<p>Using expressions to <a href="http://www.motionscript.com/mastering-expressions/follow-the-leader.html" rel="nofollow">create the trail</a> will work, but it will have the disadvantage that you will need as many layers are there are frames of the trail, and since each one will be driven by expressions it's going to get really slow.</p>

<p>An alternative is to make a comp with just your moving layer in it. now make a new comp with say ten of your original comps in it, and use the Animation Assistant to stagger them by one frame. Now make a new comp with this comp repeated ten or so times, and stagger then by ten frames. This will have 100 copies of your original video. If you then nested that video ten times you'll have 1000 copies, then 10,000, 100,000 etc. This should render faster because it's all based on precomps, which get cached by AE and tend to work better than separate layers.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-31T07:54:15.143Z
2015-09-30T08:38:50.693Z
2015-09-30T08:38:50.693Z
stib
<p>I'm trying to recreate the effect of an error window that duplicates itself as it's dragged along, similar to this:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/1gveU.png" alt="Example"></p>

<p>I would like the layer to leave a trace/a copy of itself as I move it around (via Position). I've tried using the Echo Effect, in addition to a few expressions with no luck. Could anyone recommend a method of accomplishing this?</p>

<after-effects>
Motion trail for a layer as it moves
sstaccato
# Motion trail for a layer as it moves

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-04-29)

I'm trying to recreate the effect of an error window that duplicates itself as it's dragged along, similar to this:

![Example](https://i.sstatic.net/1gveU.png)

I would like the layer to leave a trace/a copy of itself as I move it around (via Position). I've tried using the Echo Effect, in addition to a few expressions with no luck. Could anyone recommend a method of accomplishing this?

**Tags:** after-effects


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-08-31. Score: 1

Using expressions to [create the trail](http://www.motionscript.com/mastering-expressions/follow-the-leader.html) will work, but it will have the disadvantage that you will need as many layers are there are frames of the trail, and since each one will be driven by expressions it's going to get really slow.

An alternative is to make a comp with just your moving layer in it. now make a new comp with say ten of your original comps in it, and use the Animation Assistant to stagger them by one frame. Now make a new comp with this comp repeated ten or so times, and stagger then by ten frames. This will have 100 copies of your original video. If you then nested that video ten times you'll have 1000 copies, then 10,000, 100,000 etc. This should render faster because it's all based on precomps, which get cached by AE and tend to work better than separate layers.


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