• Adobe Photoshop

  Pen tool leaves a small gap?

  Posted by Craig Whitaker on December 12, 2009 at 1:13 am

  Hello everyone,

  I’m using the pen tool to separate an object into two layers so I can animate them individually in After Effects. When I use the pen tool then select “New Layer via Cut” there is a very small white gap between the two layers. What am I doing wrong?

  Thank you in advance.

  Craig

  Keith Carmichael replied 16 years, 7 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
• 1 Reply

• 

  Keith Carmichael

  January 4, 2010 at 1:25 am

  Oh, this happens to me a lot.

  Occasionally it is just a product of viewing size–the gap appears when viewed at some scales but not others, and won’t appear in the final image.

  However it may be an anti-aliasing issue–when photoshop turns your path into a selection (Which it does to accomplish the layer via cut) it makes two nice soft edges which might not add up to full opacity at the seam where they overlap.

  Instead of doing layer via cut, you can duplicate the WHOLE layer, and use different layer masks on the copies to isolate different regions–this way you can fill the gaps by finessing the layer masks.

  Or just do the masking in After Effects–not sure if that will slow down your animating, though.

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