Way to trace multiple paths in a sequence?

Question

I am trying to find a way to have multiple paths be "drawn" by an image of a pencil and use the 'trace path' option to do so, though the image has many paths and I'm struggling to find a way for this to happen without a ton of manual work.

Here is my current workflow:

1) Import my image that is in an Adobe Illustrator file.

2) Convert the vector to shape layers (now they are all in one shape layer)

3) Add a trim paths animation and make them animate individually to give the illustion of being drawn.

Here is where I would ideally use 'trace path' to attach an image of a hand drawing and match the point of what is being drawn but I have a ton of individual lines being drawn. Is there a script or method that currently exists for this? When I do trace paths, I get a new null for each path and they all start at the same time.

Kyle Hamrick · Answer

You can actually copy/paste a Path property into a Position property, which esssentially what the Trace Path script is doing, just with some extra controls. I would copy/paste each of your Paths into the Position property of the pencil layer (or a Null that the pencil is parented to). the order you want them traced. You'll see each creates keyframes - you can just align these to the Trim Paths keys for each of those paths, and the pencil/null will even move between the paths naturally between those keys (and/or you can add your own keyframes between these if you need to modify that path).

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