Go back to Add, choose Gradient Fill, then click the gradient swatch next to Fill in the Toolbox to access the Gradient Editor. A new shape appears in the Group and you’ll also see a star path in the Comp window-but no color. STEP 2 Add Path Fill with Gradient Edit Gradient Go to the Add menu under the Switches column, and choose Group (empty). Twirl down the Shape Layer 1 that appears in the Timeline, then twirl down Contents-it should be empty. You can use the shape tools in the Toolbox but I find it better to create them using the menus because it’s easier to organize all the “extras” we’ll need. Let’s start out by taking a look at how to successfully build shape layers. The specs for this project are a square-pixel composition of 800×450 pixels (16:9 aspect but intended for Flash video), 29.97 frames per second, 5 seconds long, with a background color of white, and named “Army Comp”. This is something the manuals won’t show you. Is it useful? Absolutely! But dig under the hood and, using some very interesting techniques, a whole army of moving, synchronized shapes can be created from something that seemed so harmless to begin with. From the large selection of new features that Adobe has infused into After Effects CS3, shape layers are (in my humble opinion) the black sheep of the family – a feature seemingly taken from Photoshop to keep it in the family? Perhaps.
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