Infinite looped shape without loopOut;

[NotSeanT]

I'd say I'm an intermediate user. I imagined this project to learn, but it's proving to be way more difficult than it seems.

I want "infinite" stars (5 point shape layer) to pass through the screen from top to bottom at a linear speed. No easing. I also want the repeats to start before the first one finishes, so at any given time there's a handful of shapes on the screen. Like a steady flow of stars moving downwards. 

I was hoping to achieve this using some expressions so I could adjust things after I built the project like how many shapes pass through, or the speed they travel (by adjusting the start/end positions to be further out)

The first obstacle for me is this: How do I get a shape to travel through the screen over and over without precomping it (and therefore not being able to use loopOut). - the reason I don't want to precomp is so that I can add the other shapes and have them get their time from other shape layers, which is another reason I can't precomp to a specific number of frames. Another reason I don't want to precomp is so that I can adjust the timing more easily.

Thanks in advance for your help. I hope I haven't confused the issue by overexplaining it.

- One idea I had, that may have potential was to set up a very controlled CCParticleWorld to spit out one shape at a specified rate along a specific vector, but I don't have enough of a grasp of that effect yet to see if that's possible

[Mylenium · Accepted solution]

If you want that, then forget loopOut() et al entirely. In such a case it's time to discover the power of the modulus:

X=value[0];

Y=(time*10)%thisComp.height;

[X,Y]

Et voila, the star will jump back to its start at the top every time it reaches the comp height value. Now all that is left is to tweak the values to have some padding for the star to actually go off screen and the overall timing. Random functions could easily be included as could slider references for easy mass handling.

Mylenium

[NotSeanT]

Thank you! Modulus was the key I wasn't aware of. 

I'm about to dig deeper into some Modulus videos, but if you know of any good lessons, I'd appreciate some direction.

In any case, thanks for helping me out!