In the layer panel, open up the shape layer by clicking the little arrow next to the blue square, this reveals the Contents and Transform options of the shape layer.Īlongside the Contents line, you should see the Add option with an arrow inside a circle, click this arrow and choose Trim Paths from the pop-up menu. With your line now created, it’s time to animate it! Next, click on the composition window to add new points to your line, holding down the shift button will ensure that any lines you draw are straight and they’ll either be horizontal, vertical, or at 45 degrees from the previous point. To do that you need to select the pen tool from the top toolbar, or alternatively press G on the keyboard to switch to the pen tool. With your shape layer selected, it’s time to create the line. You can also change the colour of the stroke by clicking the colour box next to the pixel value in the top bar.

Next, make sure the shape layer has a stroke applied to it by clicking the px value next to the stroke colour option in the top bar of After Effects, for this example let’s use a value of 10 pixels. For this example, we don’t want the shape layer to have a fill effect so in the top bar click the blue Fill link to open up the fill options, then choose none (the furthest left option), and click OK. With the new shape layer selected, you should now see the fill and stroke options appear in the top bar of After Effects.

To do that create a new shape layer by choosing To get started then, first you need to draw the line you want to animate. For this article though let’s see: How to animate a line drawing on-screen in After Effects: In this article, we’ll look at perhaps the most common line animation After Effects is great for: animating a line so that it appears to draw on the screen from one point to the next.Īlternatively, you may want to check out our other blog post on how to connect objects with lines in After Effects which produces a different type of line animation - in that post the line is animated by moving the individual points on it. Whether you’re drawing a line between two points, underlining some text, or creating a simple lightsaber effect, knowing how to animate a line in After Effects is one of the basic skills you need in your motion design toolbox.

After effects animate stroke