After Effects Animation - Keyframe Interpolation and Keyframe Types Research

To improve the quality of animation, although a limited medium, After Effects animation can be improved by employing methods for reducing the amount of keys needed to be set and therefore create better animation.

I found a useful tutorial which I used as a basis for this research:

Guide to Keyframes in After Effects

I am going to finish blocking the whole film, then go into the keyframes for each shot and edit them to different types to keyframes to achieve better animation. I will check the graph of a layers’ transform properties by clicking on the graph editor and going to 'choose graph type and on the options’ pop up menu, make sure ‘edit speed graph’ is turned on. This is to check the spacing between each frame in the timeline in an easier to understand format. 

To change a keyframe type, I right click on keyframe and go to keyframe assistant and then select easy ease, easy ease in or ease ease out. These are to improve the spacing. I can also grab the keyframe handles like the pen tool and edit spacing that way.

The dots seen along a path created between two keyframes represents the frames in-between the keyframes in the timeline. There are two types of key framing; temporal and spacing.

TEMPORAL KEYFRAMING

Linear

constant speed - straight line (the number says how many pixels per second)

Ease In

increasing arc favouring starting position key

Ease Out

increasing art favouring end position key

Ease In and Ease Out

even arc favouring neither position keys

Jump and Slide 

snappy look

Heavy Ease

similar to ease in and ease out - pull keyframe handles in towards middle

Hold 

two keyframes with no ‘inbetweens’ - snap between each value

Fig. 1. Tutorial File - 'Keyframe Time' comp - for timing of the animations

SPACIAL KEY FRAMING

Adjust keyframe handles to create arcs 

Fig. 2. Tutorial File - 'Keyframe Position' comp - for spacing of the animations