IT SNOWED IN AUSTIN, TEXAS.

I just have to get the word out. Yesterday it snowed on at least three separate occasions, and if you're not from here you won't understand the joy a native Texan feels when that fluffy white stuff falls from the sky. IT'S AWESOME. It inspired me to do a very stark and deceptively simple-looking animation of a boy watching the snow fall outside his fogged-up window. I wanted it to look sort of sketchy, like a drawing, which is why it's only in black and white.

I actually made the window and the animated snow in Flash, simply because (to make a long story short) the Communications building was shut down early yesterday evening and opened late this morning due to snow/weather issues. I don't have AE on my laptop but I did have this, so...yeah.

Anyway, I imported the window and snow into After Effects and created several masks over the windows with varying levels of Feathering. (That's the foggy stuff covering the glass.) The boy was drawn by mouse (ugh) in Photoshop, each body part/article of clothing on a separate layer. I imported the layers into AE and had to reposition everything and parent the limbs together, which was WAY harder than it sounds. I animated the two masks on the lower left windowpane (one is set to add, the other subtract) to change size and shape as the boy's hand goes over them, one in a circular motion, the other from left to right. One of the requirements for the assignment was to add an animated mask wipe, so I had the kid literally wipe away the mask. Aren't I witty?? ...

It's hard to see the mask because everything is white, and if I could go back and change it I would give the sky a different color so you could see the fog effect better. Unfortunately, because I did the window in Flash, I'd have to go back through the whole process again to add the background. Maybe one day I will be able to afford AE...

Now, many of the following effects are there, you just can't see them because they were done for editing purposes. My first problem was the window frame (the cross thing in the middle of the window). I forgot to fill it in with white, and when I added the snow animation in the background you could see the flakes through the frame. I had to go in and animate white paint to cover up the snow bits whenever they pass through the frame... A real pain, but that's what I get for forgetting! I also had to go in and erase a TON of stray black paint that randomly popped up in the window. My laptop's screen isn't exactly clean and new, and I hadn't noticed those issues when I was working on it at home. If you went into the AE file you'd find all sorts of random keyframes where I just had to erase little specks of stuff!

When I can find it, I'm going to add sound effects for when the boy wipes away the window. The Communications department is really good about maintaining a nice sound effects library for students to use, but I couldn't find one for wiping glass. Perhaps Google holds the answer. *shrug*

Well, enjoy! Today it's bright and sunny outside, which is nice, but I sure do love the snow. :)

~Becca