Adobe AFTER EFFECTS CS3 PROFESSIONAL User Manual page 329

To activate the Convert Vertex tool when the Pen tool is selected, hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS).
The Adjust Tension pointer
Clicking a vertex instead of dragging sets the vertex to a corner point (100% tension); clicking again sets the vertex
to a smooth point (33% tension). Dragging up or to the right decreases the selection's tension, increasing the curve
of adjacent path segments; dragging down or to the left increases the selection's tension, decreasing the curve of
adjacent path segments.
To view the tension value of a vertex, look in the Info panel as you adjust the tension.
Copy a path from Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks
You can copy a path from Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks and paste it into After Effects as a mask path or shape
path.
Note: To make the data copied from Illustrator compatible with After Effects, the AICB option must be selected in the
Files & Clipboard section of the Adobe Illustrator Preferences dialog box.
In Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks, select an entire path, and then choose Edit > Copy.
1
2 In After Effects, select the layer into which you want to import the path, or select an existing mask path or shape path.
If you select anything within a shape layer other than a Path property, the path pasted from Illustrator creates a mask
path on the layer, not a shape path.
Choose Edit > Paste.
3
Path drawn in Adobe Illustrator (left) and pasted into After Effects as a mask (right)
Note: You can also use a copied Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks path as an After Effects motion path. See "Create a
motion path from a mask, shape, or paint path" on page 201 for more information.
See also
"Preparing and importing Illustrator files" on page 91
Designate the first vertex for a Bezier path
To animate a path, After Effects designates the topmost vertex at the initial keyframe as the first vertex and numbers
each successive vertex in ascending order from the first vertex. After Effects then assigns the same numbers to the
corresponding vertices at all successive keyframes. After Effects interpolates the movement of each vertex from its
initial position at one keyframe to the position of the correspondingly numbered vertex at the next keyframe. At any
time during an animation, you can designate another vertex as the first vertex; this causes After Effects to renumber
the vertices of the path. Renumbering vertices causes path animation to change, because After Effects then maps the
new vertex numbers to the corresponding old vertex numbers still saved at successive keyframes.
appears as you drag a vertex of the RotoBezier mask.
AFTER EFFECTS CS3 323
User Guide