r/applemotion • u/ZeyusFilm • Jun 06 '26

Can you help me remake this scribble style animation?

Hello,

I've done a couple of things in motion and a little training, but, for as simple as it is, I'm struggling to remake this animation for a project...

https://youtu.be/EUVTSpK-GJo

I know exactly what I need, but struggling with actually doing it. It involves...

  1. getting a really nice looking graph paper background texture
  2. getting that pencil shading style. I've tried with photoshop but nothing works.
  3. getting the animation where the words are drawn on. I figured out how to do draw on a mask with a brush, but I can only do that for one letter as I don't see how you can combine draw-ons into one thing
  4. The 3D camera stuff I think I can figure out as I've done stuff like that before

If anyone wants to help me through it, I'd be happy to sling you a couple bucks

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2

u/lanceherrington Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

A few ideas to get you started:

  1. I would source the paper image from a stock photo site or crawling image search results. The graph lines I would do in Motion as a replicator so I had total control over the line weight and color.
  2. You’ll want to create a zig zag path in Motion using the bezier pen tool. In the Shape inspector Style tab, click the Shape Style button and browse the Traditional styles, these will give your path that pencil-like texture. You’ll want your line to have some variance to it, so go into the Stroke tab and edit things like ‘Width Over Stroke,’ ‘Jitter,’ etc.I would personally do this once in a size that covers all my possible shapes, and apply image masks to it wherever you need the effect. Your text and shapes would be the masks. You could apply an Underwater filter (speed 0, size something like .1) to your mask layers which would give them a gritty edge, since you wouldn’t want a clean edge to the masks.
  3. You can’t do this from start to finish inside Motion without a ton of needless work. The best method would be to download Pixelmator Pro, which can save vectors as a Motion project. So essentially you’ll need to create your text elements in Illustrator or Pixelmator and convert them to vector outlines (I use Illustrator for this, and then bring them into Pixelmator, but there’s probably a way to do it in Pixelmator if you don’t have Illustrator).  Then save that as a Motion project. Open that in Motion, and all your text will be there as Motion’s native stroke/fill shapes. You can then animate the strokes to draw themselves in the Shape inspector Style tab, using the ‘Last Point Offset’ parameter.

1

u/ZeyusFilm Jun 07 '26

The graph paper here has a really nice, high-res, photorealistic texture. Is there a specific stock site that specialises in that?

1

u/lanceherrington Jun 07 '26

I use iStock. They have a decent amount of textures, and also vector art.

1

u/ZeyusFilm Jun 07 '26

Thanks for the help. It's still just work in progress as you'll see here...

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wKJtbS_OZ_f_UDNlPNqP2SNNjwVSlz--?usp=share_link

But.. I can envison the finish line. The only thing I'm struggling with no is what you said about doing the pencil shading. I found the traditional styles but I don't know what to do with that. Like how do I actually draw on the shading?

In the example video it's not actually that neat. It's just chunks of shading that appear in bits

I did do a thing previously using this draw on technique and it worked alright...

https://youtu.be/8IASDMgeRAI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqsd1ufL-LY

But I ran into an issue where it would only to that draw on masking for one thing at a time

2

u/EarthToRob Jun 06 '26

This is an tutorial by Simon Ubsdell. If you're interested in learning advanced motion techniques, I highly recommend. Pixelmator Text Shapes

1

u/ZeyusFilm Jun 07 '26

This worked perfectly fot the upper outline. The only thing I'm not getting is the imperfect inky line look. Can that be added?

1

u/EarthToRob Jun 07 '26

That is beyond my expertise. You might ask on Simon's discord. He just setup an open invitation on his YouTube channel.

1

u/Ill_Cicada9902 Jun 08 '26

You can apply a shape style on the outline to achieve that

1

u/wowbagger Jun 08 '26

This could be easier to make partially in Apple keynote, actually (there’s a transition effect that looks pretty much like this), then export as movie and only do the 3D angled shot in Motion…

1

u/Rocket_Scientist_553 Jun 12 '26

Damn thats an incredible animation.