How To Make Shaking Animation In After Effects

This simple expression can add jagged motion to whatever layer in your After Effects file to create a trendy shaking outcome.

With the ascent popularity of glitch effects in video editing, it's a useful skill to know how to make a layer shake in Afterward Effects. Yous tin can use information technology to add some subtle motion to an otherwise static frame, draw emphasis to an important object, or even make a grapheme quiver in fear!

This tutorial will innovate you to the nuts of the wiggle expression that will touch on a layer for the elapsing of the limerick. (To learn more about making the wiggle start and stop, you can swoop deeper into the particulars here.)

Prepare to start? Open up your file and let's get shaking.

In your after effects file, select the layer that you want to shake.
For this example, I accept an image of pancakes and then some stars. I want to apply a wiggling or shaking effect to both of these layers, so I volition repeat these steps for both objects.
Pressing the alt/choice key, click the stopwatch beside "position."
When you see the position text plough red and begin typing in the timeline, you are creating what is called an "expression" in After Effects. Using a coding language adjusted from javascript, y'all tin can use all sorts of customizable commands to apply complex motion to layers. Discover the other things you can do with expressions here.

You tin edit your expression at whatsoever time past hit alt/option on the stopwatch once more—or by pressing the downwards pointer abreast "position" and so double-clicking the text in the timeline.
Blazon "Wiggle (3,eight)" and suit the settings equally necessary.
The first number in this expression represents the frequency of the wiggle—substantially, how fast it appears to milkshake. The second number represents the aamplitude of the jerk, which is how far it moves. You lot can adjust these numbers withal you would like. Wiggle (2,40) will brand a layer shake dramatically, but slow. Wiggle (10,3) will brand a layer dart effectually apace without moving likewise much in any ane direction.
Optional: Adapt the frame charge per unit of your composition.
If you want more of a jerky jerk instead of something polish, you lot can reduce the frame rate of the video to make the overall result more "choppy." Go to Limerick > Limerick settings and lower the frame rate. 24.5 is standard in Subsequently Furnishings. Something like "12" will give you lot a choppier feel, simply you tin go as low every bit "8."

Notation: Reducing the frame rate will make your unabridged composition choppier—so if you have other moving elements in your comp, it might non make sense to employ to everything. If you only want the frame charge per unit to affect your wiggling object, create a pre-comp containing the wiggling layer(s) and arrange only that frame rate.