Adobe After Effects CS4 - Manual (Page 341)

335 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4
Drawing, painting, and paths
Last updated 12/21/2009
By default, when you create a shape path by drawing with the Pen tool, the control points for the gradient are placed
in the center of the layer. You can adjust these points after you finish drawing.
You can modify the Start Point, End Point, Highlight Angle, and Highlight Length properties in the Timeline panel.
You can also modify these properties directly in the Composition panel.
Controls for mapping gradient colors in Composition panel
A. Highlight control point B. Start Point C. End Point
1 Select the group in which the gradient is contained.
2 With the Selection tool active, drag the Start Point, End Point, or Highlight controls in the Composition panel.
The Selection tool turns to a gradient control pointer or when placed over a gradient control.
Set stroke width
• To set stroke width for new shapes in pixels (px), drag the underlined Stroke Width control (which is located to the
right of the Stroke controls in the Tools panel), or click the control and enter a value in the box. To set the stroke
width for existing shapes, select them before using the Stroke Width control.
Create a dashed stroke
You create a dashed stroke by adding any number of dashes and gaps to the Dashes property group for the stroke. The
dashes and gaps in this property group are repeated as many times as necessary to cover the entire path. The Offset
property determines at what point on the path the stroke begins.
Animate the Offset property to create a moving trail of dashes, like the lights on a marquee.
1 Expand the property group for a stroke in the Timeline panel.
2 Click the Add A Dash Or Gap button to add a dash and gap to one cycle of the dashed-line pattern. You can
add up to three dashes for each stroke pattern.
3 Modify the Dash and Gap properties to make the dashes and gaps the lengths that you want.
Line Cap options for strokes
The Line Cap property for a dashed stroke determines the appearance of the ends of the stroke segments (dashes).
Butt Cap The stroke ends at the end of the path.
Round Cap The stroke extends beyond the end of the path for a number of pixels equal to the stroke width in pixels.
The cap is a semicircle.
A B C