Shape Layers

Shape Layers

Shape layers add functionality from Adobe Illustrator
directly into After Effects. The same tools can be used to
draw either a mask or a Shape layer. Here’s how they differ:
. Create a Star, Polygon, or Rounded Rectangle as a
mask and its vertices can be edited as normal Béziers.
Shapes offer a different type of control in the Timeline
of properties such as number of points and inner and
outer roundness.
. Shapes can contain Shape Effects such as Pucker &
Bloat, Twist, and Zig Zag that procedurally deform the
entire shape.
. Shapes display with two optional characteristics: Fill and
Stroke. With a Shape active, Alt/Option-click on Fill
and Stroke in the toolbar to cycle through the options
(also available in the Timeline).
. Shapes can be instanced and repeated in 2D space;
Option-drag to duplicate (as in Illustrator) or use a
Repeater effect to instance and array a shape.
Defi nitely consider shapes when you need a repeatable
pattern of some type, as in Figure 3.15. Using the Repeater,
you only have to adjust a single shape to edit all instances
of it and how it is arrayed. For the time being, there is no
option to array shapes in 3D.