Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Adding animated projections to a live theater production can help bring a scene to live and transport the audience to another world, whether it's torch flames flickering on the walls of a gothic castle, sunlight peeking through the swaying branches of a forest, or steampunk gates opening to reveal a bustling city. I recently helped make projections for a local theater production of The Wizard of Oz, so in this tutorial I'll walk through how I put everything together using Adobe Photoshop, Firefly, After Effects, and Character Animator.
0:00 Intro
1:57 Compositing and animating a simple scene
8:52 Swaying motion with the puppet tool
13:49 Adding moving sunlight rays
15:40 Walkthrough of a more complex scene
19:04 Scene transitions
21:58 Glows and silhouettes
23:33 Layering green screen footage
25:32 Digital character projections
28:36 Outro
Subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=okaysamurai
Website: okaysamurai.com
Adding animated projections to a live theater production can help bring a scene to live and transport the audience to another world, whether it's torch flames flickering on the walls of a gothic castle, sunlight peeking through the swaying branches of a forest, or steampunk gates opening to reveal a bustling city. I recently helped make projections for a local theater production of The Wizard of Oz, so in this tutorial I'll walk through how I put everything together using Adobe Photoshop, Firefly, After Effects, and Character Animator.
0:00 Intro
1:57 Compositing and animating a simple scene
8:52 Swaying motion with the puppet tool
13:49 Adding moving sunlight rays
15:40 Walkthrough of a more complex scene
19:04 Scene transitions
21:58 Glows and silhouettes
23:33 Layering green screen footage
25:32 Digital character projections
28:36 Outro
Subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=okaysamurai
Website: okaysamurai.com
