From the course: After Effects Apprentice: 05 Creating Transparency

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Masking with the Pen tool

Masking with the Pen tool - After Effects Tutorial

From the course: After Effects Apprentice: 05 Creating Transparency

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Masking with the Pen tool

In the previous chapter we used the mask shape tool to drag out some simple mask shapes to create transparency for a layer. However, if we need a more complex shape, for example to cut out a flower such as this, we need to use a different tool, the Pen tool. Its shortcut is G. I select the Pen tool and make sure the first option is currently selected. You can go ahead and switch to these other options in context while you're editing. So make sure that first one is the currently active one. And for now we're going to turn off the RotoBezier option. We'll demonstrate RotoBezier a little bit later on. If you have the exercise files that came with this project, open up the comp 02a-Bezier*starter. Bezier is the name of the type of curve you'll be creating with the Pen tool. And just as before make sure your layer is selected before you start drawing out a mask. Otherwise you'll just creating a brand-new shape layer rather than cutting out your desired layer. We're going to initially just…

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