SDG 6.6 PROTECT AND RESTORE WATER-RELATED ECOSYSTEM - 4EverFram
GROUP ASSIGNMENT 1 (15%) – DESIGN BLOG
Objective
The objective of this project is to raise awareness about the importance of clean water and sanitation, encourage individuals to conserve water and keep it clean in their daily lives, and inspire meaningful actions to protect water resources for future generations.
Description
Clean Water and Sanitation aims to ensure everyone has access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation. It focuses on improving water quality, reducing pollution, using water sustainably, and protecting water ecosystems to support health, well-being, and the environment.
Inspiration
The inspiration for this project comes from daily water usage on the UUM campus, highlighting the importance of conserving water and maintaining cleanliness to ensure a sustainable and healthy learning environment.
Moodboard
Storyboard
Animate and Composite Scenes:
After finishing drawing the storyboard and consulting with the lecturer, we moved on to creating motion graphics using Adobe After Effects. We moved on to creating abstract shape motion animation.
Step 1: Create the water drop
First, create a circle shape and move its anchor point to the center, then position it at the point where the water drop will land, and finally place its starting position on the screen so that it appears to be falling from above.
Step 2: Hide the starting point
Create a rectangle shape and place it at the top of the screen, and above the circle so that the starting point of the water drop is hidden from view.
Step 3: Create an after-image effect
Duplicate the circle layer using Ctrl + D, then resize the duplicated circle to be slightly smaller and animate it at a slower speed to create a subtle trail or after-image effect behind the falling drop.
Step 4: Smooth the motion
Select all the keyframes and apply Easy Ease by pressing F9, then open the Graph Editor and adjust the speed graph to make the movement feel more natural and smooth.
Step 5: Add water softness
Apply the Gaussian Blur and Simple Choker effects to the circle and adjust their values to soften the edges, giving the drop a smoother and more realistic water-like appearance.
Step 6: Pre-compose the layers
Select all the related layers, right-click, and choose Pre-compose to merge them all into one complete composition.
Step 7: Create disappearing effect
When the drops reach the surface of the water, use the Pen Tool to draw a shape above them, which will act as the area where the drops will disappear.
Step 8: Apply a mask
Place a mask on the composed layer and set the mask mode to Alpha Inverted Mask so that the water drops will disappear smoothly as they merge into the water.
Step 9: Create the ripple waves
Create an ellipse shape and place it at the exact point where the water droplet lands, as this will be the center of the ripple effect.
Step 10: Animate the size of the ripples
Animate the size of the ellipse by starting with a small ripple and gradually building to a larger ripple over time to simulate ripples spreading outward.
Step 11: Add more ripples
Use a Repeater on the ellipse, increase the number of copies, and adjust the position and scale settings to form multiple ripple waves.
Step 12: Add floating motion
Animate the position of the ellipse up and down slightly to give the ripples a soft, floating or wave-like movement.
Step 13: Smooth the ripple motion
Select the position keyframe, use Easy Ease by pressing F9, and fine-tune the motion in the Graph Editor to make the ripple movement smooth and natural.
Step 14: Create water splash
Use the Pen Tool to draw a curved splash shape at the midpoint of the water wave
Step 15: Animate the flow of the splash
Add a Trim Path to the splash shape and animate the splash so that the splash appears to flow naturally outward from the point of impact.
Step 16: Multiply the splash
Use a Repeater on the splash, increase the number of copies and adjust the position to spread the splash evenly.
Step 17: Balance the splash
Duplicate the splash using Ctrl + D, flip it horizontally and adjust its position so that both sides look balanced and realistic.
Step 18: Create the Mountain shape
Use the Polygon Tool to create a triangle by setting the points to 3. Then adjust the size to form the shape of the mountain.
Step 19: Set the starting position
The triangle is placed at the bottom of the screen, then moves its starting position slightly below the screen so that it can be animated into view.
Step 20: Animate the mountain up
Select the triangle layer then press P to open the position, add a keyframe and move the mountain from the bottom to the final position.
Step 21: Start the mountain movement
Select the position keyframe. Press F9 to use Easy Ease and open the Graph Editor and adjust the speed graph for smooth and natural movement.
Step 22: Create more mountains (optional)
Press Ctrl + D to duplicate the triangle then resize and position to create depth with multiple mountain layers.
Step 23: Draw the river
Use the Pen Tool to draw the river flow, focusing on the smooth and curved path.
Step 24: Animate the river flow
Add a cut path to the river shape and animate the Start and End water flow to create the effect of a flowing river.
Step 25: Create a wave transition
Use the Pen Tool to draw a wave shape and place it on the screen, as this shape will act as a visual transition between scenes.
Step 26: Animate the movement of the wave
Animate the position of the wave so that it moves smoothly from one side of the screen to the other, creating a clean and seamless transition.
Step 27: Add meaning to the transition
The wave animation represents continuous flow and movement, symbolizing a flowing river and adding subtle meaning to the transition.
Step 28: Create the campus elements
Use the rectangle tool to create a rectangle to represent the campus
Step 29: Animate the campus shape
Animate the position of the rectangle by moving the three rectangles from the right to the screen. This creates a layered campus scene that looks more interesting and immersive.
Step 30: Draw a flowing curve
Use the Pen Tool to draw a few curved lines and these curves represent the flow of water flowing from the rainwater down the hill and into the campus area.
Step 31: Animate the flow
Add a Trim Path to the curve and animate the End value to create a flowing motion.
Step 32: Create the main circle
Use the ellipse tool to create a small circle (Press Shift and left click to get a perfect circle shape) that represents the main point of the flow and is in front of the curve
Step 33: Keep the circle in front
Use Path to Position to attach the circle to the curve path so that the circle moves parallel and is in front of the flow.
Step 34: Strengthen the flow
Press Ctrl + D to duplicate the curve twice, to make the overall flow look stronger and more dynamic.
Step 35: Merge with the campus
When the circle reaches the rectangle (campus), the circle merges with the campus, symbolizing the water flowing into the campus area.
Step 36: Move the buildings across the screen
Move the building across the screen by animating the Position, so that the building moves smoothly from the right to the left side of the screen.
Step 37: Repeat the water flow animation
Repeat the water flow animation that was created previously using the Pen tool and the Trim Paths function.
Step 38: Stream animation from the building
Animate the water flow coming out of the building to show the water coming from the campus area.
Step 39
Create a square shape and add Wave Warp to create a wave effect.
Step 40
Duplicate the square if needed to make the wave look fuller and more dynamic.
Step 41
Create several squares and circles to represent trash and place them behind the wave.
Step 42
Animate the Position of the trash shapes so they move from bottom to top.
Step 43
Add a Wiggle expression to the Position to create a floating up-and-down motion.
Step 44
Change the river color to brown to represent polluted water.
Step 45
Applying the Wiggle – Gelatin preset is added to create a chemical-like and unnatural movement, making the pollution feel more realistic.
Step 46
Use geometric shapes to create the shape of a water tap.
Step 47
Use the Pen Tool to draw a water shape and apply Wave Warp to create the effect of water flowing from the tap.
Step 48: Change the color to show pollution
Change the color of the lines and circles to brown to represent the polluted water.
Step 49: Reapply the transition
Reapply the previous wave transition and change the color to brown.
Step 50: Bring back the mountains
The mountains reappear in the scene and the polluted water flows through the area.
Step 51: Animate the opacity on the mountains
The mountains are animated to fade in and out of opacity slowly to show the extinction of the ecosystem caused by water pollution with a flickering effect and then slowly disappearing.
Step 52
Create a circle shape in the center of the composition.
Step 53
Animate the Scale from small to large to make the circle appear.
Step 54
Use other geometric shapes around the circle to represent trash.
Step 55
Animate the Position of the trash shapes so they move into the circle.
Step 56
Return to the water tap scene, but this time animate the Opacity of the water flow to make it disappear.
Step 57: Create a transition
Use the Rectangle Tool to create a black rectangle and animate its Position from the right into the screen. This rectangle will be used as a transition.
Step 58: Create a filter line
Use the Rectangle Tool to draw several thin rectangles that represent the filter lines.
Step 59: Animate the filter movement
Group the rectangles together and animate their Position to move from the bottom up, creating the effect of a filter movement.
Step 60: Create a water drop
A circular shape is created using the ellipse tool (Press P + left click) at the top of the screen and then a Gaussian Blur and a Simple Choker are added to create a soft water/liquid drop effect.
Step 61: Create a gradient mask
Create a rectangle using the Rectangle Tool, then use a Gradient Fill with brown on top and blue on the bottom.
Step 62: Apply a mask
Use the gradient rectangle as a mask for the circle. By setting the circle to Alpha Inverted Matte, the circle will only be visible in the area that is not covered by the mask. This means that the circle will take on the color and pattern of the gradient rectangle, so when the gradient changes from brown to blue, the circle will also change color smoothly.
Step 63: Show the filtering effect
Animate the circle to move along the filter line, showing the water droplets undergoing the filtering process.
Step 64: Reuse the transition
Reuse the previous transition animation and change its color to blue to illustrate that the polluted water has been restored.
Step 65: Duplicate the nature layer
Press Ctrl + D to duplicate the mountain, river, and grass layers from step 4.
Step 66: Show the nature restoration
Show the duplicated layer in the scene to depict nature returning to life.
Typography Motion
Step 1: Create a shape layer in the new composition.
Step 3: Adjust the stroke.
Change the stroke to a Round Cap. Then, create text that moves along the path by applying a text-on-path animation and defining a path for the text flow. Finally, adjust the margin to ensure proper spacing and alignment.
Sound Effect (SFX)
After that, we continued to look for sound effects (SFX), background music and spoken words that would fit throughout the animation and convey the message more deeply to the audience. We used the Pixabay or Mixkit website to find sound effects such as the sound of water droplets and flowing water.
Step 1:
Compare the motion graphic created with the storyboard and plan what facts or information to insert in the motion graphic.
Step 2:
Looking for suitable sound effects that align with the visual from the internet (mixkit/pixabay).
Step 3:
Import all sound effect and drag drop it to specific timeline.
Reflection
Through this project, I gained a lot of knowledge and skills that I had never learned before. For example, I knew the right way to use ChatGPT to ask for ideas with the right prompts so that the answers provided by ChatGPT met what I needed for this project. In addition, I developed technical and creative skills by applying various animation principles such as motion control, the use of masks, trim paths, easing, and visual transitions. Each step required careful planning and problem-solving skills to ensure that the animation movement looked smooth and meaningful. The use of abstract shapes such as circles as raindrops, rectangles as campuses and filters, and triangles as mountains helped convey the concepts of water flow, pollution, filtration, and environmental restoration more clearly.
This process improved my ability to translate abstract ideas into structured visual storytelling, strengthened my mastery of motion graphics tools, and increased my sensitivity to detail. Overall, this project reflected development in creativity, technical proficiency, critical thinking, and visual communication, which are essential graduate skills in multimedia and design.
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