Product Features Call-Out Animation

Client had white background Jpg of their core product that they wanted to use to highlight some of their product features.

I snipped out the mask in photoshop, which wasn't quite as simple as using Remove Background since the grey mask had low-contrast with the white background.

After some selection feathering and a little manual brushing, I dropped the result into After Effects. I threw on 3 spotlights and some ambient lighting, moved the mask up the Z-axis, and pivoted it up rotating around the X-axis so the shadows cast with a little more depth than your standard drop shadows.

A little 3D material finagling with the diffusion and specular options and Boy's your Uncle.

Once the mask was propped up in place, I made a little pre-comp template for my feature highlighting animation, duped it a few more times, got the alignments and timing tightened up and it's good to go for the client's product page!