By constraining a path between two other animated paths, you can easily achieve intricate animations in #AfterEffects. Take a look at how I implemented this in my latest rig. #MotionGraphics

Wanted to test the slice path effect on an animated path in After Effects. I used a helix path to see how the Bézier handles would update, and the result is pretty smooth! 🤩 The effect reevaluates the Bézier path after removing the sliced portion, updating the vertices and handles in real time.

It's nice to see the Bézier handles updating as the path grows in After Effects. It feels organic. The expression reveals the current state of the path, as if the moving point were its last vertex.

Trim Paths, but for real. Instead of just hiding part of the stroke, this cuts the actual path and calculates the exact new Bézier handles. Fun to watch the geometry itself draw on in After Effects.

After Effects doesn't have a Graph Control. But it's possible to build your own with a Shape Layer, and with the expressions available read the values. It's pretty lightweight and the graph can also be keyframed, which is useful since it seems impossible to output real-time values from a custom plugin / script.

Playing with this rig where both poles of a sphere can move freely, here attached to two null layers. Animated with expressions on shape layers and Find Intersections to add the red dots at every intersection in After Effects.

Attempt: a 2.5D Donut + Find Intersections in After Effects. Made with path shape layers, a lot of expressions, and the plugin renders instances at every intersection.

To show a bit more of how this rig works, I projected a red line onto the path to visualize how its last point influences the path as it moves closer and forms a circle.

This rig in After Effects is really fun. The setup: as the last point of the path gets closer to the first, it starts forming a circle. That same point also controls the size of the circle and where it starts along the path.

By using the total length of the path and the distance between a null and the path, the null can control where the path starts to roll. Rigged with expressions in After Effects.

There is no Corner Pin effect in this setup, all the text layers are animated only with position, scale and rotation. Feels like a Mesh Warp effect controlled by the distance to a null in After Effects.

Experimenting with the dynamic grid in After Effects, the distortion is controlled by the distance to a null layer. Why not a simple Bulge effect? Because here the geometry stays real (positions, sizes, tangents, distances), so the distortion can also drive the properties of other layers.

Rebuilt the dynamic grid, this time with paths inside a single shape layer in After Effects. Much faster than one layer per cell, each path is driven by an expression on its transform group, still controlled by distance from one null. (+ Find Intersections for the icons at each crossing.)

Triangle + Round Corners + Circle + Repeater + Find Intersections. One shape layer in After Effects. The layers at the intersections orient along the triangle.

A quick tutorial for this one.

Offset Paths + Trim Paths + Find Intersections. And look closely, the crossings even follow the Round Join of the Offset Paths in After Effects.

Shape Layer Repeater + Find Intersections. And it finds the crossings on every repetition in After Effects.

Parametric Rectangle paths + Find Intersections. And it finds all the crossings while drawing in After Effects. The rectangles stay adjustable after, size and roundness.

Mask path + Shape paths + Find Intersections in After Effects.

ZigZag path + parametric Rectangle path + Find Intersections. Also, there is this rotation mode where the layers at the intersections orient along the first path, a fun way to control them in After Effects.

I used to right-click → Convert to Bezier Path to find intersections manually. Turns out the parametric values are enough, Size and Position already give all the geometry, and it's actually easier. Here the two circles and the square stay parametric, the crossings are shown by Find Intersections in After Effects.