• Adobe After Effects

  How to copy an item in a layer.

  Posted by Ola Sanda on November 22, 2014 at 9:48 pm

  Hello.

  Can someone please tell me, how to make a simple copy and paste of an item in a layer.

  I try doing this with the pen tool, but it only copies the mask, so when I move it, it is only the mask that moves on the background.

  I know this must be very basic knowledge, but unknown to me yet.

  Ola

  Ola Sanda replied 11 years, 8 months ago 3 Members · 6 Replies
• 6 Replies

• 

  Lothar Wieland

  November 23, 2014 at 7:32 am

  what kind is the item?
• 

  Ola Sanda

  November 23, 2014 at 12:33 pm

  Sorry about that Dieter;

  It could be anything. Say I have a Cup in the picture and I want to dublicate this Cup….. how do I do this ?

  Meaning I want to have 2 Cups in the picture.

  I have dived into the deep end of AE and am missing some of the basics here 😉

  Ola
• 

  John Cuevas

  November 23, 2014 at 1:24 pm

  All you would need to do is select the layer in the timeline and press Cntl+D(to duplicate the layer). You can clear all the current selections(masks, effects…) by pressing F2 first, the select the layer and press Cntl+D to duplicate.

  Johnny Cuevas, Editor
  Thinkck.com

  “I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
  —THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.
• 

  Ola Sanda

  November 24, 2014 at 8:36 am

  Thanks,

  When I do this, I only get a duplicate of the mask itself, meaning that if I move it around in the layer, I don’t get a copy of the Cup, but instead, of whatever is in the background, where the mask is at that moment.

  What am I doing wrong here ?

  Isn’t there a selection tool, where I can draw around whatever item and duplicate it, instead of dublicating the mask ? Something similar to the Clone Stamp tool, but where I can draw whatever pattern I want instead of the circle stamp ?

  Chears

  Ola
• 

  Ola Sanda

  November 25, 2014 at 8:45 pm

  Thanks,

  But whenever I try, I only seem to copy the MASK, meaning when I move it around, the cup doesn’t follow, see screenshots.

  What have I misunderstood here ?

  Here’s the first screenshot:

  

  Then I make a Mask of the Cup:

  

  Here I choose “Mode/None”:

  

  I doubleclick on the Mask:

  

  Dublicate and move it a bit:

  

  Going nut’s here 🙁

  Ola
• 

  Ola Sanda

  November 26, 2014 at 3:53 pm

  Thanks Dave a LOT !! 🙂

  So it was that simple 🙂 Been pulling my hair over this 😉

  Thanks also for that link for those amazing tutorials !! 🙂

  Ola

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