Anchor to -1, 0 (a negative value for X was chosen so the edge is just off the left side of the layer solid).
  2. Leave the Size From drop-down menu set to Width Slider.
  3. Set the Width to 25.
  4. Make sure the Current Time Indicator (CTI) is positioned on Frame 0 in the Timeline and add a keyframe by clicking the stopwatch to the left of the word Anchor in the Effect Controls panel.
  5. Move the CTI to the end of the Timeline and change the value for the Anchor to a setting of -1, 200.
  6. Press the U key on your keyboard to reveal the keyframes. Then Press J and K on the keyboard to move the CTI back and forth between the two keyframes to make sure there appears to be no motion in the background.
  7. Move the last keyframe down the timeline by one frame and press the spacebar to preview the animation.
     
     

Create a seamless looping background using evolution options.

What you learned: Create an organic seamless looping background

Use the Cycle and Evolution options of the Cell Pattern effect to create a looping organic background:

1. From the main menu, select Layer > New Solid.
2. In the Solid Settings dialog box, click the Make Comp Size button and choose any color from the color box below and click OK.
3. Select the Layer Solid in the Timeline and select Effect > Generate > Cell Pattern from the main menu.
4. Move the CTI back to the start of the composition.
5. In the Effect Controls for Cell Pattern, set the dropdown menu to Bubbles; then enable Invert.
6. Change the size setting to 250.
7. In the Effect Controls, click on the stopwatch next to Evolution to set the first keyframe, move the CTI to the end of the composition and change Evolution to 2 to set the last keyframe.
8. Open Evolution Options and enable Cycle Evolution to make the animation seamless.
9. Click the Toggle Switches / Modes button to reveal the layer bland modes. Change the blend mode for the solid to Add and change the opacity setting to a value of 40%.