From the course: How Do I Do That in After Effects

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How can I trace a layer in After Effects?

How can I trace a layer in After Effects? - After Effects Tutorial

From the course: How Do I Do That in After Effects

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How can I trace a layer in After Effects?

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- If you don't have a vector layer, you can actually create one by tracing the current layer. Now, this doesn't work great if it's a complex visual, but you might have something like a logo that you don't own a vector for. After Effects can help convert it to a vector logo and oftentimes it works well, particularly if it's relatively simple, but sometimes I'm surprised at how accurate it is. In this case, what I want to do is convert the vector into a vector mask. This is going to gimme some flexibility. So I'll select 5.2 Trace Start, and I'm going to select the layer here. Notice that it's currently continuously rasterized, which gives me the higher quality. Now, what I can do is choose Layer, Auto-trace. This analyzes the image and allows me to convert it. I can click the Preview button here to get an idea of what's going to happen. Now, what I can do is use different areas, so I can look at the Alpha channel or…

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