What do masks do in after effects

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View Larger Image. Below a list of mask subjects, so you can jump straight to the section you prefer. What is an After Effects mask? Type of masks in After Effects? To achieve this snazzy look, you need to mask out the object from your video, and then you can add in graphics or words behind it.

For this very basic overview, we will be masking the beautiful Vimeo HQ building as it has a unique shape that will require us to use curves. Pr o-tip: To edit your path, click outside the path the nodes will become tiny filled-in circles. Now when you click on them, you can move them and adjust the handles as you please.

Animating graphics is an essential skill to keep in your filmmaking wheelhouse. The best way to achieve this is to design your graphic in Adobe Illustrator first , and then import it into After Effects as separated layers. While you could use After Effects for some of your design needs, the truth is that Illustrator is just easier, more intuitive, and more functional.

For simple shapes and text animations, designing in After Effects might be the quicker route, but for more complex graphics, Illustrator will save you time and sanity.

After creating your graphic, consider which pieces of it will need to be controlled in After Effects. You may find that you want control of every single element, or it might make more sense to keep certain elements together.

Each will function as its own separate layer in After Effects, so create as many as you need and then begin dragging the elements you want to control into each new layer. Be sure to keep your layers in the order you designed them, so the correct elements are on top.

As you drag your elements into their own separate layers, give them a name. This will help you stay organized and keep track of them all. Bonus: these names will carry over when you move your work to After Effects. Next, open After Effects and drag your.

When you click OK, a new composition will appear in your Project panel. Open the composition and boom your layers will appear, nicely separated, organized, and ready to be animated.

Before you begin animating, make sure to check your Anchor Points. If a layer is not selected in the Timeline panel, you are creating a shape layer. For more information, see Creating shapes in After Effects. Create masks. Points to keep in mind. When you create masks on a layer, the mask names appear in the Timeline panel outline in the order in which you create the masks. To organize and keep track of your masks, rename them. When you create additional masks for one layer in the Layer panel, make sure that the Target menu in the Layer panel is set to None; otherwise, you replace the targeted mask instead of creating a mask.

You can also lock a mask to prevent changes to it. When creating or editing masks, look in the Info panel for information such as the mask name and the number of vertices in the mask. To create a mask that you can move independently of the primary layer that it is masking, do the following: Create the mask on a separate white solid layer, and use that solid layer as a track matte for the primary layer.

Use parenting to make the solid layer a child of the primary layer, so that the mask moves with the primary layer as if it were applied directly. Because the solid layer is a child layer, it can also be animated independently of its parent. You can use motion tracking to make the solid layer and therefore the mask follow moving objects in the primary layer.

See Convert a layer into a track matte and Parent and child layers. Create a mask by dragging with shape tools. To activate and cycle through the shape tools, press Q. Create a rectangular or elliptical mask numerically. Select a layer in the Composition panel, or display a layer in the Layer panel. A new mask appears in the Composition or Layer panel with its handles at the outer edges of the frame.

Select Reset To, choose Rectangle or Ellipse from the Shape menu, and specify the size and location of the bounding box for the mask. Create a mask from channel values with Auto-trace. You can convert the alpha, red, green, blue, or luminance channel of a layer to one or more masks by using the Auto-trace command. Auto-trace creates as many Bezier masks as necessary to outline the specified channel values in the layer.

It also creates masks with the smallest number of vertices possible while conforming to the settings that you choose. You can modify a mask created with Auto-trace as you would any other mask, and you can link its path to other path types, such as shape paths on a shape layer, using expressions.

In the Timeline panel, do one of the following:. To create mask keyframes at a single frame, drag the current-time indicator to the desired frame.