In this tutorial, we will use After Effects to create a parallax animation by animating the layers of a Photoshop file. You will learn to transform these layers into 3D objects and animate a camera through the scene.

Design Studio Academy. (2024, Mar 27). Build a parallax animation in Adobe After Effects [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Lkv8yciJiyw

Learning Targets

Size: 1920px x 1080px
Duration: 15-30 seconds
Frame Rate: 30 fps

I can import a layered Photoshop file into Adobe After Effects.
I can set up a camera and attach the camera to a null object for animation.
I can transform 2-D to 3-D layers and control their positioning in the Z-Axis.
I can animate layers and null objects to create a parallax animation.

Project Overview

In this project, you’ll use Adobe Photoshop/Adobe Illustrator with Adobe After Effects to build a parallax animation. Parallax is “a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight” (“Parallax,” 2024, para. 1). Essentially, the objects in the foreground appear to move faster than the objects in the background. You will recreate this effect using a camera and 3D layers in Adobe After Effects.

First, you must build an image in Photoshop or Illustrator to use the effect. You’ll need to define different visual planes for the animation to work. At the very least, you should have five different visual planes in the image. You’ll assign each plane to a 3D layer and then animate the camera, zooming through the animation. Experiment with various movements and animation easing to help make the final animation dynamic and visually engaging.