Pucker & Bloat in Adobe After Effects | How & When to use it - Full Guide

 

Absolutely! Here's a complete and beginner-friendly guide to Pucker & Bloat in Adobe After Effects, a super fun and powerful shape layer modifier that lets you create cool distortions and stylized animations.

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🌟 Pucker & Bloat in Adobe After Effects – Full Guide

The Pucker & Bloat tool lets you inflate (bloat) or pinch (pucker) the shape’s path — perfect for making shapes look spiky, starburst-like, or organically puffed up.

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🎯 Where to Find It

1. Create a shape layer

   • Example: Draw a star, polygon, or ellipse using the Shape Tool.

2. In the Timeline Panel, go to:

   Shape Layer >
     Contents >
       [Your Shape Group] >
         Add ▼ > Pucker & Bloat
   

3. Now you’ll see a new Pucker & Bloat modifier under your shape.

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🛠️ Properties of Pucker & Bloat

• Amount

  • Controls the strength and direction of the effect.

    • Positive Value (Bloat) = Expands the shape outward (balloon-like).

    • Negative Value (Pucker) = Pulls the shape inward (pinched or starburst look).

• Transform: Pucker & Bloat

  • You can reposition, scale, or rotate the effect independently of the shape.

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🔄 Animate the Effect

You can animate the Amount with keyframes to make dynamic effects like:

• Wavy motion

• Pulsing stars

• Expanding icons

• Organic, breathing shapes

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🎨 Creative Use Cases

Use Case	How to Apply
⭐ Make a Starburst	Draw a polygon or star → Add Pucker & Bloat → Set Amount to -50
💨 Breathing Shape	Use Ellipse → Animate Amount from 0 → 10 → 0
⚙️ Gear-like Shape	Use Star → Pucker to -100 for spiky teeth look
🌺 Flower Animation	Combine with Repeater and animate Bloat for a blooming effect

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💡 Pro Tips

• Works best with polygons, stars, and custom shapes (try combining with Convert to Bezier Path).

• Combine with Trim Paths or Repeater for complex motion graphics.

• Add multiple Pucker & Bloat effects with different transforms for layered distortion.

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🔁 Combine with Other Shape Modifiers

Try stacking with:

• Offset Paths → For layered outlines.

• Repeater → To clone distorted shapes in radial patterns.

• Merge Paths → For blending multiple shape results together.