Running out of ideas as to how to do Animated Graph

ehobbins

New Member
Hi There

I have been using After Effects for around a year now (so relatively new). I have been asked to do an animated Graph which is turning out to be trickier than first anticipated. I originally tried it as a gif in Photoshop as it is supposed to go into a Powerpoint presentation but I found this to be very difficult as I can't find the option to "Band to spine" as you once could, and so opted to use After Effects instead.

The graph will show different shapes moving along lines at different speeds.

I have designed this and everything is in After Effects, with the initial Keyframes in place. However, I need to repeat each layer so that each shape will repeat animating along the line from the beginning (without moving backwards).

My issue is that I have used loopOut(); however it only loops ONCE and then stops. I am not sure if this is the ideal way to go about this due to the speed differences. Also, how will I keep looping this as if it was Gif for Powerpoint? I have run out of ideas and a manager is breathing down my neck. So I just wanted to get other peoples thoughts as to how they would do this?

This is what I am trying to achieve: https://test.form-fill.com/image013.gif

Thanks
 
I'm no expert but After Effects doesn't support Gifs any longer (work that one out?) so you need to take them onto Ps and then export as a Gif from there.
Not sure how it'll react in PowerPoint as I don't use it but there's an option in Ps to loop it as I recall.

I'm actually struggling with a similar thing (loopOut) right now so when/if I resolve it I'll let you know on here.
 
Okay...I found out how to do it.

The expression you need to write is:

loopOut("cycle")

as typed above.

My issue was that I was getting an error for some reason and maybe because I put a space after loopOut but not sure.

Try watching this vid here:

 
why not just turn the 'gif' in to a video format that is supported by powerpoint and then insert video (setup to loop) and use autoplay on slide load?
 
Thank you for your replies!

@scotty I will try that expression again. I believe I did try that and "Continue" with no luck but I will double check the spelling. If I can fix the looping issue then I can just convert it to a gif and loop that. The trick is getting a seamless loop so that the shapes look fluid.

@Levi I have tried doing this in Photoshop but with no luck as I can't seem to get the shapes to animate on a path. I could be doing this incorrectly, however. I tried it using frames and designing multiple images. But when I then run the animation the shapes are bumpy and do not look fluid. The lines (like in the example) are symmetrical so it has been tricky. But if anyone knows of a better way then do let me know!
 
Fingers crossed you do.

I was working on my project and I was dead in the water with it as the loop expression wouldn't work.
I even tried selecting the pre written expression from the drop down menu but then after reading your post I had another go and it seemed to be fine.

Just wish I knew what I'd been doing wrong.
 
@Levi I have tried doing this in Photoshop but with no luck as I can't seem to get the shapes to animate on a path. I could be doing this incorrectly, however. I tried it using frames and designing multiple images. But when I then run the animation the shapes are bumpy and do not look fluid. The lines (like in the example) are symmetrical so it has been tricky. But if anyone knows of a better way then do let me know!

No idea what you're trying to do from that but you should be able to export a video from after effects at the required screen resolution for the powerpoint display. Alternatively you can just use a tool like the below to convert to a mp4 video (which should work in powerpoint)
https://ezgif.com/gif-to-mp4/ezgif-1-76ad93e693c9.gif
 
If it must be a gif then there is a plug-in for Ae called GifGun which gives the export option back to Ae.

Thanks, Scotty I will try it.

I think it needs to be a gif as they want to be able to put their own text on the image. So like the example: https://test.form-fill.com/image013.gif

They want to add their own copy onto the sides. So I have designed it with empty boxes down the right and left. Or I could just animate the paths and save that as a gif.
 
This is what I am trying to achieve: https://test.form-fill.com/image013.gif
I know that, hence why I gave you a link to a gif to video conversion. What I didn't understand was the process you were trying to take in that post I quoted because photoshop isn't designed for videos.

In all honesty I think you need to explain things as simply as you can because it really seems like you're trying to over complicate something that to me is really simple to fix.
 
I know that, hence why I gave you a link to a gif to video conversion. What I didn't understand was the process you were trying to take in that post I quoted because photoshop isn't designed for videos.

In all honesty I think you need to explain things as simply as you can because it really seems like you're trying to over complicate something that to me is really simple to fix.

I didn't know any other way to explain it - "shapes moving along a path" lol.

You could band to spine in Photoshop and do this as a Gif. The example in the link had been done as a Gif in photoshop. I didn't want to do this as a video...I wanted to do it as a gif but didn't know how in Photoshop.

But hopefully, it has been sorted out now.
 
Back
Top