A step-by-step guide to create responsive infographic in after effects

"The life of a visual communicator should be one of systematic and exciting intellectual chaos."

This is the reason why many agencies are putting their best efforts into creating stunning infographics for their online presence. Many times it is seen that besides having good content, the infographics are not performing the way they should. That's all because of the boring design. 

Creating a responsive and appealing infographic needs not only impressive ideas but also requires accurate software. Animating visuals in Adobe After Effects not only allows the users to create infographics with accuracy but also saves a lot of time and effort. 

If you are in the field of graphic designing or planning to be one, then you must learn to create infographics, as every business is making the best use of character animation to bring their brand into the limelight.  

Now, without any further ado, let's know the steps by following which you can create stunning infographics in Adobe After Effects. 

Steps to create a responsive infographic in after effects

Let's begin..,. 

Step-1 Firstly, you need to login into your after-effects account. Now, create a shape layer and incorporate it into a composition. I would recommend you grab the ellipse shape tool. 

Step-2 Once you are done with the selection of shape, it's time to change the fill and stroke setting in the toolbar. Here, you need to do settings fill to none & stroke to solid color. Also, try to make the stroke thick to 155 pixels.

Step-3 Once you are done with the composition, it's time to add some text, graph numbers, percentage symbols, and the right lower corner. 

Step-4 Now, go for adding a trim path. It's just to add animation to the circle graph. For this, you have to go to the Add button of the shape layer and choose the trim path option from the shared options. 

Step-5 Now, navigate to the trim path property for animating trim paths. Here you need to adjust the endpoint to 84%. 

Step-6 Once you are done with the trimming of the trim path, it's time to add a control layer. Whenever you create an infographic and do such a type of animation, then there are a number of expressions that need to be added to make the infographic work for you.

Well! These expressions can be created using different techniques that are both effective and easy to understand. In the latest version of After effects, you can easily add expressions automatically. Yes! You are reading it correctly. You don't have to add the expressions manually. 

Now, you might be thinking about how to do the same. Simply, you just need to use an expression controller on your control layer. Basically, linking the graph to the expression control & keyframing the controller is commonly used to create the animation. 

To add the control, select the control layer, then select Effect > Expression Controls> Slider Control. Now, you are ready to link up.

Step- 7 Now, you are at the stage where you have to link the elements. In this step, first, you need to link up the circle graph to the controller layer.

Here you have to pick the end property of the circle graphs trim path. Property pick is relatively new in the latest Adobe AE; in the older version, you have to create an expression first on the End Property. 

Simply alt-click the toggle animation button for the end property. You will see an expression is now available. Drag the end property and release it over the slider control on the controller layer. 

Now, you can see the slider control via the effect controls panel. After doing all these steps, you can easily control the graph with the help of a slider. Furthermore, you can rename the slider as it will help you to make things more organized. 

Step-8 Now, you are at the step where you have to animate the graph. Many people think that it is one of the most challenging tasks, but I can say that it's as simple as adding keyframes to the slider control, just as one does on the control layer. 

Now, you might be analyzing that many numbers are in decimal, so for this, you need to put one final expression to convey the animation to use whole numbers (Round Number).

What do you think about it? Well! For this, simply alt-click on slider control to add an expression & then open up the expression language menu by clicking the small arrow key. 

Now, select JavaScriptMath > Math.round(Value), and then see the magic. That's a responsive infographic. 

Step-9 Go for customizing different designs. If you want to change the colors, end caps, stroke width, or create an entirely different setup, then you can use the Math.round (value) method. Here the key is just to link everything, such as shapes, expression controls, trim path operations, etc. 

The Final Say 

Designing an infographic is one of the tedious tasks that many designers think of. But if you follow the special process as mentioned above, then you can easily process the tasks accordingly.  

So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead with the creation of infographics by making the best use of Adobe after effects tool. Still, if you are stuck somewhere, or want any help from best character animation maker, feel free to contact us. 

                                                                                                                 Editor- Divya Verma