• Adobe After Effects

  Unfurling spiral

  Posted by Ed Stables on April 1, 2016 at 8:23 pm

  Hi
  I’m trying to generate a naturally unfurling spiral path, like the motion of unfurling a carpet. It need only be 2D. I know this kind of effect is actually pretty do-able in C4D, but it would be incredibly useful to have an unfurling motion path in AE, which could then be used in conjunction with Trapcode plugins, etc.

  I have seen some things done with repeaters but they don’t give me the animated path I need. In fact the longer I spend thinking about the problem, the more complicated it seems to be.

  I have been using illustrator to measure the distance of each segment of my spiral. Then I’ve laid out all the lengths end to end in AE: the intersections between each are where my vertices need to end up. I’ve then taken my spiral path and used a ‘Wheel’ expression to set it rolling along the ground.

  The first problem to address is that a spiral loses diameter as it unravels, affecting its rate of rotation.
  The second big problem is that I need a way to keep vertices which are no longer rotating stationary, whilst continuing to revolve the rest of the spiral.

  I would be amazed and very grateful if anyone had a solution.
  Thank you
  Ed

  Ed Stables replied 10 years, 4 months ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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