Class 3 – Transitions, Trimm Paths, Mattes & Workflow

Last weeks project – planetary file

Before we head into this weeks main project we’ll go back to last weeks planetary file and add a comet flying through.

Animate comet along path with trace path

video coming soon

Use trim path, dashes and tapering for animated flare

video coming soon

Animation Project – A to B

Import from Illustrator and basic setup

Start with rough animation timing of project.

Sorting layers and organising project

Mask layers in background

Animate rough timing

Animate Flowers, Twigs and other stuff with rotation and cc bend it

Animate basic

Animate overshooting bend

Continuous loop of last keyframes

Grass animation slight bend left right with Math.sin()

Draw letter with trim path and track matte

Add dashes and flares with trim path

Pre comp and add Turbulent Displace to an Adjustment Layer to roughen the whole animation

Masks, Mattes and Transparency

In After Effects there are many ways to mask. You can mask a layer with a path, or another layer or with transition effects. You also can use Lightness/Color/etc. to add transparency to other layers.

Layer Mask

directly applied to layer
moves, scales, rotates with layer
layers can have several masks that can be combined in an additive or subtractive way
defined by paths
mask path can be animated
edge can be feathered

it’s fixed to the layer and will transform with it

Track Matte

separate layer acts as matte/mask
does not move or scale with masked layer but can be parented
can use alpha OR luma
both also inverted
matte layer can be animated separately

only one matte per layer and vice versa

Set Matte effect

separate layer acts as matte/mask
can therefore be applied multiple times and to multiple layers
can use alpha, luma, color channels, etc. for matte

matte layer can not be animated separately
hard to understand because matte transforms with layer if applied to a Pre-Comp or Solid and collapse transformations is off and does not transform with layer if applied to a Shape Layer or if collapse transformations is on

Stencil Alpha

masks ALL layers underneath in a comp
layers above are not affected

to get a background you’ll need to precomp eveything

Preserve Underlying Transparency

layer will only be visible where anything is already in any layer underneath

only works in Comps without background layer

Transition with wipe

You can also control layer transparency with “transition” effects like linear, radial or iris wipe and all other members of the wipe family.