Masking in After Effects

When working on professional motion graphics or feature films, the motion graphics artists is often asked to remove certain elements from the shot. This process is called Masking, or Rotoscoping, and we have some wonderful masking tools built right into After Effects. One of the things I love about working inside of After Effects is that most of the tools from Photoshop have been brought over to After Effects. The Pen Tool, yea the one from Photoshop and Illustrator, has made the journey over into After Effects. Luckily for us, the Pen tool in After Effects works identically to how to the Pen tool in Photoshop works. Let's check out how to use the masking tools in After Effects.

Project Due: Week 11

Creating broadcast quality motion graphics involves employing a suite of tools. This project will challenge you to combine a lot of the skills we have been learning over the past 10 weeks into one animation. Please follow the directions in Chapter 9 of the Adobe After Effects Classroom in a Book for specific instructions on completing this project. Please ensure your project includes the following required elements before you complete this assignment:

After you have saved the project file on your personal external storage device (like a thumb drive), please upload your After Effects Project File (.aep) and your rendered Quicktime Movie (.mov) to the Rotoscoping dropbox on D2L.

Before you upload your files to D2L, please ensure your files meet the following naming conventions:

Project Due: Week 11

Working with masks is an important skill for motion graphic designers. After Effects utilizes the same masking engine, as found in Photoshop, but has some unique differences. This week, we will be exploring masks and understanding how to create masks, manipulate their effects and begin to flush out the masking pipeline. Download the homework assets for this assignment from the Vault. Using the maskings tools and the provided assets, mask out the Golden Gate Bridge video file and animate the alien spacecraft flying underneath the bridge. Please ensure your project includes the following required elements before you complete this assignment:

After you have saved the project file on your personal external storage device (like a thumb drive), please upload your After Effects Project File (.aep) and your rendered Quicktime Movie (.mov) to the Alien Invasion dropbox on D2L.

Before you upload your files to D2L, please ensure your files meet the following naming conventions:

Check out these awesome learning resources! I've collected a number of assets that I think will help you conquer this week's homework and laboratory assignment. Please download the following materials to your local hard disk or flash storage device (AKA thumb drive).