Shape operators
Operators modify a shape’s geometry procedurally, and every parameter is keyframeable. This is where motion graphics actually gets made.
Add one from the Shape folder of the Effects panel, with a shape layer selected. They sit there beside the effects on purpose, so there is one place to add things to a layer rather than two. Once added, an operator’s controls appear with the layer’s effect stack — in Effect Controls (F3) and in the Properties panel.
The chain
The nine path operators are one ordered chain, and the order is the point. Each one takes the geometry the previous one produced.
| Operator | What it does |
|---|---|
| Zig-Zag | Alternating displacement along the path |
| Round Corners | Fillets every corner |
| Pucker & Bloat | Pulls points toward or pushes them away from the centre |
| Twist | Rotates points progressively from the centre outward |
| Offset Paths | Grows or shrinks the outline |
| Wiggle Paths | Roughens the outline, with its own Wiggles/Second and Random Seed |
| Trim Paths | Reveals a portion of the outline |
| Repeater | Fans the shape into N copies, each with an offset transform |
| Wiggle Transform | Wiggles the shape’s transform |
Trim and Repeater are operators like any other, and both used to sit in fixed slots after the chain where their position could not be changed.
Position is exactly what matters. Trimming works by arc length, so trimming a ruffled outline cuts it somewhere quite different from where the same trim cuts the smooth outline it was built from. Drag Trim Paths above Wiggle Paths and you get a different animation — that is the feature, not a quirk.
Rounded rectangles stay rounded under every operator — Trim, Zig-Zag, Repeater and the rest — including through Merge Paths booleans and the Knife; a scaled layer keeps circular corners, and an animated radius is honoured throughout.
Reordering is safe: operators keep their own identity, so keyframes stay attached to the operator you keyframed rather than to a slot number.
The other operators
| Operator | What it does | Keyframeable |
|---|---|---|
| Merge Paths | Union / Subtract / Intersect / Exclude across two or more shape layers. In the Pathfinder section of the Properties panel, which appears once two shapes are selected | — |
| Audio Waveform | An amplitude envelope visualiser driven by a referenced audio layer. Added from the Audio waveform section of the Properties panel | Config fields |
| Cloner · Physics | The simulation modifiers, in the Simulation folder of the Effects panel | — |
The Audio Waveform operator draws an amplitude envelope, not an FFT spectrum. If you want frequency bars, use the Audio Spectrum effect — see the effect catalog.
A path can become several
Geometry is a list of subpaths, not a single outline. A trim that cuts a closed shape leaves two pieces and both are real, and each subpath can carry its own fill, stroke and opacity.
That is what makes “reveal this letterform stroke by stroke” or “colour each fragment differently after a boolean” a thing you set up rather than a thing you fake with duplicate layers.
Trim Paths is the one to learn first
Trim Paths animates a stroke’s Start, End and Offset along the path. Two recipes cover most uses:
Write-on. Keyframe End from 0 % to 100 %. The stroke draws itself.
Chase. Set Start and End a fixed distance apart — say 0 % and 20 % — then keyframe Offset from 0 % to 100 %. A segment runs around the path.
Trim Paths is added from the Shape folder of the Effects panel. A layer takes one Trim Paths and one Repeater.
Repeater
A repeater takes one shape and produces N copies, each transformed by a fixed offset from the previous one. Because the transform offset is itself keyframeable, animating it fans, spirals and collapses the whole set at once.
Combine with a path operator for radial patterns: draw one element, twist it, repeat it around a centre.
Strokes
The stroke is where the chain’s output gets drawn, and it has its own profiles:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Taper | Varies the stroke width along its length — start, end, and the curve between |
| Wave | Ripples the stroke width along its length |
| Dashes | With an offset that animates, which is what makes a marching-ants or racing-outline effect one keyframed property |
| Gradient stroke | Every stop is exposed, not just the two ends |
Taper and Wave compose with dashes rather than replacing them, and both are keyframeable.
Merge Paths
Boolean combination across two or more shape layers — union, subtract, intersect, exclude — live, or baked into one outline. Also reachable from Layer → Path Operations and the command palette. See Drawing tools.
Related
- Drawing tools
- Audio — for the waveform operator’s source layer