The Puppet Pin Tool | After Effects Tutorial

[@chouvaille]

your 11-min video is much clearer and more understandable than my teacher's 2-hour lesson :)) Don't know why I go to school

[@TipTut]

Happy to help!

[@brooklynpresnell]

With my animation class being online and asynchronous I have been left to figure things out on my own basically and an issue I worked 40 minutes on was fixed after watching not even a full minute of your video so thank you from a very stressed student!!!

[@TipTut]

Happy to help! Keep your chin up :)

[@remaasali2515]

same lol and how am here again deadline soon 😭😭😭😭

[@masterkenobi3666]

heres some simple help for mid users of AE. puppet tool collapse usages: 5:14 - starch tool 6:53 - bend pin tool 7:27 - puppet pin advance tool 8:00 - puppet pin overlap tool

[@annettedoodles]

Thank you so much!!! This is soo helpful. and I love it when you say "excuse me" when you grab the wrong thing it makes me laugh!

[@TipTut]

You are so welcome!

[@jjutt87]

I love a teacher with good manners

[@64br13l2008]

Honestly when I see pros messing up like that, makes me feel like "ok, so it happens even to the best" and a lot of the pressure comes off of my shoulders

[@Chimmy445]

Your video is still going strong 3 years later! This is saving my life for a walk cycle I have to do! Thanks!

[@thomasweber5354]

Great tutorial! Starting at 10:33 you have copy and pasted multiple pre-compositions to loop it. If you are not aware of it, look into using the "loop out" expression with time-remapping on one layer. It lets you indefinitely loop a pre-composition or any other key frames without having to copy and paste them! saves a tone of time and cleans up the composition.

[@conactionsirjohn1197]

An incredibly charming and incredibly useful tutorial! I loved that you went over options that weren't used in this example as well, just a fantastic job all around.

[@ChristopherSmith-nw1mk]

You'd make a great teacher. Very clear and thorough, Thankyou!

[@TipTut]

Thank you so much!

[@lyrasiren7940]

Super clear and straight-forward with easy to understand examples. Thank you so much for your tutorial!

[@Emerald_The_Thing]

Oh my god your actually a life saver!! I couldn’t figure out how to make it so smooth!! This helped me so much!! Thank you!!!

[@TipTut]

Happy to help!

[@Dosujin]

So helpful, hope I'll have your level some day ! Keep going !

[@RelaxandChillChannel]

great tutorial

[@creative-media]

Thanks so much! So THAT's how people do those animations that I've always thought were beyond my skill level! :-)

[@MorisSoorati]

this dude is a legendary !! thanks man !! i learned a lot from you !!

[@MaxwellCPAreview]

Great explanation of each type of pin!

[@TipTut]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ayam8641]

Awesome tutorial with a cute little guy. pa pa pa pa puppet position tool. Gave me a good chuckle.

[@TipTut]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@ekaterina_sherstobitova]

First thing in my mind: WAIT, I don't need DUIK to start playing around with puppet tool?! :D Thank you so much for the tutorial!

[@memicha9885]

Best pppppp puppet tutorial ever!

[@simonpage3899]

Brilliant. Thank you so much. Just what I needed. Owe you a pint or two 🙂

[@pedrochaves7449]

Simple and easy. All that I needed. Thank you!

[@TipTut]

You're welcome!

[@HappyHaraTV]

thank you for you tutorial! It was really straightforward and easy to follow :D

[@beemimoo3746]

THANKS TUT! Your videos are always super helpful, I feel like I'm becoming and animate pro already!

[@shadmehr8341]

me too😂😄

[@tinaghani8068]

Thank you so much for your amazing tutorials. 🤩 This is so helpful and the way you explain it makes it so easy to learn. 😃

[@TipTut]

You are so welcome!

[@equinoxx66]

Very comprehensive video thank you so much!!!!

[@leejamesmcknight]

Clear & concise, love it.

[@tanookitime7604]

Thanks, this was helpful! So many Linda videos are dry as can be so this was great

[@impagain]

this was an extraordinarily helpful crash course/memory jog! Thanks so much!

[@TipTut]

Happy to help!

[@user-zo8lx8pz5r]

A thank you isn’t enough but it’s all i have, thank you so much

[@TipTut]

It's plenty!

[@glyphvisual]

Fantastic tutorial! Quick question - you mention at 9:51 that if you were animating the octopus for real, you'd put each limb on a separate layer. Would you do this by separating the limbs into individual layers in Illustrator first, and then importing the .ai file into After Effects as a composition? Or would you go about it another way?

[@TipTut]

Exactly that!

[@laralilly]

This is so helpful for a project I'm working on! Thank you so much!!!

[@GeorgFKa]

Great overview over this tool. Thank you.

[@TipTut]

Glad it was helpful!

[@rizwanzaman1793]

Thank you very much! I was struggling with animating some objects, this helped me a lot

[@KRGB]

Technically that’s a septapus. Octo = 8. But more than that it’s a damned fine tutorial and an excellent introduction to the updated puppet pin functionality. Thank you, and keep up the great work. You always do a stellar job!

[@exodusmediasg]

Great tutorial very well explained . Thank you

[@TipTut]

Happy to help!

[@wouter8596]

You sound so much like the guy from that meditation app. Great voice :)

[@TipTut]

I get this all the time haha.

[@himarsssssss]

sooo helpful! you make a great teacher! thank you!

[@wiktoriatluvi]

Exactly what I was looking for, thank you very much!!!

[@TipTut]

Happy to help!

[@worthlessprofessor6477]

Thanks! Very easy to follow. I used it on my most recent video. I'm still figuring out after effects, so this was really helpful.

[@andreppg]

Efficient tutorial, helps me a lot and I will put on my personal playlist. Tnks mate!

[@TipTut]

Happy to help!

[@timhook9082]

Thanks for showing me how to use the starch pin :)

[@TipTut]

No problem 😊

[@carlabellot7124]

So, SO helpful! Thank you for this!

[@sufianmaroni378]

ARgh finally found it. Thank you so much for this :) As an animator, its easy to do, but to find goo dresources is hard. T_T

[@fillette0318]

how do you edit the keys in the graph editor to make the movement more smooth like in the first animation?? it doesnt let me

[@ddyulien]

Thanks!! this is very helpful, and btw ure so polite lol!!!! keep it up man:3

[@MrJokers223]

When u move the pin ,what do u click to reset it to the normal position it was in

[@Q2Japan]

Very easy to follow. Thanks!

[@TipTut]

Glad it was helpful!

[@matazzer]

can you change the strength at which it deforms and how much it affects other areas? like if i'd like to shrink the area of where it affects

[@numbretrese7751]

Hi, how do you parent pins to other pins/object and parented pins are still movable?

[@jackalopeb9598]

I have an animal I need to animate that was made in PSD. There are numerous layers inside. For some reason the pin tools don't move with the animal onscreen. I want to move positions. What should I do?

[@DeadRain]

Hey great tutorial! Is there any way to make the paths of the puppet anchor points curved?

[@Dereckg1]

Is there a way to move the entire puppet and make the other parts follow it?

[@mgr5550]

I have a small question. If i want to only animate simple things like text boxes, warp a box to a particular shape, animate self drawing borders, make a flower grow out kinda, like we see in motion graphics explainer videos. But i dont need in depth stuff like character creation & animation. Just the ability to bend photos to match a curve etc and those kind of things for corporate videos and such. Is it better to use AE or ANIMATE CC for my needs ?

[@jrumsey1001]

Great intro tut! Thank you. More on this please!

[@TipTut]

I'll add it to the list!

[@saharz148]

My puppet dosnt work 😭 it dosnt let me to add pin. Some times it works and sometimes not. Both layers are for one composition but one of them hasn't [Mesh]. What should i do?😭

[@nicqueen125]

Thank you for the tutorial can u move the position of the object using the position tool and still use the puppet tool? Mine doesn't seem to be working when I do that

[@TipTut]

Use a null object and parent the object to it then move the null

[@nicqueen125]

@@TipTut thank you for the quick reply :) I have tried what you said it's managed to pair but it's still not working together do u have anymore tips or do you know the reason why?

[@TipTut]

@@nicqueen125 should work but you could just precompose the object and apply the position key frames to the parent

[@shadmehr8341]

It was helpful to me . Thank you for making this❤👌

[@TipTut]

You're welcome 😊

[@flowerflow9186]

Hi TipTut, thanks for the tuto it will help me a lot for my projects. But recently I have a problem when I try to use "The puppet corner positioning tool" they display "After effect (warning) unspecified drawing error" can you help me for this problem?

[@nerdist_jpg264]

this was such a life saver- thank you!

[@TipTut]

Anytime!

[@jackmarge]

Great video man!

[@TipTut]

Thankyou!

[@amarissimus29]

You missed one of the most powerful features of using this tool with a multiple-layer character. If one of the layers is made a parent of the others, you can create pins on the parent which will control transformations of the others. After parenting, move the anchor point of a child layer to match the pin on the parent, enable position keyframes and use the pickwhip to tie the position to that particular puppet pin. Or you can just write out the expression. If layers are joined this way you never have to worry about the gaps between layers during big position jumps. This technique saves a huge amount of time on even relatively simple rigs.

[@TipTut]

I didn't know this, thats a great tip!

[@angelo_knf]

Really helpful. Thanks! 😊

[@TipTut]

Glad it was helpful!

[@HeavyMentalArt]

Thanks heaps, nice, simple and easy tutorial!

[@erickreyes2251]

So great!

[@Nyaiv]

I can't move the keyframes that are in the timeline, can anyone help me?

[@siyahlider9769]

same problem

[@BaronesLoveyDeLuxe]

Great video!

[@tinaghani8068]

I only struggle with one thing: every time I use puppet pin tool to animate something (sometimes it's an AI file and sometimes just a shape layer in AE) there are weird lines. As if its shape has been cut ... and the problem is not low quality. Can you please help me with this?

[@heenadhabhai5510]

wonderful lesson, now I can animate characters better. Thank you.

[@fhaerlarsen]

Hello. Love your work. Is it possible to get the ai files?

[@adamsaher446]

Just BRILLIANT

[@TipTut]

Thankyou!

[@Ali-sj7kx]

I've Learned it, Thank you so Much!1!!!!1!!!!!!!!

[@TipTut]

Great!

[@MerryTech]

A lot more proprieties per puppet pin tool" Love it :-) Thanks!!

[@TipTut]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@baileyjung648]

This was great, thank you!

[@TipTut]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@LoFi-zx2sx]

When im trying to move the pins its not doing anything to the image :( did i forget to turn something on?

[@Spectamin]

Thanks for the tutorial

[@TipTut]

No problem!

[@RommySandhuDirChoreo]

Great tutorial, thanks!

[@TipTut]

Glad it was helpful!

[@adrianfels2985]

I sometimes get weird artefacts. Just lines with 1 pixel which are ruining my comp :/ Do you know why?

[@margarcia-mochalescerezo349]

Hi Tip tut, thanks for the tutorial. Im having trouble with a plant that i done in photoshop. I placed the puppet pins over a precomp which is in another precomp and I changed the scale and position of the bigger precomp and before it was breaking and now it just disappears although when i click into the precomp is still there. I tried tweaking the mesh size and precoping and deprecomping and it still wont work :/

[@Umaginationstudio]

How to add an expression to all the puppet pins together?

[@onkardomkawle3469]

hey man, can you do a video about rigging and lip syncing for animations? there are plenty of videos out there for the topics i mentioned but i believe you'd do a better job.

[@lpcproduction1842]

Perfect tutorial

[@TipTut]

Thanks!

[@samuellouis4940]

THANK YOU OH DEAR THIS IS SO HELPFUL!!!

[@TipTut]

Glad it helped!

[@monicav941]

Thanks a lot! Very useful 👌🤗

[@TipTut]

Happy to help!

[@ethanbeers7497]

why wont it let me grab the key frames in the bottom menu? it just grays them out and doesnt turn them blue. its ruining everything for me

[@angellazov5723]

what if i want to create a second mesh?

[@Manoj3d]

So clear, Thank you...

[@Lucalaurin]

Hey great video! I have a question. When I move an object by using Transform->position I noticed the puppet pins don't move with the object (this creates weird disappearing and reappearing effects. If I want to move an object which has puppet pins do I always have to move it by moving all the puppet pins together?

[@TipTut]

Hi, you can precompose it and move the composition.

[@CherryCandy008]

When I will use the Puppet PIN ( in AE 2019)or pin tool, it speaks q gave a drawing error nn specified...what can I do? I have tried to move and activate the GPU but it seems that this option is forbidden, anyone help me?

[@Johanfrancis007]

Thanks mate🥰

[@glitchpidge]

is the bend tool only available from 19 onwards? cos I have 2018 and I only have pin starch and overlap

[@TipTut]

I think it is new, yes.

[@glitchpidge]

@@TipTut I see 😭 thank you!!

[@kentan9928]

This is amazing ! thank you! :D

[@TipTut]

Glad you like it!

[@SpeedMotionDesign]

Very helpful tutorial thank you :)

[@Cinedragon]

Really great tutorial! Thanks!

[@TipTut]

No worries!

[@SporeAltair]

Why is everything going smoothly? But with me he moves not only when he wants to; very slowly, as if I had a computer before 2000?

[@TipTut]

You're footage is probably pre-rendering. Wait for the green bar above your timeline, it'll play at full speed then.

[@wissamsalman6415]

This applies perfectly to imported Illustrator objects, but I also noticed that it does not apply to the shapes I create inside AE. Am I right or did I miss something?

[@aikaampakistani5713]

amazing tool without paid plugin

[@iamthefilter]

Do you know that meme of parks and rec surprised andy? That's me right now!! Thank you!

[@Missemscie]

Great tutorial!

[@TipTut]

Thanks!

[@SanneStars]

It was super helpful, only you lost me a bit at the end when the actual "animating" started, how did you get it in a loop? whenever I do this, it only moves for one time and I want it to be in a loop, like the octopus! But the video is great, your explaining is very clear!

[@zeddotexe]

Basically he made two copies of the key frames, one at the start of all the pins when they were normal, another in the middle where he distorted them, and one at the end which was the normal undistorted version. So AE started animating it moving from start to middle, and from middle to end it was going back to normal.

[@riodoodles8133]

Question~ Sometimes when I've used the puppet tool, it will just stop working and I don't know why. My keyframes will still be on the timeline but my puppet points won't highlight/disappear?? Do you know why? I can't seem to find an answer, so I end up having to start from scratch again

[@chelseaevans7440]

If you change or update your graphics in Illustrator, it will mess with the animation. The puppet tool also doesn't like rasterizing to be turned on, so rather keep your source graphics large and scale down in AE to keep them sharp. A pretty good rule with the puppet tool is to use it last in any animation. If you need to change properties of the graphics after you've animated, the chances of it messing with your animation are quite high.

[@spiggly1968]

When I precompose the loop, my puppet pin animations are lost. Copies of the precomposed loop don't move. Any idea why this might happen?

[@TipTut]

Check the continuously rasterise box!

[@spiggly1968]

@@TipTut subscribed! Lol. Thanks.