How to Morph PNG Images - After Effects Tutorial

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In this After Effects motion graphics video we discuss shape morphing (morph / reshape) in After Effects CC using PNG images. This PNG layer shape morph can be used to morph two PNG images together. This can also be used to help show you how to animate an icon in After Effects that utilizes shape morphing. Lastly, this tutorial will not cover how to morph shape layers from Illustrator in After Effects.
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Editor's Note:
The most requested topics on MOBOX Graphics is how to morph objects in after effects, how to morph shapes in after effects, and how to morph text in after effects. This is quite a large topic because you can morph PNG images in after effects or morph shapes in after effects. The technique for both of these things are very very different. In a lot of ways, how to morph an object in after effects (PNG image) is more of a how to reshape objects in after effects. This is because you need to use a tool that allows you to stretch objects in after effects. Reshaping objects in after effects is a very simple process to morph these png images / objects. Morphing shapes on the other hand can use the path tool in after effects to morph shape layers (circle to triangle or square to circle or square to triangle). Simple shape animation in after effects is a critical tool to have when working within AE. Adobe after effects shape animations is the pivotal way to add your creative touch to any project. Please keep this in mind.
Adobe After Effects 2018 (AE 2018) is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe Systems and used in the post-production process of film making and television production. Among other things, After Effects can be used for keying, tracking, compositing and animation. It also functions as a very basic non-linear editor, audio editor and media transcoder.
CINEMA 4D is a 3D modeling, animation, motion graphic and rendering application developed by MAXON Computer GmbH in Germany. It is capable of procedural and polygonal/subd modeling, animating, lighting, texturing, rendering, and common features found in 3D modelling applications.
#AfterEffects #Mograph #tutorial #morph #mobox

[@moboxgraphics]

🔥🔥 For project downloads go support us on Patreon! www.Patreon.com/MOBOX

[@PavlentijIvani4]

I have made an auto trace, and I have got many masks for my one png file. Is it possible to combine them in the one mask? Please help :)

[@rockstarbenj4114]

Cool bruh

[@AmuscariaMods]

You forgot to mention the Reshape effect is constrained by the dimensions of the png's borders. To make the effect work, the two PNG has to be big enough so the effect isn't cut off at the border. That or use Grow bounds (Effects > Utility > Growbounds) to make the images large enough for the effect to take place without being cut off (Grownbounds must be placed above the Reshape effect). You set this up in your images, but I thought it'd be useful to mention it, because there were a few comments mentioning this already.

[@mattgilchrist3633]

Thank you! I was pulling my hair out with this

[@TheNoWherePlace]

Upgeraldos to the left bois

[@Hockey12447]

God Bless

[@jonathansteele1801]

You literally just saved my project with this comment. A thousand blessings upon you.

[@shokero4875]

thanks man

[@10666W]

Thank you! When auto tracing you won't get a new layer unless you have the box checked "apply to new layer". Took me a hot minute to figure that out & I hope this helps.

[@bts4618]

When I try copy the mask inside the layer ...I can't cuz it pastes below or up it ....can you help me please 🥺

[@xinestreet17]

for ones who faced/face problem with mask reshaping, after you scale both png images (but before auto trace) precompose both images (layer ~》precompose ~》move all attributes) then auto trace and copy masks. This will solve the problem. please dn't ask why coz I also asked a friend and am not completely clear on the topic of precompose. hope this works out for you as it did for me.

[@MichaelRozie]

When I try to do this, the layer mask of bottle so to speak changes size to that of the apple..what am I doing wrong?

[@dimitar-rusev]

Great Video! You helped me alot! One tip - The smallest images should be at least as big as the biggest object that you will shape it into. In this video both the apple and the bottle had same size. (length/high)

[@unboring7057]

This was great man, I've been using AE professionally for years and never knew about the Reshape effect. Thank you!

[@controllerdino8268]

But still able to explain each stage in a basic manner. Honestly thanks man!

[@AnnitaCaniglia]

What do I do when both pngs have multiple masks, and furthermore, the number of masks are not the same (so doing multiple reshape effects would not work...)

[@ryanchua6988]

try to fill the in between parts first

[@adamraymondprofessional9552]

If you copy the Reshape effect it keeps your correspondant points so you dont have to match them up again, just make it go from 100% to 0%

[@emyoswald]

+

[@Tonicwine999]

Hmm, this seems to save a completely different set of correspondence points. They are all in different positions. The mask shapes do morph to the correct mask shapes but the directions of the morph Isn't right as the correspondence points are completely different.

[@augmentelpaso2876]

Same

[@Shljonx]

why not just swap source and destination masks?

[@litote9]

Shljonx: Because that does not morph properly.

[@Ninata96]

I fixed the multiple mask thing by giving both objects a border via matte choker. Its not perfect but with a roughen edge effect it kinda fits my style so its a workaround...

[@garygary7230]

Ninata96 thank you

[@DamienWilde]

Does this work for multiple PNG images? So essentially starting with something like an apple, changing into a bottle, then changing once more into a glass of apple juice? Or is there a better solution for multiple images?

[@contresillodenettur9828]

just add it the three

[@romanr9883]

common problems: 1) the apple morphs into a square but no further 2) When pasting in the second mask its size is messed up Fix for both problems: Use PNGs of the same size. so you have to do some work with gimp or photoshop b4 you start following the tutorial, but then its works like a charm.

[@uzairahmed3889]

I sawed soo many vids on this topic but you told the in the best way. Thankyou!

[@aloysiusjanquiros9470]

I can't seem to make this work. Does it need to have only a single mask to work? Because when I use auto-trace to the PNG, several mask paths were generated.

[@edwardalarcon3204]

Great video.... (By the way, to make easier.... the explanation at first should be: the shapes are vector information, png are pixel information)....

[@TheNielss]

Hi :) Like the tutorial but do you know if I can morph 1 object to another when my objects exists out of multible masks?I'm using an object made out of lines so when I create an autotrace it gives me 30 masks for 1 object

[@rxshi5200]

I am very glad that I stumbled upon your video

[@cathrinehelle4057]

I'm trying to follow along with this tutorial, but am having trouble when pasting the mask onto the correct layer. It's scaled down and positioned differently, and I can't seem to find a way to paste the mask with the original dimensions and position intact. Copying options are few, and there is only one pasting option, and I feel like I've tried everything. Will it work to just link the mask-layer to the original layer?

[@a1cianderson50]

Great step by step video!! But i have a question, every time I copy my mask it is a lot smaller? Would you have any guesses as to why??

[@Draculus]

Your media resolutions don't match.

[@patriciabarcelos9080]

Thanks dude, it said directx error, but i restarted and it worked good

[@LaianeKellyC]

I feel 10x more confident in soft soft, thanks!

[@theresadanielledevera6485]

using soft, can't wait to get my hands on it.

[@dylan__hahn]

So helpful bro. Easy and comprehensive. Keep em coming!

[@wordgpt]

(for who have a problem of smaller incomplete morph, just use the same sizes of the objects (source and destination

[@zolareviews]

Quick question, I am using PNGs but it's doing multiple masks and not sure what I'm doing to not just get one mask. Thanks

[@williamkuroki7683]

Duuude, you deserve so much more likes. Thanks for the video

[@mergevisible]

omg, is there no easier way to do this? what about creating a sequence from many png and play with the frame rate, sampling, frame blending and motion blur?

[@ilragazzointerdetto]

Wonderful tutorial, thanks!

[@rikax3462]

thank you it's really helped but what to to if the image has a lot of masks

[@raiozblack1523]

BROOO THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU'R THE BEST!!!!!! I LEARNED EVERYTNice tutorialNG I NEEDED TO KNOW THAN YOU VERY

[@aleksvuga]

Great tutorial and also very professional quality. Keep it up :)

[@fabucci1]

Amazing tutorial!! Thanks for share it with us! Now I'll see all your videos.

[@ScottFichter]

You flew through copying the mask to the bitmap layer. Very confusing. My AE makes two masks when layer > auto-trace is executed. I'm confused as to which one to copy. Also there are no path handles when the vector mask is created. How do you turn on the handles? AE is very very complex.

[@ScottFichter]

Ok for those wondering the reason why the handles don't show up is because you have to click the main mask layer to see them. Also, I have two paths because I'm not using images of an apple and bottle. I'm using shapes that have holes in them. Like a donut. These type of shapes require an inner trace hence the second layer. I'm going to copy them both we'll see what happens. Also listen carefully he also tells you to "kill the keyframe" for the mask layer. It's stated twice and very quickly. If you're like me and your wondering how to rename a layer it's a right click of the mouse. If you have a png with empty space in the middle of the graphic and two masks are created you'll notice that a parent layer is created. You will not be able to rename it. You will only be able to right click and rename the child layers. This aint Photoshop yo! Remember renaming the mask layers is important because you have to copy the masks the graphic is morphing into to the first shape. Whew.... I got it to work (sort of) I'm thinking this would be MUCH easier if you used vectors instead. That way the need to manipulate paths is greatly reduced.

[@HowToAnimateTutorial]

2:30 we can pre compose this image apple. Then we auto trace it. so we created mask from this comp. It's faster little

[@Rockstedy23]

Dear all new producers - don’t give up on that hope of making good soft

[@rubensteinhauer2442]

Great video! now... the GMS soft really distorted in my mac, I searched a couple of tutorials to change in nu Options content settings,

[@user-ch4uv2yj1i]

Why don't the images show up after I create the background layer? I locked and shyed it so I don't know why It's not showing up?

[@nuraqidah4606]

I am very glad that you save my money

[@scottgarriott3884]

Brilliant tutorial! I needed this, and have followed it precisely, however I run into a weird problem. my shorter png also needs to reshape into a taller png, however when it does so, it seems to be cropped on the top and bottom along the edges of the original png image file (in addition to not quite reaching the proper final shape). No amount of playing with "boundary mask" or anything else helps. The shape morphs, but is cut off. I'm very new to AE, so any tips would be greatly appreciated! Thx!!!

[@Yunhaisongtao]

SOS, I can’t add more correspondence point by alt click the border on Macbokpro, any help would be appreciated. When I hold down Alt, the cursor changes to a little video camera image instead.

[@munteanu_555]

this program works great! exactly as I wanted

[@TheHoff93]

I got the task to morph one animal illustration into another - got a total of about 50 illustrations. I just use 2 animals per composition, just like in your video. Everything worked fine for the first one, but then it seems that the effect on the destination layer only affects the left side of the animal (the head is morphing into the other head, but the back stays where it should be at the end). If I play the Preview in a lower resolution, everything seems to be like it should behave, but if i render the final video or just let it load a frame in the middle of the effect you can problem. Putting in more or less c.points, switching the elasticity or interpolation mode... nothing worked. Difficult to describe, but i couldn't find any help. More confusing is the fact, that some compositions work just fine and some won't.

[@khacnguyen8205]

Dude... u give hope

[@MefilioDeAggelo]

Hi. Great tutorial. In my case i have a split-in-two object that i need to reshape. Only problem, there is a mask created for each part of the object and can't morphed at the same time. I'd be happy to see a reply Thanks in advance!

[@HowToAnimateTutorial]

Thank you so much for this tutorial. It couldn’t of come at a better time

[@LeagueOfThor]

And when my objects have MANY MULTIPLES MASKS? Like a intire title and logo. - Actually, my first object has 12 masks, 4 subtractive, 8 in add and 5 in none just to guide me to the final shape. My final object has 5 masks, 1 in add and 4 in subtractive. I'm trying to use the reshape fx, but I have no idea how to develop this case hahaha

[@tran862005]

Raster (Photoshop) vs. Vector (Illustrator) ☺👌

[@aanyagupta8255]

My pngs have a lot of masks on them, not just one. How do I correspond that to the reshape effect? do I need to apply it the number of times that I have the mask??

[@oojiley3544]

In The setup my kick doesn’t soft the sa as your, mine is more of a clicking soft, yours has more of a boom soft, do you know how

[@ParEdits]

This tutorial is gold, thank you

[@isaacharris8501]

This helped a lot, thanks for making and keep up the good work :)

[@fabwalk8133]

for the scale problem, zoom into the mask and scale it up manually

[@mauri2139]

"Reshape" para los que tienen After Effects en español está como "Dar nueva forma"

[@edwinbohorquezflorez6949]

gracias amigo

[@agustinamarino4554]

Sabes como se llama el autotrace? No lo encuentro!

[@Sr_Velocipedo]

@@agustinamarino4554 trazado automático

[@nadivaldez]

muchas gracias! lo estaba buscando

[@josyfs7397]

ITS REALLY WORKED LOL THANK YOU DUDE

[@leonardodf777]

You told how to use tNice tutorials program like I was 6 and it was perfect

[@elementvisualsdotcom]

Dude, you saved me. Subscribed!

[@MTR702]

Most of the tuts on this channel spawned from hammering my dead on the table trying to figure out an effect. Glad it could help! - Mike from Mobox

[@aldinomarsel843]

do you have a tutorial showing how to loop drum, app guitar, etc. after let's say eight bars.

[@savagenew]

Nice job!! I get everything except both mask copies are rescaling to their original size when copied to the opposite layers, and I'm left with 2 different shaped masks per layer. Is there a setting I'm missing or a fix for this?

[@roughhands182]

same problem...

[@Deepshader]

Keep it up man, great videos, subscribed.

[@moboxgraphics]

+Biotones Biotones Awesome, thanks :D

[@kevinpitter5642]

Hello Mobox I've an issue that is when I copy Bottle Mask and Paste It on Apple Mask then size of bottle mask is going to show small like apple size. i63.tinypic.com/v8o4sg.jpg Could you please solve this issue?

[@eiolenimea]

for me this morhping works well except the first object gets limited by an invisible box around it

[@gregs3173]

exactly what I was looking for. Thanks dude. Love your tutorials.

[@CotCreate]

Quick, to the point and amazing!

[@PotatoSoup58]

The mask moves rather than morphs. Any idea what i'm doing wrong?

[@sammy9411]

I want to convert the letter A into a rectangle. All good, but I don't know what to do with the triangle that is inside. How do I make it go away?

[@ToasterFilms404]

I can't get it to work. the corresponding point thing doesn't work well and isn't explained how to move them. It just selects the other masks most of the time, randomly it will make a random corresponding point. Image size restricts the transformation, the shapes don't even seem to be morphing into the right shapes. I give up. Really frustrating.

[@legend8930]

if there is a hole in the picture how do i reshape

[@aabg9019]

hey I like the tutorial, I'm using after effects 2018 and I don't know if something changes when I copy the mask to the other object the size change and the effect is not the same I don't know how to fix it :(

[@samsote]

most likely you have adjusted the scale of your original image before creating the mask. The mask dosent know that the scale has been adjusted so when copied over it will retain the size of the original image. to fix this pre composite the image before creating the mask/using auto trace and make sure you click move attributes into a new composition. this way the mask will be created with the new size in mind. It works the other way arround too, if you have scaled something up before creating the mask, just pre comp it and create the mask again.

[@VCY_Vendread-Combo-YGO]

@@samsote Thank you sooooo much for the tip. I had this exact issue and your tip has worked like a charm.

[@samsote]

@@VCY_Vendread-Combo-YGO you're welcome :)

[@summitspd]

I'm working with a multiple shape png. Can I still morph that png into another (single) shape png?

[@Caspadri]

Great video, the program works great

[@emmachong1056]

help! my png drawing that I drew on procreate has 88 masks?!?! how do I get it down to one mask?

[@madeleinenigro8119]

SAVED MY LIFEEEEE THANK YOU

[@papasgratis5328]

thank you very very very much, you help me a lot

[@willshelton8550]

Thank you! this video has helped me so much! :)

[@Adpavi7]

I do the same but i have problems rendering the project. I see the two shapes at the same time during all the video. I don't understand why this happen because the transformation process is ok in the editing process. Sorry about my english.

[@zarkali4262]

Hello ! I have a question : why create a solid layer ? Why don't you just do this with no background ? It's a true question I'm a beginner

[@oreowithurea5018]

Solids because you may like a background for where your stuff happens. You can keep it transparent too if you want to include it as a overlay on your videos. But if it just a single video of itself, make a solid first to add a colored background

[@ronnyjimenez3947]

thank you so much , it worked :)

[@stevebollschweiler9146]

Am I right in thinking it isn't possible to just copy and paste the correspondent points?

[@jhoanesteban2578]

Omg thanks very much ! ✨

[@SohaibAmjad51]

I've learned something today. Thanks

[@dariofurlan3231]

Good job, dude

[@Clyman974]

Damn it took me an hour to get it right, mostly because some things weren't the same in my version and Wow there were other things to do but hey it worked

[@KP9393]

This tutorial only works when your png file creates ONE mask. My png files created a dozen.

[@garylparas]

can you make a tutorial on how to morph a subject with different background like building to another structure building. Thanks

[@ahmadtrtu6443]

what if theres more than one mask in the source mask

[@EricHealeyPhoto]

You need to use multiple reshape effects.

[@yannickuhl9723]

Just delete the unwanted masks

[@nimnenag]

thank you straight to the point

[@ukefish93]

great tutorial. but scrolling through your comments there are a lot of questions I share with others that have not been answered. 1. when I copy my mask onto the other layer, it gets resized much smaller. why is this, and how do I fix it? 2. do my files have to have the same overall size? because as 1 of my layers begins to morph to the other, it stops at the boudries of the original layer.

[@muchoCakes1]

I've also run into this issue. I can't for the life of me figure out how to prevent the copied layer from resizing.

[@MrMythorst]

You need to size it before import is the best way. just rezise it in Photoshop or something and the size in After effects is both 100 % before morphing

[@real100talk5]

Or just uncheck "apply to new layer" .

[@matuballon]

same :(

[@SquareIsNotCool]

highlight the mask and press cmd/ctrl + t

[@scalpingshooter294]

keep the good work

[@vick4692]

how did it with right? I made the same settings and values with alpha channel but I had view masks for one png. how fix it?

[@introvertkz]

is it normal if ae lahs when I trace an image that has lots of points(vertices may be)? I can t anything normally (((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

[@FuzzyPuppet]

Thank you so much for this video!! I used what you taught me to make a troll transform into a baby troll lol! look for it in my latest video :)

[@clownsentertainment]

Nice and simple....Explained well, thankyou

[@iTzHydraHD]

you deserve more subs buddy. :D

[@JH9MUFC]

Does anyone else have the same problem as me? Whenever I try to set the destination source to the bottle, it will only show the apple mask and when I click on the bottle png, it will only show me the Bottle mask. Meaning I can't set a destination for either images to the other.. I'm stuck at the reshape part because of it.. Am I missing something?

[@tamvuong8577]

very very gooood, thaaankss maan✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

[@ShehabPlayground]

useful tutorial.. I will try it

[@balalodhiwal6488]

Himansh aap kaha se ho bhai ma bhi lodhiwal hu lataki lodhiwal sar name kam hi milte h

[@niharikatadikonda6383]

When i click on auto trace for a png image , im getting more than one mask , i have no idea what to do now

[@NightshadeGoddess]

same, i get like 38 masks

[@clairecresswelllane]

The masks will be colour coded, so delete the ones you don't need and just keep the main mask.

[@departamentopedagogico425]

thank u helped me a lot

[@fahdmedhat5042]

wow. thank you for the amazing video