How I Animated this Faux 3D Peach

👋 Welcome to the latest edition of my monthly motion design newsletter, where I bring you fresh tutorials, a sneak peak of what’s coming soon, a handy tip, and a random recommendation!

🥳 New

Learn how I created a peach animation that looks like it’s rotating in 3D space, but is actually made of 2D shape layers.

In this Adobe After Effects tutorial, you’ll learn how to animate the Path Property of shape layers to simulate 3D rotation, and how to cut and rearrange the layer order to pull off the illusion.

Check it out

⚡ Illustration to Animation Fast Track

Last month, I published the final videos for the Adobe Illustrator Essentials series on YouTube. This series is also a class on Skillshare where it’s received a Staff Pick and is featured in the Design section! 🎉

To complete the Illustration to Animation Fast Track, check out these two classes next:

Illustrate with Shapes: Design Vector Graphics in Adobe Illustrator

Easy Animated Icons in Adobe After Effects

🤫 Sneak Peak

I’m working on the first video for my new YouTube channel, Explanimated, where I’ll be making solutions-focused explainer videos on environmental issues.

The new channel definitely doesn’t mean I’m abandoning Animation Explained! In fact, I’m excited to make more tutorials on ‘how I animated this’ based on animations for the new Explanimated channel. But, I want to make sure I’m making what you want…

If you have any requests of what you’d like to learn, whether it’s in Adobe Illustrator or After Effects, I’ve created a new suggestion box.

⚡ Quick Tip

To create the dot texture in the background of my faux 3D peach animation, I used an unlikely After Effects effect: CC Particle World.

I applied CC Particle World to a comp-sized shape layer (a solid works too).

I adjusted the properties to get the look I was going for:

I pre-comped this layer. In the main comp, I found a frame that I liked the look of and froze time on this frame (right click layer → Time → Freeze Frame).

Then, I added a fill effect to change the color of the dot texture, set the blending mode to multiply, and turned down the opacity. Finally, I layered multiple versions of this texture to get the look that I wanted.

Want me to make a video tutorial on this? Let me know in the suggestion box.

👉 Random Recommendation

I just finished listening to the audio book version of Never Play It Safe by Chase Jarvis. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, but especially creative people, who are feeling a bit stuck or are considering taking a risk in their career.