Variable stroke width after effects

Question

Hey there,
I've been doing a lot of growing dotted lines in after effects with shape layers and by using 'trim paths'. What I wanted to do, was have a varying stroke width on that shape layer. For example, have one end thicker than the other (Like the image below). This is easy to do in Adobe Illustrator, since you just use the 'width tool', so I was wondering if AE has something similar?
I already know about the 'write on' and 'stroke' effects, but I'd like to avoid using those since I'm already using the awesome 'trim paths' effect. Are there any other presets I could look at? Maybe even one that fakes it?
Cheers,
Shannon

Answer 1

The way to do this is to start in Illustrator, create your tapered lines there, Expand appearance in Illustrator, then import as a comp in AE and convert vector layers to shapes. There are two ways to animate the creation of a tapered line. If you use Offset Paths instead of Trim Paths then the line starts growing from the thinnest point and moves to the thinnest point. If you use Trim Paths then you must have a straight tapered line and you have to set the right first vertex and then animate both start and end values to make the line start at the thinnest end and extend to the thickest end.
Here's what a comp looks like:
Here's a zip file for you with both a CC and a CS6 project inside. Sometimes AE is buggy creating shape layers from vector layers. If that happens you can add a stroke, then just turn the stroke off in the AE project. I hope this helps. There is usually a way to do what you want in AE if you think outside the box. Here's what it looks like (Click on the animated gif to see it)