3 Shape Transitions - After Effects Tutorial

 Triangle Transition

1. Start a New Composition in After Effects. Set the Composition Duration to 2 seconds.
2. Click and hold on the Shape Tool, then select the Polygon Tool. In the Composition Window, click and hold Shift to create a Polygon.
3. Set the Polygon’s Stroke to “None”, and the Fill color does not matter (you’ll be able to change it later on).
4. With the Polygon selected, click Ctrl+Alt+Home to place the anchor point in the center. Then, click Ctrl+Home as this will put the entire shape in the center.
5. Open Shape Layer Contents, then Polystar 1. Set “Points” to 3 to create a Triangle
6. With Shape Layer 1 selected, click Enter and rename to Triangle. Now click “R” to open rotation properties. Set the Triangle’s rotation to 90 degrees.
7. Click “S” for Scale, break the chain next to the x and y values. Set x to 500 and y to 250.
8. Now open the Position properties by clicking P. Create a Position keyframe at the beginning and a second one at 1:15. At the first keyframe, drag the Triangle’s x value in the timeline so it is all the way to the left hand side and off the screen. Then, advance to the second keyframe and drag the Triangle’s x value all the way to the right so that it’s also off the screen.
9. Select both keyframes, right click, go to Keyframe Assistant and select Easy Ease.
10. Go to Effects and Presets. Search for Drop Shadow and Fill effects, and add them to the Triangle shape layer.
11. In Effect Controls, set Drop Shadow to 60%, Distance to 25, and Softness to 100.
12. For Fill, select a color of your choice.
13. Select your Triangle Shape layer in the timeline, and Duplicate (Ctrl+D) for a total of 7 triangles. Then, offset each layer by 5 frames.
14. Change the Fill color for all triangle layers except Triangle 7 (top layer in the timeline). This layer will be used to reveal the next image/video.
15. Select triangle layers 1-6. Click “Ctrl+Shift+C'' to Precompose into its own layer. Check the boxes for “Move all attributes” and “Adjust composition duration”.
16. Set the Track Matte for the Precomposed layer to “Alpha Inverted Matte Triangle 7.”
17. Save your project.

Stroke Transition

1. Create a New Composition, and set its duration to 2 seconds.
2. Select the Pen Tool. Click to create a point in the upper RH corner. Then, click again in the lower LH corner to create a diagonal line.
3. Set the Fill to “None”. We will edit the Stroke properties later.
4. Select Shape Layer 1 in the Timeline. Click Enter, and rename it to “Line” or “Stroke.”
5. Open Stroke 1 underneath the Shape Layer’s Contents. Create a keyframe for Stroke Width at the beginning, and set its value to 0.
6. Move the playhead to 1 second in time. Create another keyframe, and set the Stroke Value large enough to fill the entire screen (for me it was 2000.)
7. Select both keyframes, right click and hover over Keyframe Assistant. Select Easy Ease.
8. With both keyframes selected, open the Graph Editor. Right click in the timeline and select “Edit Speed Graph.”
9. Click on a vertice to open up the handles. Drag both handles all the way in so that the velocity is at a value of 100% on both sides. Then, close the Graph Editor.
10. Open Effects and Presets. Add both Drop Shadow and Fill to the Stroke Layer. Make sure that the Fill effect is above Drop Shadow in the Effect Controls Panel.
11. Change the Fill color to a color of your choice. Then, set the Drop Shadow Opacity to 60%, set its Distance to 10, and Softness to 25.
12. With the Line/Stroke layer selected, Duplicate (Ctrl+D), and offset the layer by 5 frames.
13. Change the fill color to the newly created shape layer. Repeat steps 12 & 13 for a total of 7 layers. The fill color for the 7th layer doesn’t matter as it will be the layer that reveals the next image/video.
14. Select layers 1-6. Click Ctrl+Shift+C to Precompose into a new layer. Check the boxes for “Move all attributes” and “Adjust composition duration”.
15. Set the Track Matte for the newly precomposed layer to “Alpha Inverted Matte Line 7.”

Square Transition

1. Set Composition Duration to 4 seconds.
2. Create a square by selecting the Shape Tool. Select Rectangle, then Hold Shift, click and drag in the Composition window to create a square.
3. Set Stroke to None, and Fill can be any color.
4. Set Anchor Point in the center (Ctrl+Alt+Home). Then, place the square in the center of the Composition (Ctrl+Home).
5. Select Shape Layer 1. Click Enter, and rename the layer to “Square.”
6. Click “S” for scale. Create a keyframe at the beginning, and a second keyframe at 2 seconds.
7. Set the first keyframe’s scale value to 0. Then, set the second keyframe to a value that fills up the screen (for me it was 600).
8. Now with the Square Layer still selected, click “R” for Rotation. Create two keyframes, one at the beginning and the second at 2 seconds.
9. Set the first keyframe rotation to 0, and the second keyframe’s value to 135.
10. Add “Fill” and “Drop Shadow” from Effects and Presets. You can set the fill to a color of your choice, and set Drop Shadow’s Opacity to 60%, Distance to 10 and Softness to 25.
11. Select the Square Layer, and Duplicate (Ctrl+D) for a total of 7 Square layers.
12. Offset each layer by 10 frames, and set the fill to each square to a different color (again, the top square layer’s fill color does not matter.)
13. Select Square layers 1-6. Precompose (Ctrl+Shift+C), and check the boxes for “Move all attributes” and “Adjust composition duration”.
14. Set the precomposed layer to “Alpha Inverted Matte Square 7.”

Transfer to Premiere Pro

1. Have your After Effects Project Files saved in an easily accessible location.
2. Open your video project in Adobe Premiere Pro. Select the clip(s) in the timeline sequence, then right click and select “Replace with After Effects Composition.” Automatically, After Effects will open.
3. Double click in the Project Panel in After Effects. Locate the After Effects project files, then select and import. 
4. Now, the After Effects project files will have their own separate folder in the project panel, containing all compositions within the project. (If your After Effects composition has precomposed layers, select the top composition as that contains any precomposed layers beneath.
5. Click and drag your composition into the timeline, and place it in your project where you see fit.
6. Finally, head back to Premiere Pro and all changes made in After Effects will be automatically applied.