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carolyneo79236725
Inspiring
March 30, 2017
Answered

How do you maintain stroke width while animating using parent/child?

  • March 30, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 8590 views

I'm trying to make an animation where all shapes retain their stroke width, even with parent/child relationships.

I have a little guy whose head/hair/face/arms need to follow his body, and then other little people follow his body as well. I can remove the stroke from each general shape group, pick whip each shape's individual scale to match that of the body, and readjust every single anchor point to match it, but this seems so tedious. I've applied a constant stroke expression to the stroke width but every time I build the artwork and then start to pick whip it, strokes start to get larger or smaller to match.

Has anyone made something like this that can help me?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer carolyneo79236725

Project was completed using different stroke expressions. It was tedious but not much other choice.

3 replies

Kevin J. Monahan Jr.
Community Manager
Kevin J. Monahan Jr.Community Manager
Community Manager
April 6, 2017

Hi CarolyneO,

Did either of these suggestions help you achieve the results you wanted? Please let us know if you solved the issue or if you need more help.

Thanks,
Kevin

Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community and Engagement Strategist – Adobe Pro Video and Audio
C
carolyneo79236725AuthorCorrect answer
Inspiring
April 17, 2017

Project was completed using different stroke expressions. It was tedious but not much other choice.

Kevin J. Monahan Jr.
Community Manager
Kevin J. Monahan Jr.Community Manager
Community Manager
May 20, 2017

Project was completed using different stroke expressions. It was tedious but not much other choice.

Thanks for letting us know.

Thanks,
Kevin

Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community and Engagement Strategist – Adobe Pro Video and Audio
J
jerryw48492253
Known Participant
April 6, 2017

The way to maintain the weight of the stoke on layers is to apply it after any scale. By far the easiest way to do this is to use the Layer > Layer Styles >Stroke item in the menu. This will apply a Photoshop-style adjustment to the layer after it has been manipulated.

    E
    email.henriquearaujo@gmail.com
    Participant
    February 13, 2020

    Jerry I was looking for days on the internet for a solution and they all involved expressions that only solved part of the problem. That was the most simple and elegant solution I found. I completely forgot about Layer style. Genial Thank you very much.

    Szalam
    Community Expert
    SzalamCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 4, 2017

    You need to keep the layers from scaling in order to do what you are asking. That means the shapes themselves need to grow/shrink/etc., but not the layers containing them. This means a lot of work on building up expressions to make things follow without parenting any layers to each other.

    Alternatively, you could also apply the stroke later using something like Effects>Generate>Vegas, setting it to use the alpha and then tweaking the settings to make it a solid stroke instead of many feathered lines.

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