
We're going to start with a pair of eyes because this is a really, really simple way to use this trick. When infinitely rests, rising pre comps or making layers 3d let's work around this by taking advantage of after effects, shape layer tools. After you're done, watching details are in the description.Īlex Deaton (01:04): Alpha mats and pre comps can be useful tools for combining several visual elements in a complicated design, but they make your timeline messy and introduce frustrating glitches and comp failures. You can download the project files I'm using in this video to follow along or to practice this technique. So you can kiss those redundant matte layers, goodbye forever to make things easier.
#Perfect layers tool 1 how to#
And this tutorial I'll show you how to build single layer shaped pre comps, utilizing groups, merge paths, and simple path expressions. I utilize in almost every project to avoid layer clutter and over complicated matting and pre-computer issues. One of these techniques is a shape layer workflow. I've picked up some after effects work arounds that saved me from daily Adobe induced frustration migraines.
#Perfect layers tool 1 full#
Tutorial Full Transcript Below 👇:Īlex Deaton (00:00): Are you tired of cluttering up your workspace with alpha mattes and messy pre comps, the break, as soon as you infinitely rasterize them or make them 3d fret no more.Īlex Deaton (00:17): Hi, my name is Alex Deaton and I've been a motion designer for almost 10 years along the way. You'll learn how to structure animations according to geometric proportions found in nature, deal with complexity, create cool transitions, and learn tips from a seasoned After Effects veteran. If you’re ready to continue your education, check out Advanced Motion Methods from School of Motion. Here, you’ll unfortunately have to resort to the classic matting and precomp methods, clutter and all.ĭespite these drawbacks, this approach has saved me time and sanity by keeping my projects simple, compact, and iterable.

I work around this by simply making a fill shape that looks like the stroke I’m trying to create, but it is a less-than-perfect fix.Īdditionally, you can’t apply effects to the secondary shapes independent of the original shape, such as a glow or blur, since all the layers including the original layer and the mask are on one single shape layer. The stroke will automatically close the shape where it intersects with the mask. For starters, you can’t make this Merge Paths trick work with strokes. There are a few drawbacks to this approach that should be mentioned.
