Vector Modifiers & Animation
The four non-destructive path modifiers, the three procedural animators, draw-on trimming, and keyframed shape morphing.
Reference
- Tool
- Vector Pen
- Panel
- Tool Options
- Section
- Vector path ▸ Modifiers · Animators · Animation
Three stacks sit on top of a vector path, and none of them touches the points that were drawn. Modifiers reshape the geometry statically. Animators add continuous procedural motion, evaluated from the current time. Draw-on trims the path to a sub-range of its own length. Each is applied at draw time, in that order, to a copy — the source anchors are always the ones that were drawn, so any of it can be disabled or deleted and the original path returns exactly.
These sections appear only while a vector path is active.
Modifiers
Reference
- Panel
- Tool Options
- Section
- Vector path ▸ Modifiers
Add a modifier from the Add menu, which lists all four kinds. Each becomes a card with a checkbox that enables it, its name, a control that removes it, and one slider per parameter. Cards are applied in order, top to bottom, and only where the checkbox is ticked; a disabled card is dimmed and skipped.
Reduces the number of points in the path. A higher tolerance permits a larger deviation from the drawn line and so drops more points; 0 leaves the path as drawn.
Rounds the path off, easing out jitter in a drawn line. 0 leaves it as drawn; 1 applies the full effect.
Inserts this many points into every segment, raising the path's resolution so a later modifier or animator has more to work with. Shown as a whole number.
Displaces the path with static procedural noise, for an organic or hand-inked edge. This is the displacement distance.
The noise's detail — low values produce long undulations, high values a fine tremble.
Selects a different noise pattern at the same amount and detail. Two paths with the same settings and different seeds roughen differently.
Roughen is static: it reshapes the geometry once and holds. For roughness that moves, use the Wiggle animator below.
Animators
Reference
- Panel
- Tool Options
- Section
- Vector path ▸ Animators
An animator is evaluated from a small parameter set and the current time. It needs no keyframes: add one and it plays — a flag waving, hair swaying, a corkscrew turning, a line jittering. Animators are added from their own Add menu and use the same cards as modifiers: a checkbox, a name, a remove control, and one slider per parameter, applied in order.
Animators are layered on top of the path's resolved pose, so a path that is also keyframed keeps its keyframed motion and takes the procedural motion on top.
How far the path sways at the peak of the wave.
How many wave cycles fit along the path's length.
How fast the wave travels along the path. Negative values run it the other way.
The direction the path sways in: 0 is X, 1 is Y, 2 is Z.
Distributes the sway along the path. At 0 the whole path sways uniformly. At 1 the first point is anchored and the sway grows to its maximum at the last point, which is the behaviour of hair or a flag.
How many full turns of the cross-section are distributed along the path, producing a helix.
Turns per second added over time, spinning the whole helix.
How far each point is displaced. The offset is three-dimensional.
How fast the wiggle changes.
Selects a different noise pattern, so two paths wiggling with the same settings do not move in lockstep.
Wave and Twist distribute their effect by each point's fraction along the path's arc length rather than by its index, so unevenly spaced points still move evenly. An animator leaves a path of fewer than two points untouched.
Animator noise is deterministic
The noise behind Wiggle is hashed rather than randomised, so playback, scrubbing, and export all produce the same motion on the same frame.
Draw-on (Trim)
Reference
- Panel
- Tool Options
- Section
- Vector path ▸ Animation ▸ Draw-on (Trim)
Trimming shows only part of the path's arc length. Keyframing End from 0 to 1 makes the stroke write itself on. The endpoints are interpolated by arc length, so the reveal travels at an even speed no matter how the points are spaced.
Where the visible range begins, shown as a percentage of the path's length.
Where the visible range ends. Nothing is drawn when the end is at or before the start.
Slides the whole visible range along the path without changing its length. Animating this alone sends a fixed-length segment travelling down the stroke.
These three sliders set the values. Keyframing them is done from the timeline, as below.
Keyframing shape and draw-on
Reference
- Panel
- Tool Options
- Section
- Vector path ▸ Animation
Shape morphing and draw-on are keyed on the timeline rather than in this panel, so that every keyframe for the path is in one place. The Open Timeline to keyframe button opens the dock.
Open the timeline dock
Use Open Timeline to keyframe in the Animation section, or open the dock directly.
Find the path
Expand the layer, then Vector Shapes, then the path.
Key at the playhead
Tap the stopwatch on the property's row to key it at the current frame.
A shape morph is a keyframed pose. A pose captures every point's position, both bézier handles, width, opacity, twist, and whether the path is closed — so morphing between two poses carries the whole path, not only its outline. Move the playhead, reshape the path, and key the pose again to set the second shape.