Adobe After Effects CS3 - Manual (Page 479)

AFTER EFFECTS CS3
User Guide
474
The pressure variation of the pen on the tablet alters the opacity of the stroke as you draw. Light pressure results in
lower opacity values, while increased pressure creates more opaque strokes. The Opacity value defines the maximum
of the Opacity range.
Selecting and editing Vector Paint strokes
When you select a single stroke or strokes with the same Brush Settings, you can edit the enabled Brush Settings in the
Effect Controls panel. Your changes to the strokes immediately appear in the Composition panel as you complete them.
When you select multiple strokes that have different Brush Settings, a question mark [-?-] appears next to that Brush
Setting in the Effect Controls panel. If you edit that value, all of the selected strokes are reset to the new value.
To edit a specific paint stroke, select it using the Selection tool on the Vector Paint toolbar and click or drag, or
choose Select from the Vector Paint options menu. You can select and then move, revise attributes, or delete either a
paint stroke or erasure stroke.
Use the following commands from the Select option in the Vector Paint toolbar option menu to select and edit paint
strokes:
Note: Some options are tied to the current position of the current-time indicator in the Timeline panel.
All Selects all strokes on a layer.
None Deselects all strokes on a layer (available only if some strokes are selected).
Visible Selects all strokes visible at the current frame.
Current Time Selects all strokes that were drawn at the current time position. (Playback Speed doesn’t affect the
original start time of strokes.)
Last Painted Selects the last-painted brush stroke (or erase stroke). If you painted several strokes with the Shift key
held down, this command selects that group of strokes.
Similar With one or more strokes selected, this command selects additional strokes with similar Brush Settings
properties. If strokes with dissimilar properties are initially selected, this command selects a broader range of strokes.
Inverse Toggles to a selection of all unselected strokes, leaving the previously selected strokes unselected.
After you select one or more strokes, you can transform them, such as by rotating, scaling (vertically, horizontally,
or both), or nudging (repositioning one pixel at a time).
Tools for editing paint work with Vector Paint
Use the following tools in the Vector Paint toolbar in the Composition panel to revise your paint work:
Undo button Click the Undo button to cancel your most recent single painting action, if it can be undone. If the
action cannot be undone, this tool is dimmed (not available). You can also undo paint actions by using the Undo
command on the Vector Paint options menu or by pressing Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Command+Z (Mac OS).
Note: Don’t use the Undo command on the Edit menu to undo Vector Paint actions.
Eyedropper Use the eyedropper to select a color to paint with from a sampling anywhere on the desktop. Press
the Escape key to cancel the eyedropper.
Note: By default, the eyedropper samples a single pixel. Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) and click
the eyedropper to sample a 3-x-3-pixel average. Hold down Shift and drag to sample a range of multiple pixels.
Color swatch Displays the current selection as a solid color. When clicked, it opens the Color Picker dialog
box. If the Opacity setting is less than 100%, the Color Swatch icon appears checkered, not solid.