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animating a moving line
hi everyone,
i am currently working on an animation in AE using masks to create the shapes that i need, but the only problem is, i eventually want to go over the top of these and create an outline, that i can keyframe to follow the shapes.
is there a way to, say, draw a line with the pen tool, then keyframe the points of that line, so that the shape of the line changes over time?any help with this would be amazing, as its the only thing im not sure how to tackle with this animation. im sure its probably quite an obvious thing, but never having had to use AE in this way, im finding im learning a lot of new stuff.
Thanks a lot in advance,
Ben.
Ben Weller
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3 Replies
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Hi Ben,
If you want the outline you create to completely match the shape of the masks, then probably the easiest way to do this is to apply the ‘stroke’ effect, which will place a line over your mask shape which matches the animation.
Otherwise you could draw your line using the pen tool (which creates a mask) then apply the ‘stroke’ effect. To animate, hit ‘m’ in the timeline panel to bring up the mask properties, click on the stopwatch next to ‘mask shape’ then adjust the shape/add keyframes over time as you would normally.
There may be an easier way, in which case I’m sure someone will be along soon to say!
James
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trapcode 3d stroke is a nice option with even more flexability than the generate stroke feature allows.
If you have the plug in. It is a motion graphics “hall of fame” plug in…..SuperNova
Animation & Visual Effects
Scott Novasic
Los Angeles Ca
web:https://web.mac.com/finaleffects -
You can animate paths in a shape layer. You can also animate the drawing on or off of a path’s stroke with the
Trim Paths path operation.———————————————————————————————————
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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