The Digital Matte Painting Handbook

Animating the City

Let’s add some life to the city by animating additional elements. The McCallCity layer should drift above the city during the sequence and illuminate the tops and sides of the buildings over which it travels. First, you’ll animate its motion over the city. The McCallCity layer is off screen to the right at the start of the sequence. Scrub forward to frame 150, where the floating city is clearly within frame. Set keyframes for both the position and orientation. Rotate the city on the Y-axis so it’s facing the camera (Figure 14-63).

Move to the last frame in the sequence, and reposition the floating city up and to the right so it’s almost leaving the frame. Rotate it to face the camera. Keyframes are automatically set on its ...