Andrew Kramer over at VideoCopilot.net has just released another tutorial (#106) on how to animate still images to appear as if they are active and moving.

The techniques involved include:

• Cornerpin for adding parallax
• Liquify to animate smoke clouds
• Clone to restore background elements
• VideoCopilot Optical Flares plug-in
• Box blur to simulate focusing
• Camera shake technique for more realistic movement

For you compositors out there, this is one to check out. Andrew manages to squeeze in a large number of techniques to help you get the most out of AfterEffects.

Watch the tutorial here.