Mike asked to show how to use the curve profile tool - it's really quite simple, thought i'd share a scene I did using it for two different things before I get a chance to do the tut:
The tree line was done with very simple shapes and a curve profile - and same with the telephone cord which also used the 'stroke exposure' to draw in and out - I was impressed when I saw that they worked together, saved a lot of time and effort! The chord 'bounce' is just a simple animation with the middle point - it makes this sort of thing much easier to control than having an actual long spiral of points (and probably performs better)
Now for the tutorial - sorry I make a lot of mistakes and am a bit tired so not as focused as I'd like (phone also rang half way through) but it does the job I hope!
The reason the shape moved so much when i moved that point was because it was the first point I drew when creating the shape - so it uses this shape origin as the starting point for wrapping the profile. Moving other points causes much less warping
If you want the curve to go the other way, rotate the profile path - try some extreme changes to see what happens.
Anme File here: http://www.mediafire.com/?dxm9pkynkup7dhp
(p.s. this job was part of a few scenes I did for a client that came up on the AS jobs forum! just to let you know, it DOES work - he was really nice and paid promptly... the original post is here: viewtopic.php?t=17289&highlight= )
old hobbits die hard... no wait...