Adobe After Effects - Manual (Page 321)

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Note:
information about creating masks, see Creating masks .
Aharon Rabinowitz provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website that shows how to combine multiple paths into a single compound
shape using the Merge Paths path operation.
Vector Art Footage-to-Shape Conversion | CC, CS6
In previous versions of After Effects you could import an Illustrator (.ai), EPS (.eps), or PDF (.pdf) file, however you could not modify the file. Now
you can create a shape layer from a vector art footage layer, and then modify it.
With the ability to bevel and extrude objects in After Effects, you can extrude the artwork (for example, extruded logos), as well. See Extruding text
and shape layers.
To convert a vector art footage layer to shape layer:
Choose Layer > Create Shapes from Vector Layer. A matching shape layer will appear above the footage layer, and the footage layer will be
muted.
The following issues are known:
Not all features of Illustrator files are currently preserved. Examples include: opacity, images, and gradients.
Converted shapes ignore PAR overrides specified in the Interpret Footage dialog box.
Gradients and unsupported types may show as 50% gray shapes.
Files with thousands of paths may import very slowly without feedback.
The menu command works on a single selected layer at a time.
If you import an Illustrator file as a composition (i.e., several layers), you cannot convert all of those layers in one pass. However, you can
import the file as footage, and then use the command to convert the single footage layer to shapes.
In this video by Todd Kopriva and video2brain, see how to quickly convert vector graphics from Illustrator to shape layers and animate the paths in
After Effects CS6. This process is much simpler than previous versions of After Effects.
Create a shape or mask by dragging with shape tools
The shape tools are the Rectangle , Rounded Rectangle , Ellipse , Polygon , and Star tools.
To activate and cycle through the shape tools, press Q.
A polygon is a star without an Inner Radius or Inner Roundness property, so the name of the shape created for a polygon or a star is the same:
polystar.
You can create a mask by dragging with a shape tool on a selected layer in the Composition panel or Layer panel. You can create a shape by
dragging with a shape tool on a selected shape layer in the Composition panel. If you drag with a shape tool in the Composition panel with no
layer selected, you create a shape on a new shape layer.
To draw a mask on a shape layer, click the Tool Creates Mask button in the Tools panel with a shape tool active.
When you create a shape by dragging with a shape tool in the Composition panel, you create a parametric shape path. To instead create a Bezier
shape path, press the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) key before you click to begin dragging. You can release the key before you complete the
drag operation. All mask paths are Bezier paths. (See About shapes and shape layers.)
Dragging starts when you click in the Composition panel or Layer panel to begin drawing, and ends when you release the mouse button. Pressing
modifier keys at different times during a single dragging operation achieves different results:
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