How do I morph shapes with different points in a controlled way

[minjik83652365]

I have multiple shapes made in Illustrator and pushed to After Effects (via the Overlord plugin). I've copy/pasted the path keyframes from different shapes into one layer, but I can't find a way to prevent the points from the two paths from inverting as it morphs. Is there any way to have them morph in a more controlled way? I've tried reversing the directions of the paths etc but that didn't work either.

[Byron Cortez]

Originally you have set up a First Vertex but you must set another one and if that does not help you, you will try another one until it works for you. Select one and go to the Layer / Mask and Shape Path / Set First Vertex menu. Look at my screenshot.

Regards!

[Rick Gerard]

A better option may be to set up a blend in Illustrator, Expand the blend, Release to layers, Move the layers to the top of the layer stack, then import as a comp, trim and sequence the layers. It's a lot more powerful and only takes a few minutes to set up. Here are a couple of examples that I threw together a long time ago:

If you insist on morphing using shape layer paths then you are stuck with straight line interpretation between vertices, AE's limited path animation tools, and a bunch of manual manipulation, complicated by the fact that animated paths only respond well if there are a consistent number of points in the path.

[Byron Cortez]

Your option is valid and as good as mine. I always try to give them an easy solution and then when the user has more insurance experience he would invent his own method. Also, we do not know what exactly it is doing and depending on that, one option is better than the other. Minjik must use the one that works best for him.

Regards!

[Rick Gerard]

I should also mention that I remember a bug that caused copied and pasted paths to behave poorly and flip or invert unless you reset the first vertex on both. Make sure your AE is up to date so the bug doesn't foul things up.

[Roei Tzoref]

although this article is about masks, the same principles can be applied to shapes if you copy the shape path to a mask path and paste back. some other principles also apply regardless if it's a shape or a mask.

https://www.provideocoalition.com/managing_moving_masks/