Indie Game // Preparing characters for Animation

In order to prepare for the animation, we developed a workflow whereby Andy would develop a GIF of character movement, typically made up of 4-5 character sprite images. I would then take these image files and reimport them into after effects. Here is an example of this workflow:

I receive the .psd file from Andy with the images in different layers (this penguin is made of 3 movements). I export these layers as separate .PNG files. 

This folder of images can then be imported as a a composition, with the speed defined in frames per second. 

I can then repeat the movement a number of time so that the character continues to move as long as they need to in the main composition. 

The character can then be inserted into the scene, where I can control its arrangement and movement in the main scene. I needed to match the speed of movement to the distance travelled so as to make the animation look believable.  This was a process of trial and error and got more complicated as the animation progressed. 

We repeated this process until all of the scenes were filled. This split workflow ensured that we could get all of the scenes full and complete efficiently .