Question about Animate and effects

[timothyjj5220]

so in photoshop you can use an effect called Noise to give a kind of grainy look to your image. Is there any way to get the same effect in Animate as well?

[_keyframer]

Yes and no.

There aren't vector tools that can do that and even if there were, the amount of vector data would cause performance issues.

BUT Animate does allow you to get creative. What I would try is creating the noise effect in Photoshop on a document canvas size of about 400x400 or even smaller. Export to PNG with transparent background.

Import this PNG into Animate. With the image on the stage, break it apart (Ctrl + B). Now select it with the eyedropper tool. it can now be used as a fill to fill a vector shape.

If you want to "blend" the noise image (texture) with a vector containing a color, I would create the vector art, convert it to a symbol. Edit the symbol and duplicate this layer containing the vector art. In the duplicate shape above the original shape, fill the color with the bitmap. Use the Gradient Transform Tool to edit/scale/position the noise image and possibly add a mask as well if you need to have it show only inside the fill shape.

I can try and make a sample of this. It's not a common technique but it can be done.

[timothyjj5220]

Goodness that sounds terribly involved. I almost feel like I might be better off just animating in photoshop x_x;;

[_keyframer · Accepted solution]

Sorry didn't mean it to sound intimidating. If you simply import a bitmap image of any kind, you can break it apart and select it with the eye dropper. It will become a "color" swatch in the Color Panel. You can fill any shape with it. You can edit the way the bitmap looks as a fill by playing around with it.

It's a simple technique and if combined with layering and alpha, you can achieve the noisy look you want.

Another way would be to animate without any noise textures and just use vectors. The import your animation into After Effects and add noise there. I just did this recently with a character I animated and exported as a PNG sequence with alpha transparency for the background. Brought it into AE and applied a light effect and subtle noise to it as well.

[Myra Ferguson]

Instead of using a bitmap fill, you could make a single rectangle the size of your stage in either Photoshop or Illustrator (which can also apply raster effects) and import it in Animate. Convert it to a movie clip and put it on the top layer. In the Properties panel, go to Display to set the Blending to Multiply (you can try the other blend modes to see if another one fits your aesthetic better) to apply the noise to everything in the scene.