Hello everyone, welcome to my tutorial!!

 

Adding animation to the light and background is one of the quick way to present your art as an animated illustration.

In this tutorial, I will show you 4 animation techniques from Clip Studio’s features that you can use to create an animated illustration by the movement of the light, the camera view and the background.

Video tutorial

The video version if you want to see all the process in action >w<

Preparing the file

Let’s start by preparing the file.

For the animated illustration, I’d recommended working on a new canvas so you will not get confused with the layers

Create a new file.

On the Project : [illustration] , you have an option to create an animated illustration.

You can set the cels and frame rate,

Higher frame rate is more smooth, but it will make the playback time shorter

(This option is very useful for the Clip Studio Paint Pro version that has 24 cels limitation for animation)

 

When you create the file, you’ve got an animation folder, and the timeline from your setting.

you can open the timeline panel by [Window>timeline]

 

Note : If you use the older version of Clip Studio that doesn’t have this option,

you can create it by clicking on the [New timeline] icon on the timeline panel, and set the playback time (cels) and frame rate manually

Delete the animation folder (We’re not using it here)

Then import the file(.csp format) to the canvas

go to [File > Import > Create file object]

The imported object is not transparent.

Delete the paper layer on the original file

Save the file..

The file object will be automatically updated.

Now you can move the art without touching its original file,

and you’re ready for the animation!

 

Note : If the file is not automatically updated when saved,

Update it manually by the menu on the [Tool property] panel of the [Object] tool

Technique # 1 : Animating opacity

Let’s create some cool hexagon background with light animation

I downloaded a hexagon material from Clip studio Asset

The downloaded asset is in the folder [Download] in the [Materials] panel,

Drag the material to the layer panel, under the character object layer

Make selection from the object layer

[Right click > Selection from layer > Create selection]

Create a new raster layer

If the line is too thick, you can shrink the selection before filling the color

The shrink selection will left some gap on the edge of the canvas,

Adjust the size to fill the canvas area [Edit > Transform > Scale/Rotate] (or [Ctrl+T])

Copy the layer and apply the blur filter,

go to [Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur]

This will create some depth to the hexagon tiles

Put both layers in a folder,

This is the light-off version of the background

Next, create the light-on version of the background,

Copy the background folder

Lock the transparent on both layers and fill with the light color

Now, we have 2 versions of the background : light-on and light-off

On the [Timeline] panel,

Select the light-on folder, and click on [Enable the layer keyframe] icon,

Expand the layer option on the timeline panel [+]

You will see the timeline for the opacity.

Pick the position for the start frame on the opacity timeline

Then adjust the opacity to 0

The keyframe will automatically appear on the timeline

Set the end frame, click on the [New keyframe] icon

This will create a new keyframe with the same setting as the start frame

Select the position between the 2 keyframes,

Adjust the layer opacity up to 100,

the keyframe is automatically created!

Preview the animation by click on the play button

Now you get the very easy illuminated background effect

You can adjust the speed of the animation by adjusting the position of the keyframe

Now it’s slower

Let’s also add the light reflection on the character too!

Make selection on the character object layer, and create a new raster layer

Then go to [Edit > Outline selection] and give some thickness to the line

Deselect and blur the edge .

This will simply add the highlight on character’s edge,

Edit some detail manually if you want

Set the layer mode to [Add(glow)]

and clip it to the character object

Reduce brightness to the character with a layer filled with the background color

in [Multiply] mode and clipped on the character object

Set the keyframe on the light and shadow on the character object for the more realistic result!!

Note :

When enable the [Layer keyframe], you cannot paint on the layer

but you can toggle it on-off to edit the layer,

the keyframes will stay the same

Technique # 2 : Mask animation

Instead of just illuminate,

let’s add the movement to the light with the layer mask animation!

Make the selection for the  light strip with the [Selection] tool : [Polyline]

On the light-on background folder [right click > Layer mask > Mask outside selection]

The mask thumbnail will appear on the layer folder

Click on the mask thumbnail and apply the blur filter

When you enable the layer keyframe,

you will see the timeline of the layer mask too

Add a new keyframe for the start frame..

and move the mask to the left with the [Object] tool

On the end frame, move the mask to the right

The moving light effect is done!! Super easy!!

Let’s apply the mask animation for the character object too!!

Instead of repeating the whole step, copy the folder with the mask

Delete all the layers inside

Disable the layer keyframe

Move the folder to above the character,

Then move the highlight layer to the folder

You will see that the layer mode is not work,

you have to set it on the folder instead.

(And also clip the folder to the character object too )

When you enable the layer keyframe again,

the highlight will move together with the background!!

You can edit the mask area to make the highlight shows on the larger area.

 

Disable the layer keyframe first.

Click on the layer mask thumbnail, and paint around the edge with the [Soft airbrush]

Enable the layer keyframe again,

Now it looks better!!

I edit the color tone to green and paint darker color on the edge as the final touch,

here is the result

Rotation movement

You can also apply the rotation movement to the mask

At the start frame, resize the mask so it covers the area when you rotate

On the end frame, in the [Tool property] panel, set the [rotation angle] to 360

The rotation speed is not steady and seamless..

This happened because of the keyframe is in the [Smooth Interpolation] mode

If you want to make the steady move speed

you must change the keyframe to [Linear interpolation] mode,

Set the keyframe mode at the [Add Keyframe] dropdown icon

Select the keyframe and click on the [Add Keyframe] icon to change the keyframe mode

Drag the end keyframe to the edge,

this will make the mask rotate in with the seamless loop

Technique # 3 : 2D camera

The 2D camera folder simply create the camera view for object groups on the canvas.

You can have multiple camera folders to display different camera view for object groups on the same canvas.

You can animate the 2D camera folder to create camera movement for the objects inside the folder

Create a new 2D camera folder,

Go to [Animation > New animation layer > 2D Camera folder]

You will see the blue edge(default color) on the canvas

Put all the background folders in the 2D camera folder

Then, adjust the camera view (the blue border) with the [Object] tool

Be careful for the timeline position when you adjust the camera view,

It will automatically create the keyframe on camera folder timeline

Setup the movement keyframe to the camera folder in seemless loop

You can preview the camera by the option [Show camera’s field of view]

on the [Tool property] panel

I put the character objects in another 2D camera folder

This easily create some depth from character to the background!!

Technique # 4: File Object Animation

Let’s create more complicate animation : the syncronized background

You can make it by using only 1 file object!!

Create a new file.

Keep the animated illustration setting the same as your animation file,

and delete the animation folder

Create a new layer and draw a hexagon by the [Figure] subtool : [Polygon]

Crop the file by leaving some gap around the hexagon shape,

Create selection on the hexagon and expand the selection area

Delete the paper layer and save the file

Import the hexagon file as a file object to the animation canvas

Select the file object with the [Object] tool,

In the tool property panel, enable the [Tiling] option 

The tile is a bit weird, but we will fix it later

Back to the hexagon file,

Enable the layer keyframe and create shink animation in short loop

When you save the file, the animation will also show on the main file.

The problem for hexagon tile is :

you can’t simply create it with the tiling options

Instead of repeat it on both direction,

Rotate the object by 90 degree and enable the tiring direction on one side

Copy the file object and place it on next to each other manually

 

Repeat the step until the area is filled,

And arrange the object layers by its order

 

The tiles shrink all together now

Let’s make the syncronized movement!!

 

On the timeline, click and drag on small bar above the clip bar to shift it backward

By moving the clip, the animation is played on the different time

but the tile strips are disappear from the timeline,

To fix this , right click on the last frame, and [Split Clip]

Move the clip to the front

Then expand the clip by draging on the small square on the corner of the clip

The background is now syncronized!

I add a bit rotation movement to the hexagon file, the result is cool too!!

With these features, you can create wonderful effect to your animated illustration in very short time!!

 

I hope my tutorial give you some idea on using these feature on your animated illustration project, Enjoy animating and see you in the next tutorial