“There are many layers per shot, the ears, the teeth, the whiskers, the head, the body, the background are all separate layers. Then the layers are parented to one another and moved either by position or by using the puppet tool.”

[Via SLR Lounge]

I’ve been amazed, utterly at times, with the work folks are doing in the realm of parallax effects & filmmaking… and this sample, my friends, is one of those truly jaw dropping, inspirational examples of fantastic work, done well. Animator Joe Fellows pulled this off in 2d, using strictly no 3D effects. His workflow utilized the After Effects Puppet- Warp tool combined with the parallax effect to create this incredibly beautiful,  faux slow motion effect– all with still images. No moving pictures as a source, period. Whoa.

Here’s how this sort of thing happens, in a nutshell:

“The effect is accomplished by cutting out parts of the image, stacking in layers and then using a software such as Adobe After Effects to animate. Sounds simple, but for those that have done it you realize the amount of time and work that goes into creating these videos and will be able to appreciate this one even more. Animator Joe Fellows used the puppet-warp tool in combination with the parallax effect to create a faux slow-motion effect all done with still image photographs.”

Joe adds; “There are many layers per shot, the ears, the teeth, the whiskers, the head, the body, the background are all separate layers. Then the layers are parented to one another and moved either by position or by using the puppet tool.”

The photos used in the sequence are from the archives of the “World Wildlife Fund” (WWF is the organization that the work was produced for) and are credited on the blog site.

The film was produced by Daniel Glynn of Ad Hoc Films for World Wildlife Fund. Joe Fellows makes his magic at Make Productions.