Feather a shape layer

This has to be possible. Right?
I am trying to create a mask for an animated layer. The animated layer is increasing in scale while changing its position to move off the bottom of the composition. I can create a perfect MASK for that layer, but it moves with the layer. If I could lock the mask, that would be great.
So, instead, I am trying to create a TRACK MATTE. The problem is, I can create the right ellipse to MATTE the animating layer underneath. But, I can't soften it's edges. I've tried adding a glow effect, but it's not enough.
I know this is simple. I've spent 45 minutes trying to do it myself and looking for similar questions/posts... but nothing has helped.

Feathering in Illustrator just adds a blur that's limited to the boundary of the layer. It also is a raster effect. That means if you bring the an Illustrator layer into AE and push in and expect it to behave like a vector with CR turned on, it won't because Feather changes the layer from a vector to a bitmap.
If you really need a shape layer and you want a fully controllable feathered edge just create a rectangle shape layer, add a mask to the shape layer, then use the Mask Feather tool to control the feathering. You'll end up with far more control than you can get in Illustrator or with a blur, and the layer will still continuously rasterize.

Similar Messages

How can I feather the vector mask (path) of a shape layer in CS6?

How can I feather the vector mask, i.e. path of a shape layer in CS6?
The corresponding slider in the properties pallette is alway grayed out and unmovable for me when dealing with shape layers. Is there a trick to it, or ist it really not possible at all? (In CS5 you can feather any vector mask via the mask pallette, although the mask's behavior is most of the times quiet buggy after doing so.)
Or is there any other way to non-destructably blur a shape in CS6? (I know I can create a smart object and use a blur filter on it, but that's not really what i'm after.)
Thanks in advance for any help on this.
Reiz

Start from the beginning
- Select the Rectangle Tool - go to Options Bar, ensure 'Shape' options is on from the the Pick a Tool Mode drop down list.
- Draw Rect. This should create a vector Shape Layer.
- Select it in the Layers Panel: The Properties Panel then should highlight the Density and Feather options.
What happens here when you drag the Feather slider? On my end it feathers the vector shape as a whole.
If you need further masking capabilities, then apply a Layer Mask to the Shape and proceed with the Properties Panel Density/Feather options.
h

Strange problem undoing a shape layer move in Photoshop CS5

Hi. I have a strange recurring problem in Photoshop CS5. Basically, it manifests like this:
I have a shape layer, or several shape layers. I will move the shape with the move tool (usually via holding Ctrl, depending upon which tool is selected). If I then use undo or step backward, the image does not revert properly. It's like there is a discrepancy between the position of the layer mask and what is displayed on screen. Clicking on the vector mask of the shape layer to reveal its outline shows that the shape is where it should be (i.e. in the position it was originally), but the element of the image it represents is somewhere else. Sometimes, if I move a group of such shape layers, the problem seems to affect some of them but not all. Once so far, I have managed to rectify the problem by simply turning off an unrelated layer and turning it on again! Very strange.
It's a difficult problem to deal with, because it doesn't happen every time. And when it does, it's a case of reverting to a previous save. Luckily I save reasonably often, but it's still an annoying thing to deal with.
Hope I've described it well enough to understand. Any ideas?
I'm using CS5 12.0.4. Windows 7 64-bit. Intel i5 2300. Integrated HD2000 graphics with latest drivers.

I realise I seem to be talking to myself here (perhaps no-one's still using CS5 here, plus it's a fairly specific problem), but I have discovered a factor that makes for repeatable demonstration of this behaviour.
It appears that the problem I'm having is related to using feathering on vector masks. Create a shape with the pen tool, add an amount of 'feather' in the mask options panel, use the move tool to move the shape and then undo. This displays the problem I'm seeing where the image is not refreshed. I have at least found a way to workaround the issue for now. Simply changing the feathering amount updates the image to how it should be.
I'm glad that I can at least continue to use CS5, because I'm totally content with its functionality for my uses, and an upgrade seemed overkill (not to mention having to adjust to the changes made in CS6+ versions).
Perhaps there is still a cure for this bug somewhere. I will keep looking, and update this thread if I find it, in the hope that it may help someone else out there with the same problem.

LACK OF FULL PEN TOOL FUNCTIONALITY WHEN CREATING A SHAPE LAYER

Hello, I'm going through Chris Meyer's video course on being an AE apprentice and have spent over an hour on the following issue.
Here is what I know.
I know I am trying to create a shape layer, not a mask, to create a frame to surround the video of the green field on the attached screenshot. Therefore, I pressed "F2" to make sure I am doing so.
I want to define the borders of this picture frame by using the pen tool to draw a path on the layer entitled "Windy Peak".
I have highlighted that layer in my timeline.
This video was pasted on to a placeholder shape that I had created using Command Option "/" on my Mac.
I do have limited use of the pen tool, because it displays properly when I hover it above the borders of the video to be framed.
But I lack access to the toolbar controls I want to complete my assignment.
For example, I would like to create a gradient to define the internal coloration of this frame, but I have no use of the eyedropper when I click on the Color Picker.
Also, I am unable to access or manipulate any of the standard fill or stroke options for use of my pen.
This is what I know.
Thanks for your help! Matt
Message was edited by: Matt Dubuque to add the fact that the video had been pasted on to a placeholder shape image by pressing Command Option "/" on my Mac.

Thanks for pitching in Todd and Rick, I appreciate it very much.
As previously stated, I do have use of the pen tool, but it only has limited functionality as demonstrated by the path I created on the green meadow. My Tools Panel remains activated .
My core problem remains that I am unable to adjust the fill or stroke settings for my pen.
I have tried changing and resetting various work spaces and this has not helped.
I'm scratching my head here.
Matt

Shape Layer not showing up in my .swf file.

Hello All,
I was working on creating a banner that I export as a .swf file and I tried to create a rounded rectangle with only the stroke showing up so it then the banner would appear to have rounded corners on the website. After I exported the file to a .swf I noticed that the rounded rectangle shape layer I had in my project did not show up. Can anyone help me figure out why?
Here is a screen shot of the banner with a grey outline shape layer. Its there with 100% opacity and everything.
And here is what the .swf looks like. (see no outline?!)
If anyone knows how to make my shape layer appear here that would be fantastic.
Oh and just in case here are the export options I choose. File > Export > Adobe Flash (.swf)...

I gave the a try and noticed that the color quality of the other elements in my banner. (colored text) had poor .jpg quality even when I upped the .jpg quality. Do you have any recommendations on how I can rasterize my border? Ill jump into illustrator or photoshop and play around with some files and them import them to see if I can find a work around...
see crummy color quality that text was suppose to be a nice dark blue.

Possible BUG: duplicating a shape layer only duplicates previously selected points - PS CS6

Unless PS has been updated to make this a feature, i may have found a bug. Now (in CS6 vs. previous versions) when you duplicate a shape layer, if you had previously selected specific points of the shape (for example with the direct selection tool) only those points will be duplicated in the new layer. This is true no matter what tool you are currently using.
What I did was make a rounded-corner rectangle shape -> then direct selected all points on one side to stretch the rectangle without distorting the rounded corners -> then switched to the move tool so no points were selected anymore and only the layer was selected-> duplicate layer (with the intention of duplicating the whole shape). what i got was just the rounded corners on a new layer.
It seems the only way to duplicate the shape layer in its entirety is to go back with the direct select tool -> select ALL points of the whole shape -> change to move tool -> dupe layer.
If that's the intended new functionality, it's a bummer because if you intend to only duplicate certain points, you can already do that while using the direct select tool. Using the move tool, it shows no direct selections and therefore you should be able to duplicate the whole layer.
Maybe I have some weird default option checked that I'm not familiar with? This is not how any previous versions of PS worked and will add friction to my workflow if this is new.

Yes, this is an issue with CS6 and the first release of CC. You have to make sure you deselect all nodes in a path, or you will get the result you describe. I believe Adobe has made some corrections and improvement in the use of shape layers that will hopefully be released soon. However, if you're sticking with CS6, you've got to make sure to deselect on Win the esp key works great.

Is there a way to gather all shape layer and all text layers?

Hi -
I have 250 multi-layered PSD (CS5/Win) files. Each file shows 2 views of a product. Parts of the product are labels (Text layers with different words). Then Shape layer arrows point from the label Text to the specific point on the product.

Does this help?
// move text and solid fill layers to newly created folder;
// 2011, use it at your own risk;
#target photoshop
if (app.documents.length > 0) {
          var myDocument = app.activeDocument;
          var theSet = myDocument.layerSets.add();
          theSet.name = "Labels and Arrows";
          var theLayers = moveLayers(app.activeDocument, theSet);
////// function to move certain layers //////
function moveLayers (theParent, theSet) {
          if (!allLayers) {var allLayers = new Array}
          else {};
          for (var m = theParent.layers.length - 1; m >= 0;m--) {
                    var theLayer = theParent.layers[m];
// apply the function to layersets;
                    if (theLayer.typename == "ArtLayer") {
                              if (theLayer.kind == "LayerKind.TEXT" || theLayer.kind == "LayerKind.SOLIDFILL") {
                                        alert (theLayer);
                                        theLayer.move(theSet, ElementPlacement.PLACEATBEGINNING)
                    else {
                              if (theLayer != theSet) {
                                        moveLayers(theLayer, theSet)

Shape layer questions

I’m a web designer that’s used to using Illustrator for all my work. Recently many of my new jobs want me to work in Photoshop, so I’m getting back up to speed with it. I have a few nagging issues that I haven’t been able to figure out:
With the direct selection tool, how do I select a small shape that’s overlapping a larger shape? For example, a small line on top of a large rectangle. When I try to do this Photoshop automatically makes me select the larger shape in the background. I have to zoom in super close and individually shift-select each corner of the smaller shape before I can move/transform/whatever it. This gets tedious and slow real fast!
Recently in a document I’m working in, whenver I make a new shape it automatically adds a bunch of layer styles like drop shadow, stroke, etc. These styles aren’t turned on, but it adds unecessary styles to my layers and my client is very strict about recieving only super clean .psd’s.
How do I make a line that is truly 1px stoke width? My lines seem to always start out as fuzzy 2px worms until I zoom in and surgically make them 1px. Again, what a waste of time! is there some sort of antialiasing setting that I need to turn off?
Thanks!

1. With smaller shapes that are difficult to select, try selecting their layer first. If you are not sure which layer, switch to the Move tool (V), hold Ctrl and click on the small shape. With the default behavior in Photoshop you should be able to select the layer and then use the Direct selection tool to select points on the vector path of the small shape. If you want to just move the entire shape when its the only path on a layer, aside form using the Path Selection tool (black arrow), you can just use the Move tool (V) to change the position of the layer. If you have to deal with a lot of shape layers that you just want to click and move, enable the Auto Select for the Move tool in the Properties bar. Then holding Ctrl while using the tool will toggle to its non - Auto Select mode.
2.On the Tool's property bar under the main menu, make sure the chain button is not pressed then click on the Style swatch or arrow to the right of the chain button to open the style swatch popup and from its menu there choose No Style. Next shape layer you make will not have the current style automatically applied.
3. I'm using CS5 on a pc and creating 1 px straight line with the Line tool is buggy with its alignment to grid. The Line Tool draws lines in Shape mode as rectangle vector paths. The difference between the Rectangle Tool and the Line tool is that the Line tool aside from having a Weight attribute, it draws the rectangles starting from the middle if its side. In order to snap it to grid you have to set the grid in the settings to Gridline every 1 pix and Subdivisions 2. If properly working this is supposed to solve your problem if you enable snap to grid and draw your lines starting in the middle of a pixel. The problem is that this doesn't work properly with the Line Tool which does not snap perfectly to the grid. The work around is to draw your lines with the Line Tool in Fill Pixels mode which has an Anti-aliasing option that you can turn off.
Another alternative for drawing lines on raster layers without anti-aliasing is to use the Pencil tool and hold Shift while dragging with it. The Pencil Tool in Photoshop is the same as the Brush tool but without anti-aliasing. I think more proper name would be non - anti-alised brush.

Is it possible to access to the path property of a shape layer by AEGP API?

Hi everyone! I recently started depeloping AE plug-in and trying to access to the path of shapes on the layer from AEGP API. Sorry in advance if my question has been already asked by someone before, but I couldn't find exact answer to my question so let me ask.
In a composition, I have a shape layer and the shape layer has a vector shape depicted by the pen tool. The constitution of the layer looks like below.
Apparently, those streams of the layer like Anchor Point, Position, and Scale can be accessed by AEGP_GetNewLayerStream. However, I have no idea how I can get the pointer to the Shape 1 and get the Path from it because the these valuse are not categolized into any AEGP_LayerStream types.
Very similar question was asked in the following link and the it was advised to use MaskOutlineSuite, PathQuerySuite, and PathDataSuite, although these suites are for making effect plugins, not for AEGP plugins, so I am not sure if they can be used here.
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1068528
So would someone kindly enlighten me about this??
Thank you very much.

hi hagmas! welcome to the forum, where there are plenty of existing answers
but never for exactly what you seek.
first off, every suite who's functions name start with AEGP, were actually
created for AEGP's plug-ins use, but most of them (including the suites you
mentioned) can also be used in effects. (and not as you thought, the other
way around)
the shape layer's stream indeed are not indexed, and that's because then
are added dynamically by the user and can be re-ordered.
look into the "dynamic stream suite", using which, you'll get the first
stream of the shape layer, and start navigating though there by getting the
stream name, type, parent group ect...
you'll eventually find the "content" group, and in it the "shape" groups,
and in them the... you get the picture.
yes, it's somewhat tedious, but since nothing in these gourps order is
pre-determined or guaranteed, there's no other way to go (that i know of).

Can't rotate individual letters in a text shapes layer

So I created some text in After Effects and converted them to shape objects. I can do X, Y, and Z rotation on the whole phrase but not on the individual letters. Is there any way to fix this?

You will have to move each shape layer to a new layer so you can use the layer rather than the shape transform controls. Shape transforms are only X and Y. Unfortunately there is no automatic way to 'release to layers' as there is in Illustrator. You have to cut (ctrl/cmnd + x), create a new shape layer (sorry no keyboard shortcut), and paste (ctrl/alt + v).

How to get shape layer's content parameters in AEGP?

Hi all,
I have no idea when I want to export the parameters from the Contents of shape layer.
Now I add Polystar Path1, ZigZag 1, and Repeater1, three contents of shaper layer.
Content seems not equal to effect. I used AEGP_GetNewEffectStreamByIndex can get the effect's parameter of Shape layer. But no any information about Content.
Does anyone know how to get the content's parameter?
Thanks.

Thanks for your reply and sorry about my unclear question.
I use the picture to describe my question. There is a shape layer include "Contents" and "Effects".
I can use AEGP_GetLayerEffectByIndex to get the parameter of effects (Blue point).
However I can't find out the correct method to get the parameter of Contents (Yellow part, include Polystar, Zig Zag and Repeater).
The yellow part is also not the Stream, I can't not use stream suite to get information.
BTW, I have the same problem about Text Animator. (Yellow part of follow picture)
lapula

How to create shape layer in Adobe After Effects Cs2 ?

How to create shape layer in Adobe After Effects Cs2 ?

THere is no such thing. Shape layers were introduced in CS3.
MYlenium

How to add shape layer in Adobe After Effects Cs2 ???

How to add shape layer in Adobe After Effects Cs2 ???

You upgrade. You're too early for shape layers.

Transparent Background - shape layer?

CS4
So I have this great little shape and I want to save it as a jpeg with a transparent background so that IE will show a gradient around it. However, IE is showing only a white background around the shape. My the thumbnail in the shape layer is also white (not the vector mask's thumbnail). How can I export this shape to jpeg and have a transparent background that IE understands?
TIA.

Thank you Bart. As is typical, I was confused and had the features of jpeg and gif confused.
I'm curious though, why do you say "gif preferred"? At least in IE7 both file type are displayed with transparent background. However, the PNG is noticeably sharper. Is the issue just the increase file size?
(FYI: for anyone reading this that may have the same issue. When I first created a GIF instead of the JPEG as Bart said to do, I still did not see the shape displayed with a transparent background - or at least I didn't think I did. The issue was with my CSS. My header div loads a graphic as a background image. The logo was in a logo style class, again as a background, that was assigned to a div that was a descendent. I had assumed that the logo was going to load "above" the header graphic in the Z order. That didn't happen. So what I was seeing was the white background of the browser and not a white background of the logo image. FWIW.)

Gradient fill disappearing when converting vector/Illustrator file to shape layer

Hi,
When coverting a vector or Illustrator file (such as a logo) into a shape layer any gradient fill is lost. Is there no way to ensure the gradient fill is converted across or is this a matter for a future release of After Effects?
Many thanks.

That's a limitation of the current feature.
If you want a different behavior, you can submit a feature request here: http://www.adobe.com/go/wish

Feather a shape layer

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