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Convert shape path to mask path
Does anyone know how to convert shape paths to mask paths? The reason is when I convert text to outlines in CS3 it creates shape paths but I need mask paths so I can apply an animated stroke effect. Thanks!
Dan
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14 Replies
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when you create outlines for text a new layer is created. turn off the text layer than select the new outlines layer and apply the stroke effect to that new layer.
Todd Morgan
Creative Director
morgancreative
http://www.morgancreative.biz -
You can copy and paste paths from masks to shapes, and vice versa. Copy the Path property itself from the shape and then paste into the Mask Path property of a mask. (You can link these same properties using expressions and the pickwhip, too.)
I assume that you have a good reason for animating a Stroke effect on masks as opposed to stroking the shapes and using Trim Paths and other path operations on the shape layer, but I’ll mention that that is often a good way to do this sort of work in After Effects CS3.
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Just realized you are using CS3. In AEFX 6.51 create outlines sends text outline masks to a new layer that you can animate stroke on no problem.
Todd Morgan
Creative Director
morgancreative
http://www.morgancreative.biz -
[morgancreative] “turn off the text layer than select the new outlines layer and apply the stroke effect to that new layer.”
I think his problem is that the new layer is a Shape Layer in CS3. In 7.0 you would get a masked solid, this is no longer the case in CS3.
I know that you can copy the ‘path’ property out of the individual paths, but each letter is made up of one and sometimes two of these paths… And that gets nasty really quick.
So I’d recommend trying Layer>Auto-Trace.
Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA -
Wow… why did they do that? Well, another reason not to upgrade to CS3.
Todd Morgan
Creative Director
morgancreative
http://www.morgancreative.biz -
[Todd Kopriva] “as opposed to stroking the shapes and using Trim Paths and other path operations on the shape layer”
Is there a decent way to apply a Trim Paths operation to a letter that consists of two or more paths? An ‘O’ for example? I’d like to play with shape layers more…
Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA -
[morgancreative] “Wow… why did they do that? Well, another reason not to upgrade to CS3.”
Personally, I like the new behavior better. For most purposes, I’d rather animate shapes and have the path operations like Trim Paths and Wiggle Paths available than use mask paths. Just my opinion; I suppose whether you like the old way better depends on what you’re doing. At least there are ways to copy and link between the path types.
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[Darby Edelen] “Is there a decent way to apply a Trim Paths operation to a letter that consists of two or more paths? An ‘O’ for example? I’d like to play with shape layers more…”
When you use Create Outlines, letters that consist of multiple paths (like ‘o’ and ‘e’ and ‘i’) are created as merged paths, so the Trim Paths operation sees the letter as one path.
You can also group shapes and then set the Trim Multiple Shapes property for Trim Paths to Individually or Simultaneously to control how grouped paths are trimmed. You can group and ungroup shapes pretty much the same way that you do in Illustrator (Ctrl+G or Command+G to group), and the path operations work a lot like the path effects in Illustrator.
Here’s a link to the section in After Effects CS3 Help that discusses converting text to shapes: ” Create shapes from text characters”
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[Todd Kopriva] “so the Trim Paths operation sees the letter as one path.”
One path that consists of two different paths, it trims from the outer part of the path first then moves to the inner part of the path, or vice versa.
I guess the problem I have with Trim Paths is that it gives a result wholly different from “Stroke.” It cuts the path leaving a hard line from the first vertex to whichever point on the path it has ‘trimmed’ up to. My question was: is there a way to use Trim Path in a more stroke-like manner, it seems that you implied there was.
Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA -
[Darby Edelen] “I guess the problem I have with Trim Paths is that it gives a result wholly different from “Stroke.” It cuts the path leaving a hard line from the first vertex to whichever point on the path it has ‘trimmed’ up to. My question was: is there a way to use Trim Path in a more stroke-like manner, it seems that you implied there was.”
It sounds like you’re seeing the result of leaving the default fill on the shape. You can turn the fill off or delete it to just see the shape’s stroke. Then, when you animate Trim Paths, you see something more like a write-on effect.
My Trim Paths example was just one example of how you could do something with shapes that people often did with previous versions by applying effects to masks.
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