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Connect the Dots
Say i have 3 to 5 ellipse shape layers, actually just make it 3 for now to make it easier. How could i go about simply connecting those ellipses together with a stroke (or would probably have to be a thin rectangle shape layer, i dont know) so they would make a triangle, but i would like the line to shrink and stretch as i independantly move the ellipses.
What im going for can kind of be seen in Dans Elastic Connection example…but its not really the elastic effect im going for but rather the line thats connecting them which isnt explained. And if theres a way to do it to be easily modified to work with additional ellipses and different shapes that would be ideal. thanks!
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4 Replies
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in his example, dan probably used the beam effect. you can use expressions (really just the expression pickwhip) to connect the ‘ends’ of the beam to the anchor points of the shapes.
so, if i follow what you are after, you would create an adjustment layer, add the beam effect 3x and then use the expression pickwhip to connect the ends of the beam to the anchorpoints of the shapes. then tweak the beam settings to create the line.
is that close to what you’re after?
Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW -
ahhh the beam effect, ive actually attempted this before and ive spent hours tweaking linear scale to position ratios and rotation to position..blah blah etc etc and always ended up with a crude version of what im trying to do…and was constantly thinking “if only i had 2 anchor points on this shape layer”….beam effect never even crossed my mind! thanks, little annoyed of how easy of a fix that was though lol.
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[Eric Sanderson] “little annoyed of how easy of a fix that was though lol.”
yeah, that happens to everybody 😉
i seem to remember seeing a script somewhere (maybe crgreen.com) that could link a mask vertex to a null… if that’s true you could potentially use that to link 3 points of the mask to the three shapes, then use stroke to create the line… but beam came to mind first.
Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW -
Hey thanks i was looking similar to this. linking two points with line through beam effects is working good, but how do you get the curvy line as if you move the dot it should be like a ‘S’ or ‘C’ curve like the one comes in ‘Iron Man 2 movie’.
Iam working on something similar to that and trying to get that effect, thanks in advance.
Thanks
sanj.
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