To Move, Scale, And Rotate Masks Or Vertices - Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 Manual

When you create a new mask shape while a mask is chosen in the Target menu, the targeted mask is replaced by the
new shape. You can change this behavior by choosing None from the Target menu so that any new mask shape you
create in the Layer panel creates a new mask instead of replacing an existing mask. You can also lock a mask to
prevent changes to it.
See also
"To lock or unlock masks" on page 251

To move, scale, and rotate masks or vertices

In one step, you can scale and rotate an entire mask (or selected vertices in one or more masks) using the Free
Transform Points command. When you use this command, a bounding box surrounds the selected vertices, and an
anchor point appears in the center of the bounding box to mark the effect point for the current transformation. You
can scale and rotate the selected vertices by dragging the bounding box or its handles. You can also change the point
from which the mask rotates or scales by moving the bounding box anchor point. The free-transform bounding box
handles and anchor point exist independently of the handles and anchor point for the layer.
Note: When you animate rotation using Free Transform Points, the vertices of the mask are interpolated in a straight
line from keyframe to keyframe. For this reason, the results may be different from what you expect.
A B
Free Transform points
A. Bounding box handle B. Free Transform Points bounding box C. Bounding box anchor point D. Layer anchor point
1 Display the layer containing the mask or masks you want to transform in the Composition or Layer panel.
Using the Selection tool, do one of the following:
2
•
To transform any number of vertices, select the vertices you want to transform and choose Layer > Mask > Free
Transform Points.
•
To transform the entire mask, select it in the Timeline panel and choose Layer > Mask > Free Transform Points.
To move the bounding box's anchor point, position the Selection tool over the bounding box anchor point
3
until the Selection tool changes to a move anchor point icon
4 Do any combination of the following:
•
To move the mask or selected vertices, position the pointer inside the bounding box and drag.
•
To scale the mask or selected vertices, position the pointer on a bounding box handle and, when the pointer
changes to a straight, double-sided arrow
scale. Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) as you drag to scale around the bounding box's anchor
point.
•
To rotate the mask or selected vertices, position the pointer just outside the free-transform bounding box and,
when the pointer changes to a curved double-sided arrow
C
D
. Drag to position the anchor point.
, drag to a new size. Hold down Shift as you drag to constrain the
, drag to rotate.
ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 253
User Guide