First/Last Point Offset

Hi

That offset is caused by the roundness. Try adjusting the roundness value and see what happens to the origin of the point.

For that kind of shape style, to ensure roundness does not create an 'offset' like that, you would want to create the rounded corner directly with vector first...like this one here

See the rounded corners are created with the pen tool, rather than using the shape roundness.

Also,- i see in your demo that you have the automatic keyframe recording turned on. It will trigger anytime you hit the 'a' key on your keyboard. If you leave this on unintentionally it will make a mess.

Hi

GFXZen has pointed you in the right direction.

When you convert the shape layer to points, you can then designate which point will be the start.

Once you do this, there are other things you need to remember.

1: Preserve Width - when you convert to points, you remove the geometry parameter height and width. These parameters will adjust the shape without distorting the thickness of the outline. Now with the shape is converted, your only parameters to animate from are the x and y scale in the layer properties. You will not get good animations from key framing the control points ...so X and Y scale are the way to go from here.

However, when you apply x or y scale operations, this will also act on the outline - so there is a feature to counter that.

In the outline, you'll see the 'preserve width' check box. You want to turn that on to prevent the outline thickness being scaled with the x or y scale functions. Note this only works when applied to the shape directly - if you scale the group instead, the line thickness will be scaled.

2: Preserve Scale. In the shape layer roundness section, you'll see 'preserve scale'. This is on by default. With the shape converted to points, if you have roundness in the shape, you want to turn this off. It is to prevent the curvature of the corners being skewed and flattened by scale functions.

The other thing to consider, just before you convert to points ...depending on what you want to do, you might find that just rotating the layer will be enough to move the 'start' from point to point relatively.

It depends on the shape type. The default circle and square shapes use special controls and have the "start" point pre-defined. If you convert the shape to points (Convert to Points button), the shape is converted to a bezier shape. Once you do this, switch to the "Edit Points" tool. In the canvas, if you hover over a control point and right-click (or control click) you will get a contextual menu with the option to "Set Start Point" This will make that control point "Control Point 1". You can also do this with open or closed custom bezier or b-spline shapes you create.

Hi

If you need to keep the regular shape, and use the roundness parameter, then you can counter the offset by animating with the write on behavior directly.

Apply the write on behavior - then use the 'stroke offset' function to dial back that offset.

It will work to an extent, but then note how that will become out of place again when you use the scale X and Y to adjust the shape.

Sounds good, we'll be around if you need further help. :)

In your preferences, you can change that keyboard setting to something else.

I use record for specific tasks, but it is not a day to day feature that I depend to get work done.