Dripping Blood Animation

[h1]Dripping Blood Tutorial[/h1]
Hi, this tutorial will show you how you can make a dripping blood effect in your animation like this.

This tutorial is used in scale for signatures 400x150 but with a few additions, it could go with anything.

We will start off with a picture of a drip of blood, like this one. These are very easy to create with the pen tool and a bevel from the blending options. If you do not feel like making your own, feel free too use this one.
http://www.graphicaddicts.net/foxshox/blood%20dripping/blood%20drop.jpg

Now to make things easier create 7 layer sets like shown here; label them frame1-7.
http://www.graphicaddicts.net/foxshox/blood%20dripping/layerspanelnew.jpg

Now take your blood drop and cutout the white section (if you are using the one provided) and resize it to about 15 pixels tall( or desired height) using the image-> image size function.
hhttp://www.graphicaddicts.net/foxshox/blood%20dripping/imageresize.jpg

Drag that newly formed blood drop into the work space and put the blood where you would to have the effect. Make sure that it is at the edge of something, like the bottom of text. Then duplicate the layer 6 times (so you have 7 total blood drops). Place one in each of the 7 layer sets.
http://www.graphicaddicts.net/foxshox/blood%20dripping/layers%20panel.jpg
Don’t worry about the paths in the screenshot yet, those will be discussed later on.

The blood drop layers that have the blood drops in the layers should be in all of the same location right now. So what you will do is starting with frame 2 layer set and going to the frame 5 layer set move the layer down 20 pixels further down than the previous one. So for example, if the layer in frame 2 layer set was lowered from 20 to 40, the layer in the frame 2 layer set should be lowered from 20 to 60. These five frames will represent the frames in which the blood line is still connected to the drip. Layers 1-5 should look something like this.
http://www.graphicaddicts.net/foxshox/blood%20dripping/nobloodlines.jpg

You should now have 5 evenly spaced layers starting from the frame 1 layer set all the way to the frame 5 layer set. Now you will add the blood drip line. In the frame 2 layer set create a 2 pixel wide line all the way down past the top of the drip; make sure this new line layer is below the drip.

Now duplicate the layer with the line on it 3 times (so you have 4 line layers now). Keep one in the frame 2 layer set and place the other 3 in the frame 3-5 layer sets.

Now select the line layer in the frame 3 layer set and using the free path transform tool (edit-> free transform path) add 20 pixels too the height of it( dragging from the bottom) so it should match up with the blood drip in that set. Before exiting the free transform, in the width percentage area type 75% (the reason why we do this is because as a blood line grows longer, it becomes thinner, inevitably making the blood drip fall).
http://www.graphicaddicts.net/foxshox/blood%20dripping/freetransformpath.jpg

Now repeat the last step for the line layer in frame set 4. But instead of adding 20 pixels and changing the width percentage to 75%, add 40 pixels to the line, and change the width percentage to 50%.Again as you might have guessed, in the line layer in frameset 5 do the same thing as before but change the value of the width percentage to 25% and add 60 pixels. With all the layers 1-5 visible it should look something like this.
http://www.graphicaddicts.net/foxshox/blood%20dripping/bloodlines.jpg

Now we will do the free falling blood drops. Click the frame 6 layer set and move the blood drip a little bit higher than half way between frame 5 blood drip and the bottom. Now with the frame 7 layer set, move the blood drip to the very bottom with on half drip (the top portion) visible, and the other half will be cutoff by the bottom. It should now look like this with everything visible.
http://www.graphicaddicts.net/foxshox/blood%20dripping/finish-noanimation.jpg

Before we export it to ImageReady, change the opacity on the bloodline layer in frame 5 layer set to 50%, this will make it shift to disappearing better.
http://www.graphicaddicts.net/foxshox/blood%20dripping/opacity%20change.jpg

We will now put everything together. Export everything to ImageReady. Now click the visibility button (eye) next to each layer set leaving no blood drips or anything in sight.
http://www.graphicaddicts.net/foxshox/blood%20dripping/novisiblity.jpg

Now, on the first layer set the timing to .15 seconds (you must use the “other” selection to do this). Then hit the duplicate frame button 5 times so you end up with 6 frames with .15 as there timings. Add 2 more frames using the duplicate frame button. And set those 2 frames which should be frame 7 and 8 to .1 seconds. After you have finished this, set the first frame to 2 seconds.
http://www.graphicaddicts.net/foxshox/blood%20dripping/timings.jpg

On frame 2, make the frame 1 layer set visible, on frame 3 make the frame 2 layer set visible, and so on all the way to making frame 8 the frame 7 layer set. The timings shouldn’t be changed anymore aside from however long you want it too pause each time which can be done by changing the first frame timing; other wise don’t worry about those anymore.

The animation should be done, and you should have smooth blood dripping from your signature now.

This is what a couple added ones together can look like, this was pretty simple to make more than one drip after making the first.
http://www.graphicaddicts.net/foxshox/blood%20dripping/homemadeblooddripping.gif

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Click the link below to download the PhotoShop file for this tutorial.
Dripping Blood Animation PSD

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