How to animate a line?

Help/How To
1

Is there a way to do it in shotcut?
Just a line.
Or not a straight line, a curved line. Just so long as it’s a line, being drawn from point A to point B

I have no idea how to add that animation as an overlay to a video.

Also I can’t afford photoshop if that’s how it’s done, I only have GIMP, but I hope there’s a way to do it in shotcut

2

One way to do it is to place a mask filter over the line then key frame the shrinking or moving of the mask filter to reveal the line.

3

If you create the line (straight or curved) in GIMP, the best option is probably the one suggested by @pbattersby .

But if you only need a straight line, like shown bellow, it can all be done in Shotcut.

line

Suppose you want to make a straight line with these specifications :

  • Black
  • 4 px thick
  • Positioned at 100px from the left and 800 px from the top.
  • Grows from left to right - 0px to 600 px wide
  • On a white background.

1- Track V1: Create a white background:

  • File > Open Other… > Color (choose white)
  • Drag the white clip from the Preview pane to track V1

2- Track V2: Create a black line:

  • File > Open Other… > Color (choose black)
  • Drag the color file from the Preview pane to track V2
  • Edit the position and length of the clip (If the clip is 4 seconds long, it will take 4 seconds to draw the line)
  • Add a Size, Position & Rotate filter:
    • Size mode: Distort
    • Position: 100 - 800
    • Size: 0 - 4
    • Leave other settings to default.
  • In the Timeline, position the Playhead at the first frame of the clip in track V2
  • Click the Keyframe button. A keyframe is automatically added to the first frame
  • Move the Playhead to the last frame of the clip.
  • Change the first Position parameter to 600. A second keyframe is automatically added to the last frame.

Click the Deselect Fiter button, move the Playhead to the first frame and play the video.

You can of course modify all these settings to fit your needs.

3 Likes
4

Animate Lines
Created with Shotcut 21.03.21
Lines.mlt (12.6 KB)

2 Likes
5

As it happens I’ve started making a Youtube tutorial on creating text titles with moving lines. I’ve written the script! Just got to find some time to get it finished …

PS great explanation @musicalbox - I appreciate the detail (and the impeccable formatting) !!
@Hudson555x - great demo video and thanks for the MLT.

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