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Drawing a logo with the stroke effect. HELP!
I was taught by my AE teacher at SVA how to cut and paste a custom Photoshop shape into an After Effects solid. By doing this, it would create a series of line masks which could be animated. At this point, I could apply a stroke effect to the line masks. By using the start or end properties of the stroke, I could have any of these shapes draw themselves over a given period of time. The coolest one I found was the globe type shape.
Here lies the question … I want to use this effect with a company logo I have been given. It is a black logo on a white background. It is also a Photoshop file. When I try to cut and paste it onto a solid, I do not get the same line masks which I can apply a stroke effect to. I am guessing this is because it is not a Photoshop custom shape. Do I need to somehow make this a custom shape? What steps does one need to follow to turn any given shape into a line mask, or a series of line masks?
I hope I have described this problem with some clarity. Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated. I have tried everything that I can think of to make this happen, and every time I get stuck in the mud. Granted … my pool of tricks on AE is shallow at best.
Signed … doing my best … Peter.
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2 Replies
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Ok, if I understand you correctly…
I would:
1. Import the psd file into AE (you might want to get rid of the background color)
2. Create an comp sized adjustment layer
3. Be sure you have selected the adjustment layer, then Auto trace. This will give kind of a rough mask, so you might want to adjust it so it aligns with the edge of your logo using pen tools etc.
4. Apply stroke effect to adjustment layer, and animate this the way you want it.Also you can play around with opacity of the PSD layer, animate this to fade in, or use write on effect to reveal it, see new excellent tutorial on this.
Hope it helps you!
Henrik
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Peter,
You can copy/paste a path/mask from any layer you can make a selection from in PhotoShop, not just custom shapes.In Photoshop cntl+click your layer icon, then make a path from that selection. Go to the Paths tab, select the entire path, copy. Switch to AE, select your desired layer, paste.
AE’s auto-trace is a pretty good route too. I just mention the PS path tip as I’m always surprised at how few people are aware you can use paths from PS in AE.
Good luck.
Scott
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