After Effects Looping Animation Problem (solved)

Hello, neglected blog space that's a million years old!

I just found a solution to a little After Effects issue I've been dealing with and wanted to post it here. For myself to magnify it for anyone else with a similar issue.

This is gonna be obnoxiously technical, so most of you will not be interested in reading further...


The idea is using the "loopOut()" expression in After Effects so that it doesn't glitch or eventually skip over frames.

Are you ready, boys and girls???

The solution...


To make a prefect loop do this:

1. enable Time Remap for the layer

2. Go one frame before the last TR keyframe and Add a keyframe (hit the diamond icon)

4. Copy the first TR keyframe over the last keyframe

5. Add the loopout expression


#4 is the freaking KEY to this, I think. Also, maybe click on the starfish-like "Continuously Rasterize" radio button.

Apparently, this is an issue when you're trying to use the loopOut expression specifically with a precomp. Which is why I watched a thousand tutorials that didn't offer this simple solution.