Warp points binding in After Effects

Question

I need to do an effect In After Effects, and this it: Imagine I have a video of a dotted ball and another one with a talking mouth. I want the ball have the talking mouth, but in way that whenever the ball opens and closes the mouth, the texture of the ball streching accordingly.

What I tried so far: Created a mask on the mouth video. Tracked and saved the motion of the upper and bottom lips into null objects. Now I need an effect similar to Distort/Mesh Warp which is able use my saved motion on the ball (by binding to my null object as a parent). I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. Thanks in advance, Mate

Answer 1

If you haven't found it yet, the Puppet tool likely what you're looking for. You will create specific anchor points and you can keyframe their motion.

There's several tutorials out there for the right way to use the tool, but the best advice I can offer is to just play with it till you get the desired effect.

Personally I put more points where I DONT want it to move and use fewer points where I do. To practice just create a solid and drop points on it, then grab a point and start moving it around. It will become clear.