Mt. Mograph’s Matt Jylkka posts a look at creating snappy animating lines in After Effects – great for animating a stylization for text or a logo.
Learn how to use Trim Paths, the Search Bar and basic motion graphic principals
Over the course of this blog we have come across more than a few ways to create animating lines in After Effects.
Using Ae’s native vector tools, Matt walks through using the trim paths feature for creating the lines, which in itself is fairly straight forward. However, there are some great tips in this one where Matt imparts some basic motion graphics principles that will help give you a foundation for animation if you are just starting out.
Matt, as Mt. Mograph has a new place on the web, so be sure to check out mtmograph.com to keep up to date with tutorials, posts and freebies. In fact, Mt. Mograph recently posted a flip utility for After Effects that will allow you to easily create the look of double sided elements in Ae – so check it out.
More Resources for Animating Lines in After Effects
You can easily add a bit of motion to animating lines in After Effects by creating a wiggle effect for the lines that will change from frame to frame. Matt Vojacek walks through the technique with the post: Easily Build an Animated Cartoon Line Effect in Ae.
You can draw one lines using particles, and in this post, Daniel Brodesky shows how to animate lines that have a 3D effect to them with the post, Animated Handwritten Type With Trapcode Particular.
Working with vector layers in After Effects can be a bit much with all of the attributes that you need to have showing all at once to create any type of animation. Vic Garcia shares some Tips for Accessing Layer Controls Through the Composition Search Field which can really help the whole vector workflow, especially when animating lines in After Effects.
You can also automate outlines in After Effects with this look by Laurence Greyson who shows how you can Use the After Effects Stroke Effect & Tracker to Create Outline Animation.
