<p>The simplest way would be: </p>

<ul>
<li>Create your flag in Illustrator</li>
<li>Think about or simply test how many frames/steps are key for animation</li>
<li>Draw your <em>frames/steps</em> on seperate Illustrator layers in to get the same position for all of it</li>
<li>Paste your <em>frame/path</em> with <kbd>CTRL</kbd>+<kbd>V</kbd> on <strong>1 solid layer</strong> every 4-20 frames by switching between After Effects and Illustrator back and forth - time depends on your animation</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Explanation:</strong> Through pasting the masks at a different time, After Effects automatically creates keyframes of the mask shape property. All copied shapes become interpolated keyframes like a roto shape animation to get soft transitions. </p>

<p><strong>Note:</strong> The only limitation is that the number of anchor points <em>per vector image</em> should remains the same to get soft interpolation between the <em>shape keys</em>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-23T16:17:28.113Z
Thanks for the help. Ideally I'd wanted to do this in just After Effects and not frame by frame, but I realize it might not be possible.
sstaccato
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-23T18:05:34.547Z
@sstaccato You don't have to do it frame by frame... but you need a minimum of 4 I think. It's not possible to do this in ae - you need something like a wave modifier, but ae doesn't have a real 3d space to "simulate" something like this.
p2or
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-23T18:11:14.557Z
@sstaccato BTW: A upvote would be nice if this answer helped you to realize that this is not possible :)
p2or
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-23T18:54:13.277Z
I've drawn each "frame" of the waving flag in Illustrator but am having some difficulty applying each drawing as a keyframe in a solid layer. Where exactly do I paste the pen-tool drawn lines from Illustrator into After Effects? A photo/video would be helpful if it's not too much bother, otherwise I will upload a video of what I'm doing so you can see what's going wrong. Thanks again.
sstaccato
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-23T19:04:54.313Z
@sstaccato Please see the comment below your question.
p2or
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-19T22:43:06.607Z
2015-02-19T23:16:31.317Z
2015-02-19T23:16:31.317Z
p2or
<p>Could anyone provide some insight on how to go about animating a vector flag (such as the one pictured below) to wave in the wind. Simultaneously, how could also animate what's "printed" on the flag to match? (Another example below). Thanks for any help.</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/EEfpp.png" alt="Vector flag"></p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Xd18b.gif" alt="Waving flag"></p>

<after-effects>
Waving flag in After Effects from vector
sstaccato
# Waving flag in After Effects from vector

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-02-19)

Could anyone provide some insight on how to go about animating a vector flag (such as the one pictured below) to wave in the wind. Simultaneously, how could also animate what's "printed" on the flag to match? (Another example below). Thanks for any help.

![Vector flag](https://i.sstatic.net/EEfpp.png)

![Waving flag](https://i.sstatic.net/Xd18b.gif)

**Tags:** after-effects


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-02-19. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

The simplest way would be:

* Create your flag in Illustrator
* Think about or simply test how many frames/steps are key for animation
* Draw your *frames/steps* on seperate Illustrator layers in to get the same position for all of it
* Paste your *frame/path* with `CTRL`+`V` on **1 solid layer** every 4-20 frames by switching between After Effects and Illustrator back and forth - time depends on your animation

**Explanation:** Through pasting the masks at a different time, After Effects automatically creates keyframes of the mask shape property. All copied shapes become interpolated keyframes like a roto shape animation to get soft transitions.

**Note:** The only limitation is that the number of anchor points *per vector image* should remains the same to get soft interpolation between the *shape keys*.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for the help. Ideally I'd wanted to do this in just After Effects and not frame by frame, but I realize it might not be possible.  
> **username_1**: @username_0 You don't have to do it frame by frame... but you need a minimum of 4 I think. It's not possible to do this in ae - you need something like a wave modifier, but ae doesn't have a real 3d space to "simulate" something like this.  
> **username_1**: @username_0 BTW: A upvote would be nice if this answer helped you to realize that this is not possible :)  
> **username_0**: I've drawn each "frame" of the waving flag in Illustrator but am having some difficulty applying each drawing as a keyframe in a solid layer. Where exactly do I paste the pen-tool drawn lines from Illustrator into After Effects? A photo/video would be helpful if it's not too much bother, otherwise I will upload a video of what I'm doing so you can see what's going wrong. Thanks again.  
> **username_1**: @username_0 Please see the comment below your question.  

---

