Moho Forum

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

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.

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

jayfaker wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 6:27 pm 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.

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.

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

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.