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Known Participant
August 16, 2017
Answered

composition looping...glitch?

  • August 16, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 9508 views

This might not be the best place for this post, but I just need some professional opinions on this, because I cannot wrap my head around this. Alrighty...

I a working on a recreation of Super Mario Bros in after effects and I need the 3 images of Mario's walking animation to loop endlessly for whenever I need to use it, I decided to use the "loopOut()" function because it would be faster (ironic -_-). Here's a screenshot of the comp and it's settings:

I suppose i should say that I didn't make these picture's, I got the files from a friend. Each one is a shape layer. I tried to do the old loopOut() function and move the last key frame back one etc etc, but it didn't work, the last frame was invisible. This isn't the weird part.

I searched up solutions to this and found some, I tried them in a new project and they all worked perfectly, but for some reason, whenever I do the EXACT same process with these 3 shape layers it NEVER works right. The weirdest part is that I found a way to improvise. I wondered if the problem was the fact that it was a shape layer, so I made a new solid and moved it to the back of that composition, IT WORKED, I didn't get the invisible frame, but why...?

After experimenting some more I found that I could put the solid layer in the middle of the composition and scale it down so I couldn't see it behind the Mario images, and it still worked!!! However, making the solid invisible gave me the problem again, that stupid invisible layer. Is there a logical explanation to this?

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Correct answer Warren Heaton10841144

So I made a small video doing what you said (which is what I've been doing all along). It didn't work... Unless Im still getting something wrong :/ Maybe the video will point it out.


Video didn't load.  I'll try to check back in later.  Hopefully, someone will spot what's curing your loop not to loop.  Go Mario!

If you're in a rush to get the animation completed, you could always go with plan B: Make duplicates of your Loop Comp and then use Sequence Layers to quickly sequence them across the Timeline.  Or, render a movie and import it back into AE and set the Interpret Footage dialog box to loop that (kinda old school, but I use that every now and again just out of nostalgia).

2 replies

Known Participant
November 10, 2017

I was having the exact same issue.  Kept inputting the expression, still no loop.  Was running the loopOut('cycle') expression on a Time Remapped layer.

Then I realized I totally forgot to remove the last keyframe and it was playing from my last keyframe of the loop to the forgotten keyframe of the time remapped layer. (sorry, a bit confusing way of describing it.)

Remove the last keyframe and fixed.

Warren Heaton10841144
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 16, 2017

Are you enabling Time Remapping on the nested animation loop so that you have something for loopOut() to work with as well as being able to extend the tail of nested Comp?

Known Participant
August 16, 2017

Yes I did both of those things. I enabled time remapping on the precomp layer, dragged it out until the end of the other main layer, went to the last keyframe on the time remapping, moved back one, placed a keyframe and deleted the one in front of it. And I get this problem.

I have also done the steps in different orders, multiple times. So I don't think my problem is in the process itself.

Warren Heaton10841144
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 17, 2017

Instead of moving the last keyframe back one frame, add a keyframe before it.  So, you'd have three keyframes total: one at the 1st frame, one at the last frame of the nested Comp (the one that you placed), and other keyframe the was placed by Time Remapping (a frame past the end of the nested Comp).  That's how I usually do it.

-Warren