Ways to animate edge loops sliding along a torus knot I'd like to animate a torus knot, making the edge loops (selected below) move forward along the knot:



The method I'm currently trying is edge sliding all of the loops forward as a shape key, then animating the shape key. After the slide, the mesh should look unchanged, however the edge loops are on top of where their neighbour used to be.

A simple edge slide on the loops doesn't slide them all in the same direction; some loops slide forward, and the others backward.



Is there a way to slide all of the loops in the same direction? Is there a better approach to achieving this animation effect?
Sadly you can not do this directly, however you can achieve the same result fairly easily. Begin by selecting one longitudinal edge loop, and pressing P > By Selection. Now (in object mode) delete the old mesh. Next select the new edge loop mesh, and press Alt+C > Curve from Mesh/Text.



Now you can create a cylinder, add an array and curve modifier, and you have the desired result. You may need to scale and adjust your cylinder mesh slightly to fine tune it.



Simply animate the mesh's position (on the Z axis) to animate the edge loop sliding effect, and add your wireframe modifier to complete the effect.



And this is what the final result will look like:



The array modifier has been disabled to show the animation more clearly.