Totally new to After Effects - Would like to animate a logo/shape

Question

Hi there,

I have the following logo element that I would like to animate in some way.

I was thinking of having the left circle/dot fade in or just appear and then have the "u" curved shape draw itself from under the left dot downwards and then up to the right with the second circle/dot bounce out of the end of the drawn "u".

I have no idea how to do this, so was wondering if anyone could recommend any tutorials, or what kind of animation this would be called, or some starting points?

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Many thanks!

ShiveringCactus · Answer

I took a stab at this. The hardest part about animating a logo is matching the shape using the features available in After Effects. In the end, I found it easiest to avoid that by using a shape layer as a track matte for your original image.

There's quite a few steps involved.

1) Create a circle as a shape layer and position it where the first dot appears.

2) Duplicate this layer so we have two dots. Leave it where it is for the moment.

3) On a third shape layer, use the pen tool to draw the shape of the U. We just need a single line in the centre for this.

4) Set the shape's Line Cap to Round Cap and increase the Stroke Width until it is wider than the U's line from the logo.

5). On the first dot layer, set keyframes for the opacity so it fade up

6) Trim the second dot to appear shortly after the first dot is completely there.

7) Set a position keyframe for the second. Then move forward in time and move the dot to the final position.

😎 Halfway between the two keyframes, move the dot to the bottom of the U and use the Pen Tool's V to curve the motion path. It doesn't have to be exact - we're going to cheat this. We just need it to drop and rise vertically.

9) Set a little movement after the second keyframe so the dot appears to bounce into position.

10) Back on the U shape layer, add a Trim Paths from the tiny Add menu

11) Set keyframes for the end so that the U is drawn on to match the position of the dot.

12) Set opacity keyframes for the moving dot so that it disappears at the point the U shape appears. This saves you a LOT of time trying to perfect the shape.

13) On your orginal image, set it's Alpha Track Matte to the U shape layer.

Here's a link to the project, but try to see if you can recreate it yourself first:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qs0ubqmzop7rsirthweac/Dots.zip?rlkey=tmg0eqtq5en44t5bii9f0a4q7&dl=1

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