I’ll use this to easily apply a loop to my animation. Well, one way to apply expressions is with the Expression Language Menu. How do you know what to use if you don’t understand the language involved?
Attach effects to a particular video in after effects how to#
Even if you do know how to use them, they can still be confusing. If you’re unfamiliar with them, expressions can be quite intimidating. A much easier method is to use an expression.
First of all, if I want to change the timing of the animation or the color or position of the marker, it might quickly become complicated with so many layers and keyframes. However, this method has a few drawbacks. To loop this animation, I could simply copy the shape layer and then paste it as many times as I need - and maybe even precomp it to makes things more organized. I’ll time the animation to last for one second. This first animation cycle only takes 4 keyframes to create and will give me my radar blip effect. I’ll keyframe the scale to go up while the opacity will go down. To do this, I will animate the scale and opacity attributes of my second ellipse shape. Initially, I just need to animate the first cycle of the animation. I’ll use one to create the animation effect, while the other will be stationary. My location marker consists of two ellipse shapes. So, let me show you how we can put this together very quickly using only a few keyframes and a simple expression. I want the location marker to have a subtle blinking effect, like a radar screen. Learn how to save yourself some time with animation loop cycles in Adobe After Effects with this easy-to-follow tutorial.įor this particular project, I am going to create an animated location marker that I can use over a map graphic.