Stroke Exposure Taper?

[jayfaker]

Hey everyone, I'm trying to animate the growth of a plant using stroke exposure, except I'm having a hard time getting it just right, because the taper of the lines stays with the points, But I would like the taper to follow the stroke exposure.

Have any of you tried to do this? Have any of you figured out a good method?

Thanks!

Jim

[Greenlaw]

Depending on what you're doing, here's an alternative method:

Use follow path to push a tapered line along the path. Then use a mask at the end of the path to hide full length of the line.

This may or may not be appropriate for you task, just putting it out there.

[jayfaker]

Interesting idea, Greenlaw. Thanks! I'll try it.

[hayasidist]

Hey everyone, I'm trying to animate the growth of a plant ...

Have any of you tried to do this? Have any of you figured out a good method?

My (then 6 yo) son did a "plant growth" project at school some while back. What he did was to draw (frame 0) the plant fully grown. ... the Dad stepped in with some help: On frame 1, I collapsed all the points into one place. Then at the target end time, did a "reset points". That worked up to the point that it was an "untidy" growth, so I broke the plant up into groups ... here's the result. Animated points, line width, colours ... "above ground", stroke exposure below. Doesn't directly answer your question, but it's another approach.

[Greenlaw]

Here's quick a proof-of-concept project you can pick apart...



Download: vine.zip

The animation can be made smoother by adjusting the number of points in the shape and path, and adjusting the curvature in the points.

Hope this helps.

[jayfaker]

Thanks guys for your help! That's a cool project, @hayasidist! Greenlaw, that's a cool solution that I may end up having to use. I did a version in After Effects (since it has tapers now) that is mostly working, but with it's own set of annoying limitations, but I like the organic feel of yours better.

Thanks again!

Jim

[Greenlaw]

Quick note: I was thinking if I had to make the above more realistic by adding leaves or thorns, I'd probably make small 'sprite' anims that I can 'activate' at different points along the vine.

Just animate the leaf/thorn growing in place in its own group, then drag duplicates of this group to appropriate positions along the vine. Timing for the leaf/thorn anims is easy if you do it inside Sequencer...just slide each clip to the frame where you want it to growing.

If I find some time and I'm bored, I'll update the above example.