Stop using the beam effect to connect objects with lines in After Effects

[@undeadwilldestroyall]

This is incredible. Absolute perfection. No condescension of other designers. No faff. Just the pros and cons, and a great overview and guide of this technique and it's potential.

[@germanmairen]

Man, this tutorial saved my life. Using beams was always a pain in the ass and your method is way more efficient. THANKS!!!!!!

[@MadeByLoop]

Glad I could help!

[@TaylorYorgason]

THIS. I can't believe how long I've been in After Effects and have never been able to figure out this one technique. I've seen it everywhere but could never reasonably replicate it until this video. Thank you!!

[@astalsberg]

Love it! Simple, easy, no messy writing you could fail on, no hotkeys not shown. GREAT EXAMPLE! :D

[@SidenoteChannel]

This is amazing! Thank you for saving my time.

[@MadeByLoop]

Thanks for commenting, glad you found it useful!

[@pwl4576]

Excellent tutorial - great production and delivery. Also great to hear a north-west accent on one of these!

[@chrishogben5282]

Man this is way better than any of the faffing about with expressions tutorials I've been following prior to this. Thank you!

[@SteveColemanProduction]

Amazing!! I wish I would have found your video first, I could have saved myself hours of editing, testing and frustration. Kudos!!

[@dynomik]

YOU MADE MY DAY! That is one of the top 10 tricks ever catched. Best thanks mate

[@TheMarketExit]

Lovely tutorial! I've been using the beam effect to connect callout signs, realizing that there's probably a much better way but being too lazy to figure out how. You explained it brilliantly, thanks!

[@DaveSy]

Love how specific this video is! Thank you for saving me from the beam effect :)

[@mauroubel]

Thank you sooo much! Very nice indeed

[@robertblaine5012]

Thanks so much, man! This opens up a whole new world

[@GaureshWadkar]

Amazing!! Thanks i was looking for it. This help me a lot!!

[@elliugpaso]

Thank you, I was looking for this for hours, thank you so much!

[@nseriously2704]

thank u for sharing your skills)! keen regards from Kazakhstan!

[@ironic.]

youtube did a great job recommending me this tutorial

[@juanjosereynaga9902]

THANK SO MUCH my friend, today you saved my life, thank you again from Argentina.

[@ChannelRejss]

EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR! Thank you! After seeing tutorials on the beam effect I thought " well that can't be still the way to go today?!?!?" and glad I research a bit longer to find your video!

[@MadeByLoop]

Glad you found it useful! Thanks for watching!

[@cycloneofsouls]

was trying to figure how to do this with beam, and google showed me this video, glad it did :D

[@robwahl]

So much better than the beam effect! Thank you!

[@mardoperero]

Genius! Thanks

[@PaulvanAarle1]

This is just briliant!

[@MadeByLoop]

Thank you!

[@beanhugger]

This is brilliant, thank you for explaining it and showing an example of how to use it too!

[@sandymonline]

Bro, You are awesome! Thanks for this easy tutorial. Love from India.

[@fedeparodi3464]

In the last example you can also delete the null objects, and choose the circle layers in the effect controls panel for a cleaner timeline ;)

[@cardermedia]

Great succinct tutorial, no crappy jokes or time-wasting, thank you! Subscribed :)

[@michaelvfx6903]

and no 27 minutes to explain something basic....

[@goldenratio2329]

Wow! Thank you so so much! It is absolutely amazing and advanced way to do it! Appreciate you are sharing your experience with us!

[@MadeByLoop]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@brush_designs]

Brilliant tutorial! Just what I was looking for. Cheers!

[@dariusjaeger]

Thank you for making this! I was about to go down a beam rabbit hole.

[@MadeByLoop]

Glad it helped!

[@treffensaintjohnllc2913]

This method is much better than using beam effect. Thank you for posting.

[@capdponts8710]

Just what I was loookin for! Thanks!

[@dbm3757]

This is what I looking for , Thank you so much !

[@Louis-nv9ny]

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much!!!

[@MadeByLoop]

Glad you liked it!

[@Shree.2310]

this is a very useful video... thank you soo much

[@wongkc]

Thanks for the easy understanding tutorial ! KEEP IT UP !

[@GARL0CK]

This is awesome and exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

[@MadeByLoop]

Glad it was helpful!

[@xiao7debeibao]

super good， thank you man, you solve my problem,👍👍👍👍

[@paulanonuevo5678]

Very efficient and easy to follow. You're a blessing to beginners like me. I totally agree on using this rather than the beam that needs expression (i know it's not to be disregarded tho) because it just makes the process a lot easier to understand and do. Took me just about a minute after I watched this. Subbed 😊

[@Kanjas19]

Thank you SO MUCH for this :D

[@vnt2110]

Thank you, very clear tutorial!

[@MadeByLoop]

You're welcome!

[@TheFPSChannel]

Mind. Blown.

[@cherifwassim5655]

Merci beaucoup!!

[@jerryhunter1114]

Simple and fantastic tutorial.

[@timcallender999]

thanks so much for this tutorial! A definite timesaver that offers a lot of flexibility.

[@motionpixelll8068]

Thanks buddy, really helpful :)

[@andrewsploditel4610]

Thanks a lot! Super info!

[@MadeByLoop]

Glad you found it useful!

[@lensationnation8785]

Thanks man! appreciated

[@demetriusdaffara]

This is just plain PERFECT. Gosh, I feel like an idiot for going all the trouble with the beam effect. Thank you very very much!

[@bubanga]

Wow! This is breath taking! Thansk for sharing, I already submit your channel.

[@fajararmansyah7763]

you save our time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@antonnordenson9910]

Great man, thanks a bunch!

[@Simone-pz4gb]

Thank you so much!

[@dwijaast]

Amazing. Finally found this method here.. 🙌

[@alialtinok3922]

Hello, first of all, thank you for the education. I've just started the program. In this tutorial, how does Map Maker follow the movement of the world in the same place without changing its location? I would be very grateful if you could explain this. Thanks

[@Andrew-pp2ru]

Thank you Soooo Much!

[@pizzatoren]

Thank you very much! Is there any way to connect an object to the middel of the stroke while the nulls are connected and moving?

[@nhatvu2164]

very useful, thanks

[@mulraf]

you're a legend for this

[@VideoBeats]

lol was fürn Zufall haha

[@Kneuster]

This is perfect and I will use this instead of beams from now on!

[@reoncolor5914]

Thank you so much

[@subjectlife82]

Trhis really helped. Thanks a Ton

[@gtiboogiemann]

Thank you very much for this video. You just made my work life easier hahahaha

[@tastybrains]

this is just what i needed - thanks! i was trying to script a bunch of beam effects in a 3D comp and it got very hairy

[@davidehodgsonlorente3550]

Life saver, thanks!

[@MadeByLoop]

Glad you liked it!

[@danilobarbosa1648]

Thank you a lot!!!

[@dungtien5031]

Thank so much, Im find this tutorial 2 day

[@MrSkobka]

thank you, bro!

[@habohuang2131]

谢谢分享！非常有用的教程！！！

[@drive80studios]

OMG I love you

[@MadeByLoop]

Why thank you!

[@311osc3]

Bro, mind to ask is there a way to make a line attach to another line in the middle, which doesn’t have the block on that point?

[@BREA_______]

Cool! its posible that depth of field affects the lines? Thanks!

[@AGevaro]

Это замечательно! Спасибо большое!!!

[@accofilmes4487]

thx, you save my day! :D

[@mitulushah]

Thanks Bro.... 🤟

[@anuroop345]

Thanks. Wasted my 4 hours on trying to get beam effect to work. This worked in 2 minutes.

[@paulsimpson6290]

Thank you! I've been trying to find a way to just draw a line and specify the coordinates of the ends. I thought it was going to have to be "Beam Effect" and actually found your video when looking for information on how to configure it. (It seems to have a "glow" or "halo" that I can't get rid of!) I am subscribing and will definitely be seeing what other tips you have.

[@kohz9892]

in case you're still curious, i think it was the softness effect

[@rafaellewis1263]

Mother of god. Thank you!

[@perimetrfilms]

how did you get the London target to rotate with the world?

[@RobertAnthony86]

Brillant!

[@omprakashsingh8838]

Amazing ❤️

[@blindwhale5406]

thanks a lottttt

[@cafecaram4747]

Thank you a thousend times

[@Hepworks]

This is great, thank you. I'm wondering if I can tweak it to have a line that I created do the same thing - I'm trying to animate scans of watercolour elements and so have a 'line' but it's really a bitmap...so essentially I'd like to be able to do the equivalent of having an anchor point for each end of the line follow the nulls...

[@bambina5604]

Thank you

[@jeremiahblessing3891]

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@JoseWolff]

great tutorial! Now, I tried duplicating (line and nulls) as I wanted three separate lines, re-parenting to other objects, but that's not working and I'm not finding it as easy to figure out.. for now I'm having to do the whole thing for each new line, any tips appreciated tnx :)

[@MadeByLoop]

When you duplicate things I think you need to update the expressions linked to all the controllers so that they reference the correct ones. It can be a pain and often just re-running the script is quicker

[@be.perfect]

What if you already have your null objects (because google earth studio generated them) and you want to do it the other way around, connect them with a line in 3D space, can it be done ? 😮

[@livewell7037]

The audio is very low mate. A tremendous idea though. I absolutely loved it.

[@andydreadsbmx]

The beam effect is still useful for a more controlled line with the inner and outer colors and the taper but yes overall for most cases that technique is old.

[@MadeByLoop]

That's a good point! I'd still probably lean towards shape layers in those scenarios though especially as you can now taper strokes! The inner and outer colours could probably be achieved with layer styles or duplicating the shape path too

[@camilocastiblanco1088]

YES THANK YOU, 3D lines!

[@AbdullahUsmanKhan]

I can't believe I'm seeing this in 2024! Almost 2025! This is so much better than using beam! So, so much better!

[@nicholaskh5306]

who the man? thiss guyyyy

[@mikestevens4897]

Any idea why this won't work within a Lottie?

[@MadeByLoop]

I'm not too sure, but I found this which may help? github.com/airbnb/lottie-web/issues/831

[@BLUESCREAMPRODUCTIONS]

Great, but we can't have "bezier" anymore with the line between the 2 points...

[@Warwicka]

Can you attach them to text layers position?

[@MadeByLoop]

Yep, just parent the null to the text layer and you should be good to go.

[@Warwicka]

@@MadeByLoop oh great - thanks!

[@roomamkhairul]

wow

[@ehsan_shardum]

need a bit of help, my ae says (error: no path selected), when i try to create nulls from that shape, i did select it, why is it saying that?

[@MadeByLoop]

In your shape layer, make sure you go right down into the properties and select the "Path" option, the one with the little stopwatch next to it. The script needs you to click on this first, you can't just select the shape. Hope that helps!

[@ehsan_shardum]

@@MadeByLoop thnx a lot man!!

[@AGevaro]

это позволяет соединять много линий

[@Trylobit]

Somehow the 3D line doesn't work for me. I have the nulls set to 3D, shape layer set to 3D. They look right, but they don't respect the depth of field and when I set a custom view you can see that they are on 2D plane.

[@MadeByLoop]

Try adding a camera to the composition

[@Trylobit]

@@MadeByLoop I did, but that didn't help. I found a workaround. It seems like 3D Null layers are going to make sure the line looks like it's connecting two points regardless of how the shape layer is located in 3D space, so I just rotated it. It's kinda funny to look how the actual line is changing length depending on how you rotate the object layer.