Learn how to create the viral building grow effect in Premiere Pro. The perfect effect to level up your Hyperlapses or travel videos! Keep reading for the step by step instructions or watch the full video tutorial below!
What do you need to create the Building Grow Effect?
To create this effect you will need a video of a building or a skyline. The simpler the architecture of the building, the easier the whole process will be but you can use whatever you have on hand!
Preparation in Premiere Pro
Before you animate the building grow effect you need to prepare your video following these steps:
Create a new sequence with your video.
Add a frame hold at the beginning of the sequence.
Export the frame as a single image using the shortcut SHIFT+E
Creating selections in Photoshop
In Photoshop open the file you just saved, duplicate the layer and create a selection around the area you want to animate. Remove whatever is insed the selection and use the shortcut CMD+J to create a layer copy. Once removed use Generative Fill to create a new background. Usually you do not need to put in any prompt as Photoshop is quite good at creating skylines.
You should have three layers now:
Generative Fill Layer: name it Background
Layer without the buildings: name it Mask
Layer with the buildings: leave as it is
With the building layer active create a selection around the first building. Be precise at the top parts but at the bottom parts you can make it quite rough. Once finished use the shortcut CMD+J to create a new layer containing just the single building. Repeat this process for all buildings you want to animate!
Once finished go to File - Export - Layers to files. Remove the name prefix, uncheck "Visible Layers Only", choose PNG as file format and make sure Transparency is selected. Then click Run.
Animating the buildings
Import all of the layers you just exported into Premiere Pro. Place the Background layer as first layer of your sequence and the Mask layer above, leaving room for one layer in between. Now place the first building in this gap.
With the building layer selected, go to Effect Controls and add a Position Keyframe at the beginning of the sequence and at the one second mark. At the second keyframe adjust the Y-Value so the building dissapears behind the Mask layer. Repeat this process for all buildings!
Fine tuning the animation
To make the animation more realistic you should add & change the following things:
Variable timing: Instead of putting all Position Keyframes at the beginning and one second mark you should slightly change their position and distance. This way all building will move at different speeds and end or start their movement at different times.
Time Remapping: Select both Position keyframes of each building, right click and choose Temporal Interpolation - Ease In for a smoother movement. Or as I recommend: Create a custom Interpolation using the Graph Editor!
Add Motion blur: To add motion blur to the buildings while they are moving add the Directional Blur effect to each layer. Set a Keyframe with a Blur Length of 20 at the beginning of the movement and one with a Blur Length of 0 at the end of the movement.
Adding these three elements to your animation while make it look a lot more realistic. But there is more..
Final steps: Camera Shake & SFX
The last two elements will make your animation go from "cool" to "WOW!".
To add a Camera Shake create a new Adjustment Layer and place it on top of you animation. Add the Directional Blur Effect with a Blur Length of 20. Now remove every other frame for as long as the buildings move and this will create a nice looking camera shake.
The last thing to polish your animation are Sound Effects. I usually use effects like construction site noises, gravel moving or glass bursting which I find on https://artlist.io/
Make sure to watch this YouTube Tutorial for the whole process and say Hi on Instagram!
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