UFO Cow Abduction Animation
An animation I created with 3D cameras in Adobe After Effects
The “Golden Arches” Cheeseburger Experiment
I was tasked to make a diorama animation in Adobe After Effects. The duration of the animation could be no longer than 15 seconds, as well as an open and close “curtain.” I thought it would be funny to have a UFO abducting cows and spitting out cheeseburgers next to a fast food restaurant. I also thought it would be fun to make a play on the “Golden Arches.” I went from there straight to storyboarding my UFO diorama animation.
Storyboarding
Once I had my concept down, I started sketching out some ideas. I came to the conclusion that I would have the UFO abduct three cows and crash on the last one because it is overweight. Here is my final storyboard for this animation:
After some further thought, I realized that I could not pull off the use of three cows being abducted would not fit the 15 second time frame, so I narrowed it down to only two cows. Once I had the storyboard down, the next stop was Adobe Illustrator.
Designing the Assets in Illustrator
I wanted a somewhat clean, simple and cartoony design, so I illustrated the assets appropriately. I gave each asset their own layer because After Effects allows you to manipulate each individual layer. I wanted some options, so I created one cheeseburger alone on its own layer and another with all of the ingredients on their own layers. I ultimately used the single layer cheeseburger because the animation was too fast to notice every ingredient dropping individually. Once I had it where I wanted, I imported the .ai file right into after effects.

Animation Time, in After Effects
My final stop was Adobe After Effects. I imported the Illustrator file straight in and started setting up my scene. First, I started duplicating the cows and trees and resized them to add variety. Then, I set everything up as 3D layers and created a camera and a light. I also added some depth of field to the camera. Once everything was set up, I began animating the scene. One of the most tedious parts was the cheeseburgers falling down from the spaceship. Each cheeseburger is on its own layer and animates individually.

Conclusion
After I finished the animation, I sweetened it with audio and a light that randomly flickers. Overall, I enjoyed this project and look forward to similar ones in the future!