no Illustrator type "direct selection tool" in AE???

[Nicholas Natteau]

Coming from an Illustrator background, does After Effects not have a Direct Selection tool for pen points??? And if not, how do you select individual points? I seem to be stuck with the selection tool and unable to select individual points? What am I doing wrong?

 

[Mr Blue]

you use the regular selection tool (press the "v" key). Selecting the mask can be a little tricky at first, if you have the entire mask selected and not an individual point you will move the whole mask. To select the individual points:

- Click away making sure that no layers are selected (this step is not necessary but it gets you at a blank starting point)
- Click the layer that has the mask you want to adjust (the mask should become visible and highlight)
- Grab one of the points directly, Trying to select multiple points at this time will just move the layer.
After you have selected a point you will notice the box (don't know the technical name) disappears from the layer and all the other points on the mask become hollow
- Now you mask is selected and you can drag a box to select multiple points, or just work on the one you originally selected.

This seems like a lot of steps just to select a mask, but this is the sure way for you to select it. As you work more with them you learn the quirks of messing with AE masks.

Hope this helps

 

[Todd_Kopriva]

Details for selecting points and such are here.