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Activity Forums Adobe After Effects How to Create Outlines in Masks using AFX CS 3?

  • How to Create Outlines in Masks using AFX CS 3?

    Posted by Lord Scales on May 24, 2007 at 4:39 pm

    Hi all!

    I am using After Effects CS 3 and I loved it, but I miss one thing: it does not create Outlines from a text is Masks. IF I wanna apply a Trapcode 3D Stroke, it doesn’t work. Anyoneknows a way to Create Outlines (not Auto-trace) in Masks?

    Thanks!

    Ikkysan replied 18 years, 9 months ago 4 Members · 6 Replies
  • 6 Replies
  • Adolfo Rozenfeld

    May 24, 2007 at 11:28 pm

    You can copy the shape’s Path property and paste into a mask’s Path property. They are compatible in severy sense. Or even better: you can link both properties with the expression pick whip, so that the mask path updates when you modify the shape path.

    Adolfo Rozenfeld
    Buenos Aires – Argentina
    ar(AT)adolforozenfeld.com

  • Guillaume Charron

    May 25, 2007 at 11:29 am

    You could try the new shape tool (mask tool). Don’t fill your path, use only the stroke. Once you have your desired shape, go to “Add” submenu and click on “trim path”. Like the 3d stroke, you can now animate the start, end and offset of the stroke!

    P.S.: you don’t need a layer to add a path anymore(if you do, you shape will become a mask, like in AE7). Just click on a shape or use the shape tool (G) and a layer “shape” will create itself.

  • Adolfo Rozenfeld

    May 25, 2007 at 5:10 pm

    The Trim Paths operation + Shape stroke attribute you discribe easily surpasses the existing AE stroke effect, but is not a replacement for Trapcode 3D Stroke, which is what the original poster asked about.

  • Lord Scales

    May 26, 2007 at 2:06 pm

    Thanks for the help!

    Yes, I noticed that it is not 3D and doesn’t have the same options.

  • Adolfo Rozenfeld

    May 26, 2007 at 7:16 pm

    It’s not 3D, agreed. 3D Stroke is amazing, agreed as well. But Trim Paths is just ONE among many available path operations in CS3 shape layers (like Repeater, Wiggle Paths, Merge Paths, Offset Paths, Pucker and Bloat, etc). So, I believe there are *more* options, not less.

    Adolfo Rozenfeld
    Buenos Aires – Argentina
    ar(AT)adolforozenfeld.com

  • Ikkysan

    July 31, 2007 at 4:25 am

    I’m having a simular issue that negates the pickwhip option: TEXT

    I have text layer I need as masks so I can mode/subtract them from an existing solid.
    And I’m not even sure what’s meant by pasting paths… this hasn’t done a thing for me.

    Any ideas?

    Ikks from NZ

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