Re: Animate a mask's position w/o moving the layer by Jeremy Allen on May 14, 2008 at 4:34:21 am
[Joey Foreman]"For a stumper like that you should post in AE Basics, or you could take a peek in the manual."
While I agree that it's a basic question and I'm pretty sure I just saw this same question within the last few days, I still think it deserves a proper answer. The search engine on this site is practically useless because you end up wasting time reading tons of dead-end answers like yours.
To answer the question, you can't move a layer independently of the mask. You have to create a "track matte", which basically means using the shape of a layer as the mask for the layer below it.
Create a new solid layer and make a mask like you normally would. Place this solid layer above the layer you want to mask.
Go to the layer you want to mask and select one of the options under "TrkMat". I won't go into the details of each track matte option, as I think you'll quickly figure it out when switching between options.
Re: Animate a mask's position w/o moving the layer by Ron Lindeboom on May 14, 2008 at 5:17:42 am
[Jeremy Allen]"The search engine on this site is practically useless because you end up wasting time reading tons of dead-end answers like yours."
Wow, Jeremy, I find things all the time that I am looking for. I use the search engine and while it is far from the best one I've ever seen, I rarely walk away stumped for an answer when I am looking for one. The trouble is, many people don't bother looking -- oh, and others expect the answer to be handed them on a silver platter without any effort on their part. Hardly realistic in the real world.
Re: Animate a mask's position w/o moving the layer by Jeremy Allen on May 14, 2008 at 3:38:08 pm
[Ron Lindeboom]"Wow, Jeremy, I find things all the time that I am looking for. I use the search engine and while it is far from the best one I've ever seen, I rarely walk away stumped for an answer when I am looking for one...."
Ron, I'm really surprised by your response. I wasn't attacking your precious search engine. It was more a comment about having to wade through a bunch of useless, snide remarks, of which I've seen many here. As a proponent of "More Signal, Less Noise", I thought you would agree.
In my opinion, when someone takes the time to reply, but doesn't actually try to answer the question, it just creates more noise.
Yes, people post in the wrong forums. Can we ever stop that? No. What we can do is at least try to answer the question so when people actually do use the search engine, they might find an answer more quickly. Just trying to do my part to improve the signal.
Re: Animate a mask's position w/o moving the layer by Ron Lindeboom on May 14, 2008 at 4:03:09 pm
[Jeremy Allen]"It was more a comment about having to wade through a bunch of useless, snide remarks, of which I've seen many here. As a proponent of "More Signal, Less Noise", I thought you would agree."
Hi Jeremy,
I just did a test of a search on a topic and came up with a bunch of answers. It took a while to find a snide remark. Sure they exist but it's not like it is the bulk of what is the COW. If it were, the traffic would die and people would quit coming.
I have also seen the same question get asked with the subject answered not one or two threads below the new inquiry. That too is noise and telling people that the search engine is useless and that they shouldn't bother is more noise -- in my opinion.
That was why I took issue with your statement, although I do agree with the principle of most of what you said.
Re: Animate a mask's position w/o moving the layer by Jeremy Allen on May 14, 2008 at 4:31:57 pm
[Ron Lindeboom]"I have also seen the same question get asked with the subject answered not one or two threads below the new inquiry. That too is noise..."
I agree, and that annoys me too. But you know what? That new thread is gonna come up in the search engine just the same. And at the very least, we could post a link to where that question has been answered, instead of just saying it has already been answered. Otherwise, people will read a search result that gets them no closer to the answer. My main point is that you should either genuinely answer a question or not respond at all.
[Ron Lindeboom]telling people that the search engine is useless and that they shouldn't bother is more noise -- in my opinion."
I never told anyone not to bother with the search engine. What I'm trying to say is the usefulness of the search engine relies entirely on the relevance of the answers. The more responses that don't answer a question, the less useful it becomes. In an effort to adhere to that philosophy, I will politely step out of this conversation now. Sorry if I offended you, or the search engine.
Re: Animate a mask's position w/o moving the layer by Mike Clasby on May 14, 2008 at 6:09:24 am
Trevor,
Set a mask shape keyframe (M reveals), then down the timeline, double click the mask and move it, setting a new keyframe. This just moves the mask without moving the layer.
You can also actually change the shape by moving individual vertices.
Re: Animate a mask's position w/o moving the layer by Trevor Phillippi on May 14, 2008 at 11:18:27 am
Thanks Jeremy and Mike, it was a big help. I appreciate an actual answer since I scoured the Manual and Help Viewer for info on this, and I am pretty much just starting out with AE. And I did search for it, but it was coming up with stuff about animating mask opacity and such. Thanks again!
