User Guide

249
ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0
User Guide
• Using the pen tool, click the control point.
Feathering mask edges
Using the Mask Feather property, you make mask edges hard-edged or soft-edged
(feathered). By default, the feather width straddles the mask edge, half inside and half
outside. For example, if you set the feather width to 25, the feathering extends 12.5 pixels
inside the mask edge and 12.5 pixels outside it. You can also extend or contract the mask
edges to control where the mask feathering appears. See “Adjusting the edges of a mask”
on page 250.
A. No feather B. 2-pixel feather C. 40-pixel feather
Mask feathering takes place only within the dimensions of the layer frame area. Therefore,
a feathered mask shape should always be slightly smaller than the layer area. If a mask
feather extends beyond the layer area, the feathered edge ends abruptly.
You can adjust the feathering of a layer’s mask by specifying precise values or by dragging
in the Timeline window.
To adjust feathering by specifying precise values:
1 Select the mask that you want to adjust.
2 Expand the desired layer and its Mask Properties, right-click (Windows) or control-
click (Mac OS) the underlined value for Mask Feather, and choose Edit Value.
3 Specify amounts for horizontal and vertical feathering (or type one value and select
Lock to make both values the same) and click OK.
ABC
UG.book Page 249 Wednesday, February 21, 2001 12:05 PM