Zygon the Space Worm

   
     For our second project in animation, we learned something new. We had to make an inchworm in Photoshop and the animate it in After Effects. My worm is named Zygon and he is a space explorer. I've also been working on giving all of my characters wildly extravagant back stories but I didn't get to give Zygon one.

Process

     We started in Photoshop. We had to make our worms and the environment they were in. I chose for him to be in space on an unknown planet. It took me a bit to get the final details on the worm like the SS Zygon and his goggles. Once we were in After Effects we were able to follow a video Mr. Olson made. We had to make the worms move and inch across the screen. It was kind of hard to work with at first because when you moved a part of the worm the whole thing would warp. Eventually, after adding couple other things into the mix. We got the worm to make the inching motion. After we got that down, we could just copy and paste it over. Then, we got him to move across the screen. Unfortunately, Zygon didn't make it all the way across the screen. But, I think he's doing a great job.

Did I Learn? Sure Did 

     This was one of the first times I have used After Effects extensively. I learned a lot about how to make the worm moving look realistic. The tools we had to use were confusing at first, but I think I understand them now. 

Would I Change It? No, Sir!

I really like the way Zygon turned out. It makes me really happy watching him inch along and knowing he is on his little explorer way. But, if I had to change something, I might have made the planet look a little more planet-like and made his goggles look a bit more like goggles. I also wanted to make his fins looks a little more like spaceship's. 

Next Time?

Next time I want to give my character an  extensive back story. I also want to like the colors  I put on it. (Since I'm typing this in the future, I can tell you now that no, I did not like the colors I ended up having to use.) I'm excited to use the skills I learned here on my next project!