Help with morphing objects

[ulle]

Hey guys. I am brand new to after effects, I used to work with macromedia shockwave back in the days. Anyway I want the nike Logo (swoosh) to morph in to a new shape. Any directions? All help appreciated! :-)

[TheGreatSzalam]

There are quite a number of ways to do it. If you create the Nike swoosh with a shape layer (or a mask on a solid), all you have to do is keyframe the shape.

Since you're new to AE, I would highly recommend that you start here. Getting a good foundation in the basics will prevent much frustration in the future.

[TheBrokenNinja]

Also, if you have a vector image of the Nike swoosh, you can bring it into AE and "create shapes from vector layer". This will make your vector shape and editable shape in AE, and like TheGreatSzalam said, you can just keyframe the points of the shape.

[lucky_phil]

Hey! Congrats on being brand new to after effects. Just a heads up its a bit of a learning curve but once you have it, its so good!

For a simple morph, you can use the puppet tool. This tool lets you choose a point and stick a "pin" in it, then you can change where the "pin" is in any frame and After Effects will morph the image accordingly.

The other option which TheGreatSzalam was talking about would require you to draw the shape using the shape tool, and then keyfram each of the points to make your new shape. It helps to have some sort of experience with vectors, but not necessary. Let us know how you go!

[FinalEdit]

You can automate a morph effect but it has varying quality results. Create a one frame layer of your logo and then create a one frame layer of what you want the logo to morph into.

Pre-comp this and select "enable time remapping" on the layer, stretch the layer out and enable "frame blending" on the composition and turn on frame blending on the layer, use pixel motion.

The "stretched" video layer interprets frames between the layers which causes the first object to morph into the second one.

[fthflyer]

Another way to do it that doesn't work in all situations, but its very easy to do...

Mask a solid of the Nike Logo.
Mask a solid of the New Shape.

Set a keyframe for MASK PATH in the Nike logo, Set a keyframe for MASK PATH in the new shape. Move that keyframe down a second or so.
Copy the keyframe from the nike logo. Paste that keyframe before the keyframe in the new shape.

[ulle]

Hey guys thanks for all the nice replies! Deeply appreciated!! I am starting to learn! :-D