Drawing a shape with the Pen tool

1. Mask Feather Tool After Effects
2. Pen Tool Photoshop
3. Pen Tool Download
4. After Effects Pen Tool Mask
5. After Effects Pen Tool Turn Off Fill
6. After Effects Pen Tool Bezier

Mask Feather Tool After Effects

For the pen tool and a mask, there are two tool options and three more options available with the Ctrl/Cmnd or Alt/Option key. Ctrl/Cmnd brings up the small black arrow selection tool that you can use to grab a line segment or if hovering over a point, the delete point tool when the pen is selected. Pick up pen tool (top one in the drop down menu, when you left click next to the icon) and start to draw your shape again, but make sure you start off by drawing a diagonal line first and then it lets you draw straight lines in any direction. If you draw a horizontal line first, it seems to get stuck drawing at right angle only.

The Pen tool is one of the most commonly used tools for creating vector graphics on a personal computer. You find the Pen tool in many applications, including Adobe Illustrator (which first featured the Pen tool in 1987), Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe InDesign. Even video applications such as Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects include the Pen tool because it provides such a high degree of control and precision when drawing many kind of lines, from shapes to masks to motion graphics paths. The Pen tool may not be easy to learn, but trust us: Knowing how to use the Pen tool is worth the effort and investment to master, partly because it’s a marketable skill across many creative digital disciplines.

The Pen tool works a little differently than a brush or pencil tool. We’ve created a practice file that you’ll use to learn how to draw a straight path, a simple curve, and an S-curve with the Pen tool.

First, you’ll configure the Pen tool options and the work area.

1. In the Tools panel, select the Pen tool ().

2. In the options bar, select or verify the following settings:

   • Choose Shape from the Tool Mode pop-up menu.

   • In the Path Options menu, make sure that Rubber Band is not selected.

   • Make sure that Auto Add/Delete is selected.

   • Choose No Color from the Fill pop-up menu.

   • Choose a green color from the Stroke pop-up menu. We used the green swatch in the CMYK presets group.

   • Enter 4 pt for the stroke width.

   • In the Stroke Options window, choose Center (the second option) from the Align menu.

Drawing a straight line

You’ll start by drawing a straight line. Anchor points mark the ends of path segments; the straight line you’ll draw is a single path segment with two anchor points.

1. Drag the Paths panel tab out of the Layers panel group so that you can see both it and the Layers panel at the same time. You can dock the Paths panel with another panel group.

The Paths panel displays thumbnail previews of the paths you draw. Currently, the panel is empty, because you haven’t started drawing.

2. If necessary, zoom in so that you can easily see the lettered points and red circles on the shape template. Make sure you can see the whole template in the image window, and be sure to reselect the Pen tool after you zoom.

3. On the first shape, click point A, and release the mouse button. You’ve created an anchor point.

4. Click point B. You’ve created a straight line with two anchor points.

5. Press Enter or Return to stop drawing.

The path you drew appears in the Paths panel, and as a new layer in the Layers panel.

Drawing curves

On curved segments, selecting an anchor point displays one or two direction lines, depending on the shapes of adjacent segments. You adjust the shape of a curved segment by dragging the direction point at the end of a direction line, and the direction line shapes the curve. You’ll create curved lines, using smooth points.

1. Click A on the semicircle, and release the mouse to create the first anchor point.

2. Click point B, but don’t release the mouse button. Instead, drag to the red circle to the right of point B to create a curved path segment and a smooth anchor point. Then release the mouse button.

Smooth anchor points have two linked direction lines. When you move one, the curved segments on both sides of the path adjust simultaneously.

3. Position the pointer over point C, click and drag down to the red circle below, and then release the mouse button. You’ve created a second curved path segment and another smooth point.

4. Click point D, and release the mouse to create the final anchor point. Press Enter or Return to complete the path.

When drawing a freehand path using the Pen tool, use as few points as possible to create the shape you want. The fewer points you use, the smoother the curves are—and the more efficient your file is.

Using the same techniques, you’ll draw an S-shaped curve.

5. Click point A, and then click and drag from point B to the first red circle.

6. Continue with points C, D, E, and F, in each case clicking the point and then dragging to the corresponding red circle.

7. Click point G to create the final anchor point, and then press Enter or Return to complete the path.

Each of the three shapes is on its own layer in the Layers panel. Only one path is in the Paths panel, because the Paths panel shows only the Shape Path for the layer that’s currently selected in the Layers panel.

Notice that the curves you drew with the Pen tool are much smoother and easier to precisely control than if you had drawn them freehand.

Drawing a more complex shape

Pen Tool Photoshop

Now that you’ve got the idea, you’ll have a chance to draw a more complex object.

1. Click point A on the shape on the right side to set the first anchor point.

2. Press the Shift key as you click point B. Pressing the Shift key constrains the line to 45-degree angles, which in this case ensures you’ll get a horizontal line.

3. Press the Shift key as you click points C, D, and E to create straight path segments.

4. Click point F, and drag to the red circle to create a curve. Then release the mouse button.

5. Click point G, and drag to the red circle to create another curve. Then release the mouse button.

6. Click point H to create a corner point.

Pen Tool Download

When you move a direction line on a corner point, only the curve on the same side of the point as the direction line is adjusted, so you can create a sharp transition between two segments.

7. Click point A to draw the final path segment and close the path. Closing a path automatically ends the drawing; you don’t need to press Enter or Return.

8. Close the file without saving changes. You have successfully used the Pen tool to draw both curves and straight lines.

What you learned: How position keyframes and path points are interchangeable.

Create a path

1. Select a layer and use the Pen tool to create anchor points for a path.
2. Click and drag to add anchor points and expose the handles.
3. Move the handles to adjust the shape of the path.

After Effects Pen Tool Mask

Use the path to create position keyframes

1. Switch to the Select tool in the Toolbar.
2. Select the layer which contains the path and press M to reveal the Mask Path property.
3. Select the words Mask Path and then choose Edit > Copy to copy the path.
4. Select the layer to which you want to apply the path and press P to reveal the Position parameter.
5. Select the word Position in the Timeline and choose Edit > Paste to add the path data as Position keyframes.

After Effects Pen Tool Turn Off Fill

Change the timing of the animation

• Deselect all the keyframes. Then drag the first or last keyframe to change the duration of the animation along the path.

Orient the object along the path

After Effects Pen Tool Bezier

1. Go to Layer > Transform > Auto-Orient, and choose Orient Along Path.
2. Press R to open the Rotation parameter, and scrub to rotate the animated layer to the proper angle on the path.