Looping trim paths animation.

[Khovley]

Hello! I am attempting to create a short loop of a simple path animation. I want the loop to appear seamless and not stop at the start point like it is. I am sure that there is a simple solution, I just can't seem to figure it out. If someone could help, that would be amazing! Thank you for your time!

Here is a little gif to help explain.

[Rick Gerard]

You need two copies of the shape. You cannot do it with one copy. They can be on the same shape layer, you just have to stack up the shape animators.

I would create one single seamless pass with identical first and last frames that took a little longer than your planned move motion then pre-compose, trimming the length of the pre-comp to the layer length, apply Time Remapping, add a new keyframe one frame before the last frame, delete the last frame so you don't end up with no image, and then add loopOut() to time remapping and extend the layer. Then you can adjust the timing by sliding the new last keyframe back and forth. There will be no frame blending, everything will be smooth and it will render very quickly.

Here's a project file for you to look at. Took me 2 minutes: Dropbox - TrimPathLoop.aep

note: Your browser may add a .txt extension to the AEP file. Just delete it. CC 2014 or newer project file

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[Khovley]

Clever! Thank you for the timely solution. The inclusion of the project file helped clarify the few questions I had.

[jeffbottom · Accepted solution]

you could also just use the "end" property of your trim path to set the overall length of the path then simply animate the "offset" property.

at 360 degrees it will be in exactly the same position as 0 degrees. to control the speed/looptime either

a. add keyframes for 0 and 360 and add a loopOut expression

b. use a simple speed expression i.e. time * 360 which will loop every second

c. more complex expression, using markers or wiggle or sine curves etc..

[Rick Gerard]

Offset paths is an easier option. I must have been tired. Did not even think of it.