How to animate/transform a shape?

#1

Hi guys.

I’m trying to figure out how to do a shape animation in After Effects, it looks very simple but I just can’t get it to work the way I want to. I’ve tried with masking but I couldn’t get the same effect. Here’s what I want to do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89EqSOTiSPI

I want to achieve the same animation where you see the orange shape behind the text make a turn doing a kinda "wormy" move and disappear off the screen. If it was a straight move there wouldn't be a problem, it's that turn that's giving me trouble.

Obviously I’m new at After Effects, I’m learning as I go, so if you point me to a tutorial or give me a quick tip I’ll greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

#2

Try making the rounded end and the rest of the line two different pieces. Unmask the line, but animate the rounded end.

There may well be an easier and better way to do it, but that was what worked for me.

#3

What I do is draw a single path for the “wormy” shape to follow, and use the 3D Stroke plugin from trapcode. Just turn the thickness up, the adjust-step down, tweak start and end for how long you want it to be and then animate the offset. :slight_smile:

If you dont have access to 3D Stroke, the standard Generate/Stroke should work just fine. Again just turn the size way up, and keyframe start and end together.

#4

That’s it!!! 3D stroke works great.

I’ve also tried the standard Stroke effect (not so standard to me cause I’ve never used it till now) and does the job also.

Thank you very much, I’ve learned a couple of things today.

#5

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