Knowledge Builders

what is a mask in animation

by Hillary Lesch Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
image

What do you know about masking in animate short answer? Answer: A mask is something that hides one part of an object and exposes another part of the object. Creating a mask is simple: Place the object to be masked on one layer, and the object that will act as a mask on the layer just above it.

Masking is a simple way to reveal portions of the layer or layers below it selectively. This technique requires making one layer a mask layer and the layers below it the masked layers.Jun 7, 2002

Full Answer

How do I create a mask layer in animate?

Select Insert > Timeline > Layer to create a new layer above it. A mask layer always masks the layer immediately below it; create the mask layer in the proper place. Place a filled shape, text, or an instance of a symbol on the mask layer. Animate ignores bitmaps, gradients, transparency, colors, and line styles in a mask layer.

How to animate a mask in SketchUp?

Step 1: Select the mask you want to animate within the layer it is sitting in. Step 2: Collapse the drop-down and click the stopwatch beside Mask Path. This will create a keyframe and set the mask’s first position. Step 3: Move the playhead forward in time.

What is a mask in after effects?

In Adobe After Effects, masks are one of the tools you will likely use the most. They either hide or reveal elements of a layer, and can be used in conjunction with animation to create fun, stylish wipes.

What is a mask in AutoCAD?

A mask belongs to a specific layer. Each layer can contain multiple masks. You can draw masks in common geometric shapes—including polygons, ellipses, and stars—with the shape tools, or you can use the Pen tool to draw an arbitrary path.

image

What is masking in animation?

Masking is a simple way to reveal portions of the layer or layers below it selectively. This technique requires making one layer a mask layer and the layers below it the masked layers.

What is the importance of masking in 2d animation?

Masking during import time is preferable, because it allows the discarded animation data to be omitted from your build, making filesize and memory footprint smaller. It also makes for faster processing speed because there is less animation data to be blended at runtime.

What is masking in drawing?

In art, craft, and engineering, masking is the use of materials to protect areas from change, or to focus change on other areas.

What is the meaning of masking effect?

A large-amplitude stimulus often makes us less sensitive to smaller stimuli of a similar nature. This is called a masking effect. In a sound, a small-amplitude quantization error may not be heard if it is added to a strong signal component in the same frequency neighborhood.

What is the advantage of masking in animation?

Masking technique helps create transparency to affect its visibility without compromising on the clarity. This can help you to edit your old images and give them a new look.

Part 1: What is a Mask?

A mask is an invisible shape that tells After Effects to only pay attention to a specific section of your composition. You can use it to hide or reveal part of a layer or object. Regular masks are attached to and exist within the layer they are affecting, while Shape Layers exist as separate objects which can work in a similar way to masks.

Part 2: How to Create and Manage Masks

So how exactly do you create masks in Adobe After Effects? Well, after reading this section you’ll be using masks like a pro.

Part 3: How to Add Animation and Movement

Masks don’t just have to be stationary objects that cover up or reveal individual things in a frame. You can animate them just like other assets in After Effects to create cool, seamless transitions and reveals. To animate a mask:

Part 4: Common Uses of After Effects Masks

Wondering about just how useful masking can be in you After Effects composition? Once you’ve created your After Effects mask, you’ll find it has many nifty and helpful applications.

Definition

Allows you to specify whether you want to create a one-off mask in the inspector A Unity window that displays information about the currently selected GameObject, asset or project settings, allowing you to inspect and edit the values.

Humanoid

The Humanoid option gives you a quick way of defining a mask by selecting or deselecting the body parts of a human diagram. These can be used if the animation has been marked as humanoid and has a valid avatar An interface for retargeting animation from one rig to another. More info See in Glossary.

Transform

This option allows you to specify a mask based on the individual bones or moving parts of the animation. This gives you finer control over the exact mask definition, and also allows you to apply masks to non-humanoid animation clips.

What is a Mask?

Masks in After Effects allow you to determine the visibility of specific parts of a layer, similar to features that may already be familiar if you use Photoshop, Illustrator, or other image editing apps. You can isolate an object in a photo or video, create a cutout, make shapes, or even insert your friends into their favorite music videos!

How to Create a Mask

To create a mask, you first need to select the layer you want to apply it to. Then grab a shape tools from the toolbar, which you can also cycle through quickly by pressing Q. Simply click and drag in your Composition viewer, and congrats, you’ve made a mask!

Working With Masks

One very important thing about masks is that they always move and transform with the layer they’re on.If you want to move the layer around on screen, but keep the mask in the same position relative to the rest of the composition, you can actually use the Pan Behind tool to do that.

Examples

Before we wrap up, let’s take a look at a few quick examples of using masks in your everyday work.

Wrap Up

So that’s the basics of Masks in After Effects. Understanding how they work is an essential skill for any After Effects artist, and this is just the beginning.

About masks

A mask in After Effects is a path that is used as a parameter to modify layer attributes, effects, and properties. The most common use of a mask is the modification of an alpha channel of a layer, which determines the transparency of the layer at each pixel. Another common use of a mask is as a path along which to animate text.

Copy, cut, save, reuse, and delete masks

You can reuse masks in other layers and compositions, which is especially useful for Bezier masks you’ve spent a long time perfecting. Mask paths are stored inside a composition in a project file.

Control mask path color

To help you identify and work with masks, the Composition and Layer panels outline a mask path with color, and the Timeline panel displays that same color next to the name of the mask. By default, After Effects uses the color yellow for all masks.

Mask modes

Blending modes for masks ( mask modes ) control how masks within a layer interact with one another. By default, all masks are set to Add, which combines the transparency values of any masks that overlap on the same layer.

Expand or contract the edges of a mask

To expand or contract the area influenced by a mask, use the Mask Expansion property.

Soften (feather) the edges of a mask

Feathering softens the edges of a mask by fading it from more transparent to less transparent over a user-defined distance. Using the Mask Feather property, you make mask edges hard-edged or soft-edged (feathered). By default, the feather width straddles the mask edge, half inside, and half outside.

Variable-width mask feathering

Earlier versions of After Effects enabled you to add a feathered edge to a closed mask, but the width (extent) of the feather was the same around the mask. A new Mask Feather tool (available in the same tool menu as the Pen tool) has been added to let you define points along a closed mask that should have varying widths.

image

1.Masks in a 2D Animation in Clip Studio Paint

Url:https://tips.clip-studio.com/en-us/articles/1915

32 hours ago  · Masking is a feature contained in editing software that allows you to select a specific piece of a video or use video overlays to hide, duplicate, reveal, or modify your footage. The mask is the portion of footage that you’ve chosen to select, either with a template or a custom frame. How to use Masks - Adobe Animate CC Tutorial. Watch on.

2.How to use mask layers in Adobe Animate

Url:https://helpx.adobe.com/animate/using/using-mask-layers.html

19 hours ago What is a mask and how do you create one in animate? In Adobe Animate, you can set a layer to mask the layer beneath it. The mask layer can be animated to create a reveal. Note: In Adobe Animate, areas covered by the mask will be shown. So an object completely covered by a mask will be completely visible.

3.Learn How to Use Masks in After Effects | Motion Array

Url:https://motionarray.com/learn/after-effects/learn-how-to-use-masks-in-after-effects/

34 hours ago  · I showed you step by step how to create masks in each of the frames of the animation. Now, we will go to see a step by step color create Masks in Clip Studio Paint. Step by step to create Masks in an Animation Step 1: Cleaning the Animation Cleanup of the animation made in the previous article of this animation.

4.Face Mask Animation Images, Stock Photos & Vectors

Url:https://www.shutterstock.com/search/face+mask+animation

21 hours ago  · Create a mask layer. Select or create a layer containing the objects to appear inside the mask. Select Insert > Timeline > Layer to create a new layer above it. A mask layer always masks the layer immediately below it; create the mask layer in the proper place. Place a filled shape, text, or an instance of a symbol on the mask layer.

5.Unity - Manual: Mask

Url:https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/AnimationMaskOnImportedClips.html

3 hours ago  · Step 1: Select the mask you want to animate within the layer it is sitting in.. Step 2: Collapse the drop-down and click the stopwatch beside Mask Path.This will create a keyframe and set the mask’s first position. Step 3: Move the playhead forward in time.. Step 4: Adjust the mask to its final position.. Step 5: Click the stopwatch again. The mask will then move from the …

6.How to Use Masks in After Effects - School of Motion

Url:https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/how-to-use-masks-in-after-effects

36 hours ago  · Find face mask animation stock images in HD and millions of other royalty-free stock photos, illustrations and vectors in the Shutterstock collection. Thousands of new, high-quality pictures added every day.

7.Animation: A mask's test - YouTube

Url:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeET4nq5D28

23 hours ago  · Mask. Masking allows you to discard some of the animation data within a clip, allowing the clip to animate only parts of the object or character rather than the entire thing. For example, if you had a character with a throwing animation. If you wanted to be able to use the throwing animation in conjunction with various other body movements such ...

8.Use alpha channels, masks, and mattes in After Effects

Url:https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/alpha-channels-masks-mattes.html

2 hours ago Kyle Hamrick (02:13): To create a mask, you first need to select the layer. You want to apply it to then grab one of these shake tools from the toolbar right up here, which you can also cycle through quickly by pressing cue, simply click and drag here in your composition, viewer and congrats. You've made a mask.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9