Combining digital and analog: Making a printed animation flip book

How to Create a Flipbook from an After Effects Animation

In the age of digital media, artificial intelligence, etc, there's something nice about bringing animations to life in a tangible, analog format. Creating a flipbook from your After Effects animation is a way to bridge the gap between digital creativity and hands-on craftspersonship.

Step 1: Create Your Animation in After Effects

You'll need to create your animation in Adobe After Effects. Keep these points in mind:

• Read your assignment instructions carefully and develop a concept.

• Execute your concept in After Effects.

• Aim for a 10-second loop, which works well for flipbooks.

• Consider creating your animation in portrait format initially.

Step 2: Prepare Your Animation for Export

Once you're happy with your animation, it's time to prepare it for export:

1. Create a new composition in After Effects with these settings:

   • Size: 1920x1080 (landscape orientation)

   • Frame rate: 5 frames per second

   • Duration: 10 seconds (This will give you 50 frames total)

2. Place your original animation into this new composition.

3. Rotate your animation by -90° to fit the landscape orientation.

Step 3: Export Individual Frames

Let's export your animation as individual PNG files:

1. Go to Composition > Add to Render Queue.

2. In Render Settings:

   • Set Quality to Best

   • Set Resolution to Full

3. In Output Module:

   • Change format to PNG sequence

   • Set Color to millions of colours (RGB)

4. Choose an output directory (create a new folder for your flipbook project).

5. Name your files using the [#####] format for sequential numbering.

6. Hit Render to export your frames.

Step 4: Create a Data File

To automate the InDesign process later, we need to create a data file:

1. Open a plain text editor (like TextEdit on Mac, set to Plain Text mode).

2. Type "@images" as the first line (this will be your header).

3. Copy and paste the names of all your exported PNG files below this header.

4. Save this file as "data.txt" in your project folder.

Step 5: Set Up Your InDesign Document

Time to move to InDesign to create your flipbook layout:

1. Create a new document with these settings:

   • Size: 150mm x 67.5mm (landscape orientation)

   • Single page (not facing pages)

   • No margins or columns

2. Create an image box that's 120mm x 67.5mm (16:9 aspect ratio).

3. Position this box at the top-left corner of your page.

4. (Optional) Add a guide to indicate the binding edge.

Step 6: Use Data Merge in InDesign

Now, let's use Data Merge to automatically create all your flipbook pages:

1. Go to Window > Utilities > Data Merge to open the Data Merge panel.

2. Click "Select Data Source" and choose your "data.txt" file.

3. Drag the "images" field from the Data Merge panel onto your image box.

4. Click "Preview" to see how your pages will look.

5. Click "Create Merged Document."

6. In the options, set Image Placement to "Fit Images Proportionally."

7. Click OK to generate your multi-page document.

Step 7: Export Your Flipbook as a PDF

The final digital step is to export your flipbook as a print-ready PDF:

1. Go to File > Export.

2. Choose PDF (Print) as the format.

3. Name your file (e.g., "flipbook_final.pdf") and choose a save location.

4. In the export settings, include trim marks but set bleed to zero.

5. Click Export to create your PDF.

Step 8: Print and Assemble Your Flipbook

With your PDF ready, you can now move on to the analog stage of your project:

1. Print your PDF, preferably on slightly thicker paper for durability.

2. Cut your pages along the trim marks.

3. Arrange your pages in the correct order.

4. Bind your pages together along the edge you designated in InDesign.

Your digital animation has been transformed into a physical flipbook. As you riffle through the pages, you'll see your creation come to life in a whole new way. This project nicely combines digital design skills with the tactile satisfaction of a handmade object.