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Unboxing Vox Using Adobe apps to recreate a cool Vox editing moment.

I'm going to rebuild the animated graph from 12:16-12:20. This graph has many moving parts, so it presents the data in a more exciting way than a static graph would.

I will use Photoshop to create the graph and all other elements surrounding the graph.
Next, I will use After Effects to animate the graph and incorporate all the moving parts!

Let's get started!

First, using Photoshop, we'll want to create the background of the graph.

1. Open up Photoshop and create a background layer. In this case, the background is black. Layers can be found on the left side of the screen. The + surrounded by a square creates a new layer. Select a background color (pink arrow above), select the paint bucket tool (orange arrow), and click the layer you want to fill.

2. Create a new layer and shape the graph itself (purple rectangle here) by using the rectangle tool (yellow arrow). Tip: If you want a square, hold shift while drawing the rectangle (if using the ellipse tool, this will also create a perfect circle).

3. If you want the rectangle centered, select both layers by holding shift while clicking them both in the layer panel. Then, go to Layer (on the very top bar, between Image and Type), Align, and select how you want to align it. In this case, we chose vertical and horizontal centers.

Now we'll be creating the gridlines of the graph.

3. Now you will create two more layers. Use the line tool (green arrow) to create two lines (each on their own layer) as shown above on top of your graph background. You can find the line tool by right clicking the rectangle tool or by searching in the search bar on the upper right corner of the screen. When using the line tool, the top row of the screen will have options where you can play with thickness, color, etc.

4. Next, select the rectangular marquee tool (red arrow). Make a selection, like above, to determine how large you want each square in the grid to be. Hold shift while selecting to get a perfect square. If you want tiny grid squares, zoom in to make a more precise selection.

5. Without deselecting your square, click patterns (underlined in orange) on the right side of the screen. Create a new pattern (blue arrow), name it if you like, and click ok.

Now we fill in the graph!

6. Select the rectangle and then the paint bucket tool. Where the yellow arrow points, choose pattern (will likely say Foreground first). Then select your pattern (orange arrow), and click on the rectangle to fill it with your pattern. The example above shows a larger version of what our final graph will look like. You can also play with the opacity of the gridlines on that top workspace row.

Now we can create some other elements of the graph.

7. We can make dotted lines on the top, center, and bottom of the graph using the line tool again. As shown above, press stroke to choose what kind of lines you want. Play with the color, weight, etc to get the look you want. You can copy and paste using command/ctrl c and v.

8. Create text that won't be moving (like the numbers above) using the horizontal text box tool (yellow arrow). The top panel will have options to play with font, color, etc.

9. Draw the line of the graph using the pen tool (red arrow). Again, top panel will have options to create the look you like.

10. Use the rectangle tool to create the start of the bar in the graph. (This can also be done in Illustrator.)

Now, we're going to transition to After Effects to create the motion of the graph.

11. Save your Photoshop work and open it up on After Effects.

12. You can use the rectangle (yellow arrow) and ellipse (right click rectangle) tools to create any shapes you did not make in Photoshop. Here, I made the pink circle in the left corner. I also used the horizontal text tool (pink arrow) to create "Vocal Register." Use the dock on the right to change font, color, etc.

Let's make this blue bar rise from the bottom of the graph.

13. Extend your rectangle to fill the graph as shown above.

We can use masks to make the bar appear to rise.

14. Making sure the rectangle layer is selected, click the rectangle tool again, then click "Tool Creates Mask" (yellow arrow). Draw a tiny rectangle that starts at the bottom of the graph. Press enter.

15. Click the downward arrow for your rectangle (orange circle), then click the downward arrow for "Masks" until you find Mask Path (red underline). Click the stopwatch so it turns blue. (Extra tip: under transform you can play with the opacity of the rectangle.)

16. Now move the blue current time indicator (white circle) to the point where you want the bar to reach it's final point. Here, that is at 1 second.

17. Drag the mask so that the whole rectangle shows. Press enter.

18. Now when you press play (space), the bar should rise.

The above video explains those steps well if you need more help.

Now let's make the circle move.

19. Expand "Transform" with your circle object selected.

20. Using the same method as before, use the blue current time indicator to change where the circle is positioned, the opacity, and the scale (how large or small it becomes). Play with these options until you get the effect you desire.

21. Make the circle wiggle when it reaches it's final position with Option + Click on the Scale stopwatch (make sure your blue current time indicator is at the final position). Type in wiggle(5,10) to make it appear to be wiggling (feel free to play around with these numbers).

The above video is a helpful tutorial on the wiggle effect.

The final task is making the "1980-1989" appear when the circle reaches the rectangle.

22. Now, make a text box with a label (1980-1989) that you want to appear.

23. With the text box selected, expand transform to play with the position and opacity so that it appears to rise out of the graph. Use the same methods as before with the blue current time indicator. So when the indicator is at time 0, opacity will be 0%, and the position will be on the top of the blue bar. When the indicator is at time 1 (second), opacity will be 100% and the position will be just inside the circle.

And we're done!!!🎉🎉🎉

Here's my final product!

Created By
Julie Tassinari
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