How to make trifold page turn animation

[Valerie24266276befk]

I am a beginner in After Effects. I have a tri-fold invitation that I want to animate so it looks like someone is actually opening it. So when the left panel is opened, and the right panel is opened you see what's inside. I have watched the few videos on YouTube that I can find about CC page turn, but I'm only finding examples of books where the pages all turn in one direction. I'm not finding anything where one page goes left and one goes right. Does anyone know of any vidoes or tutorials that I'm missing, or have any suggestions for me? I even got an Adobe After Effects classroom in a book and it doesn't even talk about the CC page turn feature. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Title edited by Mod.

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

CC Page turn is pretty limited. You can use two copies of the effect and just animate the left and right sides at different times, but it's not going to look very realistic.

The best way to do this is with 3D layers. You'll need three copies of the inside layer, one for the middle, one for the left side, and one for the right. You have to create a mask for the left side that covers 1/3 of the image, a mask for the middle that covers the middle third, and then a mask for the right side that reveals only the right side. The anchor point for each of the left sides needs to be moved to the right edge of the left side. The anchor point for the right side needs to be moved to the left edge. Then the layers are made 3D, offset by one pixel in Z space, and you then rotate the two sides to close up the tri-fold animation and then open it up. 

To sell the effect, you will need to add a camera, a light that casts a shadow, and some ambient light. If you use an image for the back layer, it must be rotated 180º to face the camera when folded. 

I uploaded a file for you to take a look at. Pay attention to the parenting and the masking that I used. 

[Valerie24266276befk]

Thank you so much for this detailed explanation and video. I REALLY appreciate it and will give it a try.