• Adobe After Effects

  Evolving line effect

  Posted by Harold Cavendish on October 17, 2015 at 5:56 pm

  Greetings,

  I would like to create evolving lines like the ones in this video (starting at 0:28): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg5lI6NCBxE&feature=youtu.be&t=28s

  I know how to reveal a line to give the impression of writing using various techniques but I can’t figure out how to animate its width like that. 🙁

  Thanks!

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  Harold Cavendish replied 10 years, 11 months ago 2 Members · 5 Replies
• 5 Replies

• 

  Kalleheikki Kannisto

  October 17, 2015 at 6:51 pm

  I would do this type of an effect with a precomp that has the two sides of the line masked off in the middle, animated outward. (Think of a horizon line of a completely still ocean, with the line rising from behind the horizon, and a mirror reflection of the other half of the line on the ocean.) This would give the apparency of a thickening line — and you could have all those details in the line as well if you wanted to.

  This long horizontal precomp would then be distorted with a Mesh Warp to the final shape.
• 

  Harold Cavendish

  October 17, 2015 at 7:44 pm

  I’m sorry but I don’t understand how to animate it to give the same effect. Let’s say I create a long horizontal line split horizontally in the middle by two masks (e.g. one set to subtract and the other as its inversion and also subtract). Then I can animate mask expansion to make the line continuously thicken but without the narrower tip. Could you be more specific about the animation part, please?

  I need almost the same as the effect ‘Write-on’ with animated brush position and brush size, but the narrow line must expand with time to a certain point like this:

  By the way, can this not be done with expressions? I’d like to just set the path and generate the line programatically.
• 

  Harold Cavendish

  October 17, 2015 at 8:37 pm

  This is close to the solution: https://forums.adobe.com/message/6660522#6660522

  
  Author: Rick Gerard

  The only problem is that it only works for curves that start thick and end thin, not if you have thin ends and thick central part, which is what I need, unfortunately.
• 

  Kalleheikki Kannisto

  October 18, 2015 at 8:22 am

  Here’s a sample file with what I described. I’m sure there are better ways to do this, but that’s the first method I could think of. I haven’t tried to make it neat or optimized, this is just to show the concept. It is usable if you can’t find a better solution. The expansion of the line is continuous in this example, but you can put an animated warp inside the line precomp as well to make it expand for some time and then stop expanding.

  I don’t know if you’re looking at making all those detailed patterns inside the line, but this way you could do that fairly easily. I used a single unit of the pattern with motion tile to repeat it.

  9352_expandingline.aep.zip

  Here’s what it looks like:

  Evolving line
• 

  Harold Cavendish

  October 18, 2015 at 11:17 am

  This is excellent, thank you very much for your help, Kalle!

  I don’t really need the pattern but it’s nice to have because I was wondering how to do the mirror effect and maybe I’ll use it in some future work. For now, a combination of Offset Paths for simple and ‘compatible’ shapes coupled with your solution for the more ‘incompatible’ ones will be splendid. 🙂

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