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How do I animate a strip so that it looks like it's being drawn over time, as though it were produced by actual writing?

I can't find a direct way to make it. For now I am using a surrogate method - make an array of planes and add it to a curve path, then animate the array count.

enter image description here

Gwen
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avex
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  • I don't know if it will suit your needs, but you can take a look at the new animation tools with the grease pencil? Demo here: http://www.cgmeetup.net/home/blender-2-73-new-grease-pencil-tools/ and doc here: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/3D_interaction/Sketching/Layers_and_Animation – Polosson Mar 23 '15 at 01:04

1 Answers1

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You can use a curve to do this. in order to make it into a tube you need to set the fill to full and raise the bevel depth and resolution. You can then animate the start value to control the end of the strip. If you need to scale up or down the ends, select a point on you curve and use Alt-S. To animate, the start value hover over the input box and it I to add a keyframe. The navigate to the other end of your animate, set the value down/up then hit I again to add another keyframe. Keyframes can be remved with Alt-I.

enter image description here

The green lines in this gif were created using this technique in blender

Single image with settings

Green squiggles file:

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GiantCowFilms
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  • That is what I need, thank you very much! I want also to make strip that has not only round shape but square too. – avex Mar 24 '15 at 12:33
  • If this helped you please mark it as accepted. Could you elaborate on what this square shape would looklike? Have you tried turning the bevel resolution to 0? – GiantCowFilms Mar 24 '15 at 15:00
  • Imagine the strip (or belt - English is not my matherlanguige) that was broken. In place where it was broken should be square (or poligone). – avex Mar 24 '15 at 18:58
  • Setting it to 0 should work, it will have four edges, you may need to set it to hard shading to make it appear square. – GiantCowFilms Mar 24 '15 at 23:08