Wave
A travelling wave across the layer. Set Speed and it animates itself.
Wave pushes every point sideways by an amount that depends on how far ALONG the layer it sits. Points at the same height move together, which is what makes it read as a sheet of fabric rather than a wobbly line.
Give it a Speed and the wave travels with the playhead — no keyframes at all. Set Speed to 0 and keyframe Phase instead if you want to control the timing by hand.
When to reach for it#
- Flags, banners, ribbons, bunting.
- Water surfaces and the top edge of a liquid fill.
- A wobble pass over a logotype that has been converted to outlines.
- Sound-bar and equaliser shapes, using the Square wave shape.
How it works#
Runs along decides which axis the wave travels down. Vertical means the wave runs from the top of the layer to the bottom and each horizontal slice shifts left and right — that is the flag case. Horizontal is the same thing turned 90°.
Pinned edge tapers the amplitude to zero at one end. Without it, a banner detaches from its own flagpole and swims across the canvas. Pin Start for a mast on the left, Both ends for bunting strung between two points.
The layer is resampled to eight points per wavelength before the wave is applied, so a long straight edge still follows the curve instead of becoming one straight line between two displaced ends.
Parameters#
How far the wave pushes, in pixels, at its crest. Past about half the wavelength the crests start to overhang each other and the outline can cross itself.
Distance in pixels from one crest to the next. Bigger than the layer and you only see part of one wave, which reads as a lean rather than a ripple.
Waves per second travelling along the axis. 0.5 is a lazy banner, 2 is a flag in real wind. Negative reverses the direction of travel. This is the reason Wave needs no keyframes.
Where in the cycle the wave starts, in degrees. Keyframe this instead of using Speed when you want the motion to hit specific beats.
The axis the wave travels down. Vertical waves shift each row left and right; Horizontal waves shift each column up and down.
Sine is smooth. Triangle has sharp crests and straight sides. Square snaps between two positions, which reads as a stepped or glitched edge. Sawtooth ramps then jumps.
Which end holds still. Free lets the whole layer swim, which is almost never what you want on a banner. Start pins the top or left edge, End the bottom or right, Both ends holds the middle free like a washing line.
Recipes#
A flag on a pole
- Draw the flag as a rectangle with the pole edge on the left.
- Add Wave and set Runs along to Horizontal so the wave travels left to right.
- Set Pinned edge to Start — the left edge now holds still.
- Wavelength around two-thirds of the flag width, Amplitude around 8% of its height.
- Speed 1.2. Play, and the flag flaps without a single keyframe.
For a heavier flag, add Cloth after Wave instead of raising the amplitude — real weight comes from the simulation, not from a bigger sine.
Things that catch people out#
Shape and vector layers deform per-vertex, so the result is a real path and stays crisp at any zoom. Images, video, live text and groups have no vertices, so the layer is sliced into a mesh and each cell carried on its own transform. It looks the same at normal sizes, but it is a raster warp — zoom a long way in and it softens. Converting text to vector first gets you the crisp version; the panel offers the button.
Speed is Phase advancing on its own. Using both is fine, but keyframing Phase while Speed is non-zero means the two add, and the result is rarely the timing you drew.
See also#
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