Enhancing Your Visual Stories with Easy Animation!

Have you ever wished to advance your stories with using animation but were put off by the time and resources required?

Peter von Stackeberg provides you with a valuable suite of techniques using Motion Graphics where you just need a fraction of the time and effort to produce an animated story.

Software required to follow along with this tutorial : Photoshop

We'll teach you:

• The outline of how motion graphics can be used in visual storytelling
• Identify key fundamental motion graphic elements
• Demonstrate examples of motion graphics
• How to create sophisticated motion graphics with Photoshop.

This is a class showing you a great set of "shortcuts" to producing animation effects for your characters and visual narratives.

Peter references these examples in the tutorial:

• Blackhawk helicopter
• Drone in foul weather
• Sniper scope
• Teleport
• Snow in the city
• Animated map
• Nightfall in Chinatown

Tutorial Content

Introduction:

• The two extremes of motion design
• The rhythm of storytelling

Fundamental elements of motion graphics:

• Windows into storyworlds
• The visual planes
• Picture plane depth

Four attributes of animation explained:

• Position
• Size
• Opacity
• Swap frames

Basic Photoshop Animation for the "Drone Patrol" explained:

• Use of the timeline
• Concept of keyframes
• Timelines and similarities across apps

Tools:

• Photoshop
• OpenShot video editor
• Krita

Key Motion Graphic Effects Considered:

• Smoke/fog
• Rain
• Snow
• Muzzle flashes
• Transitions (props)
• Transitions (expressions)
• Fires (candles)
• Camera motions

About the Presenter : Peter von Stackelberg

"Whether it's with words or images, I love to tell stories. I've been a storyteller as far back as I can remember, well before I made journalism my first career.

I studied journalism at Ryerson University (long before it was known as a university) and spent a number of years as an investigative journalist and news photographer. With the emergence of the web in the 1990s, I worked as a web designer, e-commerce developer, and IT project manager. In the early 2000s, I was a professional futurist doing technology forecasting and working as a technology strategist. I also began teaching college classes in strategic management, managing technology and innovation, project management, business communications, systems thinking, and other courses.

Through all of these jobs writing and visual communication remained a core part of the work I did.

I have a B.A. in Journalism from Ryerson University, an M.S. in Studies of the Future from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, and an M.S. in Information Design & Technology from SUNY IT (State University of New York Institute of Technology).