Adobe AFTER EFFECTS CS3 PROFESSIONAL User Manual page 333

Adding attributes to shape layers
After a shape layer has been created, you can add attributes by using the Add menu in the Tools panel or in the
Timeline panel.
By default, the new attributes are inserted into the selected shape group or groups according to the following rules:
• New paths are added below existing paths and groups.
• New path operations—such as Zig Zag and Wiggle Paths—are added below existing path operations. If no path
operations are present, new path operations are added below existing paths.
• New paint operations—strokes and fills—are added below existing paths and above existing strokes and fills.
To override these rules and place a new attribute at the end of the group, below all attributes, hold the Alt (Windows)
or Option (Mac OS) key as you click to choose an item from the Add menu.
The Repeater operation is always added at the end of the group.
See also
"About groups and render order for shapes" on page 314
Work with strokes and fills for shapes
Strokes and fills for shapes are paint operations that add colored pixels to a path or to the area defined by a path. A
stroke or a fill can consist of a solid color, or it can use a gradient of colors. Strokes can be continuous, or they can
consist of a periodic series of dashes and gaps. Each stroke and fill has its own blending mode, which determines how
it interacts with other paint operations in the same group.
By default, paint operations within a group are performed from the bottom to the top in the Timeline panel stacking
order. This means, for example, that a stroke is rendered on top of (in front of) a stroke that appears after it in the
Timeline panel. To override this default behavior for a specific fill or stroke, choose Above Previous In Same Group
for the fill or stroke's Composite property in the Timeline panel.
Note: When you add a stroke or fill using the Add menu in the Tools panel or Timeline panel, the paint operation is
added below existing paths and above existing strokes and fills. To place a new stroke at the end of the group, hold the
Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) key as you click to choose an item from the Add menu.
New shapes are created with fill and stroke properties depicted by the swatch buttons next to the underlined Fill and
Stroke text controls in the Tools panel. You can also modify the fill colors, stroke colors, fill type, and stroke type for
selected shapes using these controls. The Fill and Stroke controls are only visible in the Tools panel when a shape
layer is selected or a drawing tool is active.
If multiple shapes are selected, with different fill or stroke properties, then the swatch button next to the Fill or Stroke
control contains a question mark. You can still modify the fill and stroke properties using these controls, and the
corresponding properties for all selected shapes are set to the same value.
Fills and strokes can be any of four types:
No paint operation is performed.
None
The entire fill or stroke consists of one color.
Solid color
The fill or stroke consists of colors and opacity values defined by a linear gradient and then mapped
Linear gradient
onto the composition along a single axis from the Start Point to the End Point.
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User Guide