Text/Logo Animation with two strokes

[Niall Crowe]

Hi, I'm relatively new to After Effects. I have an 'nc' logo where I've used the Pen Tool to animate the main stroke over a few seconds. However, once the C begins to curve, I want the top curve of the C (the different stroke) to start animating. How do I animate that second stroke? Do I set up a new layer or what do I do? I've used other Adobe apps but I find After Effects a bit difficult. Thanks!

[Ko.Maruyama]

Yes -y ou can create a separate layer (or duplicate existing layer (cmd+D)), and animate that in the same way, but with different timing.

Note: You can also convert your illustrator artwork to Shape Layers.  You can animate both components in a single vector layer which may make editing (p/s/r) easier later on.

(converting shape layers: Adobe Helpx: https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/how-to/convert-illustrator-layers-to-shape-layers.html?playlis...)

[Byron Cortez]

You could do it directly in After Effects as a Shape Layer and use the Trim Paths modifier and animate its Start or End, there you should try a little, it will be ready in 5 minutes.

[Niall Crowe]

Thanks for your reply. Where you have Shape 1 and Shape 2, I have Group 1 and Group 2. The Trim paths do not follow the stroke of the shape. Do you know how I can get them to Shapes? I've converted the Illustrator file into a Shape Layer. Thanks.