In this exercise, you will apply an image sequence as texture object in Blender, render a final Blender animation as an image sequence, and import it into after effects. You will create a compressed video in a web streaming format called H.264.

Learning Resources

Example animated texture project download (Large ~82MB file): image-sequence.zip

Tutorials:

Rendering an animated image sequence from Blender

Blender 2.8 Tutorial: Rendering an Animation

Transparency

Blender 2.8 Tutorial | Alpha Transparency in the EEVEE engine

Importing and Exporting

Exporting compressed video from After Effects for Vimeo

Steps to Completion

Choose a either level 1, level 2, or level 3 to complete based on your prior experience with 3D tools. If you are a novice, choose Level 1. If you have some experience, choose Level 2. If you are very experienced with 3D tools, choose Level 3.

Level 1:

1. Watch the tutorials.
2. Create and set a project folder called anim-textures-YOURNAME save your .blend file in the project folder.
3. Create an anmiation with the following:
   • EEVEE render engine (Cycles is fine, but takes too long to render for this exercise)
   • A polygonal model of a television set with an animated screen texture.
   • At least 1 second (24 frames of animation)
4. Render your animation as an image sequence (not a video file) to a folder.
5. Following the video importing and exporting tutorials. Import your image sequence to After Effects –> Interpret Footage –> Main and change the framerate to 24FPS.
6. Export an H.264 MP4 movie file with the Vimeo preset. (It should be well under 1MB in total file size). (See tutorials).
7. Save your animation file as **anim-textures-YOURNAME.mp4.
8. Save your blender file as anim-textures-YOURNAME.blend.
9. Compress the project folder once you’ve completed the tutorial and rename it anim-textures-YOURNAME.zip.
10. Upload only the blend file and H.264 file. Upload the .zip file to the submission dropbox.
11. Ensure you’ve included everything properly. Failure to ensure that you’ve uploaded the file will result in your exercise being graded according the grading criteria.

Level 2 and 3:

1. Watch the tutorials.
2. Create and set a project folder called anim-textures-YOURNAME-L2-3 save your .blend file in the project folder.
3. Create an anmiation with the following:
   • EEVEE render engine (Cycles is fine, but takes too long to render for this exercise)
   • A polygonal model of a character with an animated face. UV map the character.
   • Animate an expression, like sadness or surprise!
   • Import the UV map of the character into AfterEffects. Create an AfterEffects image sequence and animate the face in 2D and export as the image sequence.
   • At least 1 second (24 frames of animation)
4. Render your Blender animation as an image sequence (not a video file) to a folder.
5. Following the video importing and exporting tutorials. Import your image sequence to After Effects –> Interpret Footage –> Main and change the framerate to 24FPS.
6. Export an H.264 MP4 movie file with the Vimeo preset. (It should be well under 1MB in total file size). (See tutorials).
7. Save your animation file as **anim-textures-YOURNAME-L2-3.mp4.
8. Save your blender file as anim-textures-YOURNAME-L2-3.blend.
9. Compress the project folder once you’ve completed the tutorial and rename it anim-textures-YOURNAME-L2-3.zip.
10. Upload only the blend file and H.264 file. Upload the .zip file to the submission dropbox.
11. Ensure you’ve included everything properly. Failure to ensure that you’ve uploaded the file will result in your exercise being graded according the grading criteria.