Adobe AFTER EFFECTS CS3 PROFESSIONAL User Manual page 478

If Color Clone is enabled in the Effect Controls panel, this swatch represents the sampled color. Shift-click the Color
Swatch to open the Set Value dialog box for Opacity without turning off Color Clone.
Smoothing a Vector Paint stroke
The Smoother command in the Vector Paint options menu removes points from a selected stroke or strokes. This
action simplifies stroke paths, smoothing out the curves. By eliminating unneeded points, the Smoother command
can also dramatically reduce the size of the project file if you have complex drawings composed of many strokes.
When you select a path and choose Smoother, a dialog box appears in which you can type a Max Error value. This
value sets the tolerance for the smoothing. Higher values remove more points on the path, resulting in a smoother
stroke. Values can range from 0–100. The default value, 1.0, removes only redundant points, maintaining details in
the stroke.
After you click OK in the dialog box, the stroke paths immediately reflect the smoothing in the Composition panel.
Smoothing cannot be undone. Removing these points may alter the shape of the path. If you want to preview the
results, create a duplicate of the layer and apply Smoothing to test the result. If the results are satisfactory, then apply
the command to the original layer.
Configure a stylus for Vector Paint (Windows only)
You can specify preferences for a Wacom or Creation Station tablet in several areas of the After Effects interface.
Note: Using a tablet with the Vector Paint effect isn't supported in Mac OS. You can, however, use a tablet with the
standard paint tools and the Paint effect.
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In the Vector Paint Preferences dialog box, click Options in the Effects Control panel, and select the following
preferences:
Tablets aren't supported in Vector Paint on Mac OS. "Unknown" appears.
Stylus Vendor
Use High Res. Coordinates
This setting overrides normal mouse coordinates to use the higher resolution of the tablet, recording strokes with
greater precision and subpixel precision.
Note: Wacom tablets don't support the High Res. Coordinates option if Proportional mode is selected in the Wacom
control panel.
If you experience offset coordinates with the pen, try the following:
• Check that screen resolution and monitor settings haven't changed.
• If using a Wacom tablet, make sure that the tablet-mapping aspect isn't set to Proportional. Select To Fit mode or
One To One mode instead.
• Restart the computer.
• If all else fails, deselect Use High Res. Coordinates. Subpixel precision will be lost, but Pressure and Eraser modes
will still be available.
Play back your painting with Vector Paint
Use the Playback Mode pop-up menu in the Effect Controls panel to specify when and how quickly your strokes
appear in a composition. When you draw strokes, Vector Paint records information for the stroke start time and the
drawing time of each stroke (in real time). The playback mode you select determines when a stroke starts and for
how long it appears. You can set the speed at which the strokes play back using Playback Speed.
If this option is selected, data is recorded at high resolution (if supported by the stylus).
AFTER EFFECTS CS3 472
User Guide