looping shapes

[exdecker83]

I'm trying to loop those lines in the background, but for some reason they start to get short/cut off and they dont loop. i tried doing a loop expression, but im not sure if i did it right.

[David Arbor]

There's not enough information here to give you a solution. When you said you tried doing a loop expression, what did you apply it to, did you get any errors, or are you questioning whether the expression itself is correct?

If you're using a repeater, I would temporarily turn it off and try looping a single line (or row of lines, whatever it is that you're repeating) so you can more easily see what's going on. Try starting the line off screen at the top then ending it off screen at the bottom. Does that make your loop seamless? If you're simply looping position keyframes then as soon as the last keyframe is hit, the loop will start over, so if a shape's position ends where the selected one is in your screenshot, then the next move will have it jump off screen back to its start position.

[exdecker83]

Here is what I mean. I have an earlier spot in the timeline where the lines are full, 2nd image, and then later the lines start to cut off. As for the loop expression I just did loopOut() because I was just following a tutorial online. Am I going about this the wrong way? is there a better way to try and loop the shapes?

[David Arbor]

I see. Without actually seeing more of the project, it's hard to tell what's actually going on. It looks like the layer with all of your repeated layers could be incorrectly positioned, but that might not be the case given the second screenshot.

It really depends entirely on how your rig is setup.  A screen recording breaking this down or even attaching the project with just this comp would help. For example, does Shape Layer 1 contain all the repeated lines or is that being referenced somewhere else? 

I would break this comp down to its most basic elements to figure out what's going on. Disable the repeater and see if the source shape is looping the way you expect it to. If it is, then move on to the repeated shapes and figure out where the problem first occurs. 

Also, can you recreate the repeated bars? Sometimes rebuilding something will 1, teach you a technique better, and 2, let you figure out where something is going wrong.

[exdecker83]

I tried CC Repetile, but I can't increase the space between each repetition. That fixed it I think, but now looping the shape at an angle is shaky and when it loops it's a jump.  I don't know if I can do a trim path somehow to make it not shake and I don't know what to do to avoid the jump cut at the end.

[exdecker83]

I tried doing a trim path to do a smooth loop and reduce the shaky-ness, but I don't know if I'm doing it wrong or if I have to use an image instead of the shape layer. I also didn't see your message about attaching the project file. I will have to do that tomorrow, but I can try and put that here.

[ShiveringCactus]

Would the Offset effect work for you here?

[exdecker83]

thats only moves it to the left or right