__Animating lines - how to

[Hugh Betcha]

__I know you'll say "read a tutorial" or "go back to school", but I'm gonna try to rely on the kindness of strangers.

I'm 100% self-taught in AE, and I'm having trouble with two things:

1. When I make a stroked line and want to animate it, I'm having trouble selecting the 'nodes' to move each independently - with the Selection tool. My workaround is to add a node with the 'vertex tool' then remove, it - and then the nodes on either end are highlighted, and moveable.

2. When I do select the nodes, I can move independently, but when I animate it, I can't do what I want, which is to have one node kind of 'stay in place' and another one move.

Attached is an idea of what I want to achieve...

Can you help?

Thanks!

[Mylenium]

Effects --> Generate --> Beam. No point in bothering with masks/ shape layers and strokes. All you would need is three instances of the effect (or more if you need) and link together the crosshairs with simple pick-whip expressions that could then further be modified so stuff stays perpendicular. Eitehr way, it's already going to be more intuitive than any mask-based set-up could ever be, even if you rig it with expressions to control the anchor points.

Mylenium

[nishu_kush]

Hi Hugh Betcha,

Thanks for writing in.

I agree with Mylenium suggestion. However, if you wanna work with the Stroke, you can create null objects that are attached to the anchor point of a path so you can move nulls to move the anchor points ( Select the path and go to Window > Create Nulls From Path).

Hope it helps.

Thanks,
Nishu

[Hugh Betcha]

Thanks to Mylenium and Nishu, however that didn't make any sense to me whatsoever (I guess I'm not too swift).

Attached is a video of what I'm trying to achieve (and showing what your suggestions appear to produce.

[Mylenium]

Beam will do exactly what you want, but of course it will have to be applied to a layer covering the entire comp, i.e. a solid, not a shape layer.

Mylenium