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Loop Expression in After Effects: Loop out and Copy Expression Only

March 3, 2021
Maksim Marakhovskyi

Maksim Marakhovskyi

Motion Designer & Tutor

There are plenty of situations when you need to loop your keyframes, but you don’t want to copy/paste them. There is a solution to use expressions.

Hold Alt and click on the parameter with keyframes, and type loopOut()

Your animation playing in the loop without additional keyframes.

Also, don’t forget to use the copy expression only option to quickly past them to other parameters. We proud you loopOut!

How to use LoopOut and Copy Expression Only in After Effects

In Adobe After Effects, the “Loop Out” and “Copy Expression Only” commands are used to create looping animations and transfer expressions between layers, respectively. Here’s how you can use each of these commands:

  1. Loop Out:
    • Select the layer or keyframes that you want to loop.
    • Right-click on the selected layer or keyframes and choose “Keyframe Assistant” from the context menu.
    • In the submenu that appears, select “Loop Out” or “Loop Out (Ping-Pong)” depending on your desired looping style.
    • After selecting the loop option, After Effects will automatically create additional keyframes to create a seamless loop. You can adjust the duration of the loop by moving or scaling the keyframes accordingly.
  2. Copy Expression Only:
    • Select the layer containing the expression you want to copy.
    • Press “EE” on your keyboard (or right-click on the layer and choose “Edit Expression”) to open the expression editor.
    • In the expression editor, select the entire expression code.
    • Right-click on the selected expression code and choose “Copy Expression Only” from the context menu.
    • Now, select the layer where you want to apply the expression.
    • Press “EE” (or right-click and choose “Edit Expression”) to open the expression editor for the target layer.
    • Right-click in the expression editor and choose “Paste” to insert the copied expression code.
    • After pasting the expression, make sure to adjust any relevant property names or values to match the target layer.

By using these commands, you can create looping animations and transfer expressions efficiently in Adobe After Effects.

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