Hello and welcome to the 16th video in
this beginner's guide to Adobe After Effects. In this tutorial we'll be looking at the fill and Stroke effects we can apply to our shapes in After
Effects. So over the past few episodes we've learnt the many ways we can create
and modify shapes. Now it's time to look at how we can apply color and Stroke
effects. In this video I'll be demonstrating how you can apply a
variety of fill and Stroke effects to your shapes in After Effects. So in this
video we will be covering the following topics: Simple fill color, strokes and
gradients. So let's get into it! So as a beginner it will help you to
understand the variety of fill and Stroke effects you can apply. In After
Effects as you start to develop your own video sequences you will find that you
will use fill and Stroke effects to add dynamics your artwork, so here are the
three main effects you can apply to your shapes in After Effects, a simple fill
effect, a stroke effect and a gradient fill effect. Now there are lots of
different ways you can manage these effects in this video I will be showing
you all the ways you can experiment and get a variety of results. So let's take a
quick look at some examples, now if you have downloaded the project folder you
can open up the documents I have here, with the project folder open click into
the S2 - Essential practice folder, into folder 16 fill and Stroke effects and
open the fill and stroke effects After Effects file and you will have the same
document I have opened here. Now if you don't have the project folder and you
want to follow along with this tutorial using this project I have prepared
especially for you, you can download this project folder for a small fee the
download link with instructions is in the description. The download folder
comes with lots of exercise documents we will be using on this course that have
been carefully developed to aid your learning experience, the folder also
comes with document resources such as videos, graphics and images you can use
to build your first video presentation from scratch later on in this course.
To get the full learning experience I recommend you get the project folder,
download link with instructions is in the description. So with the project
folder open click into the S2 essential practice folder, into folder 16 fill and
Stroke effects and open the fill and Stroke effects After Effects file and
you'll have the same document I have opened here. So before we get into
applying fill and Stroke effects I want to give you a quick overview of some of
the fill and Stroke effects we can work with in After Effects and the ways to
manage them. So I first want to draw your attention over to the project panel, here
you can see I have a folder called Fill and Stroke preview and one called
fill and Stroke practice, for now I need you to pay attention to the fill and
Stroke preview folder, in this folder we can see four compositions. Now each of
these is going to preview ways we can create and manage fill and Stroke
effects. So let's start with the first comp, simple color. So double click on the
first comp here and it will appear in the composition panel. So here are some
simple shapes that have been created using a variety of methods, the first is
a circle created using the shape builder tool, the second is a shape created with
the pen tool and this last shape was brought in from Adobe Illustrator using
the techniques demonstrated in a previous video. Now if we look down in
the timeline panel we can see that each shape exists on its own layer and we
know they are shapes because they have the star icon next to their names. In After Effects a shape layer is identified by a star icon. So when you
create shapes you can easily add simple color. So these shapes exist here in my
composition and all they have applied to them is a simple fill color, so nothing
too complicated here. So back in the project panel next double click on the
next comp, stroke examples, now when you create shapes, you can easily add strokes
with a variety of styles. Here are some more shape examples, but this time with a
variety of stroke effects applied, first is a hexagon shape created using the
shape builder tool, next is another shape brought in from Illustrator, next is
another shape created with the shape builder tool and the last shape example
was created from type. So a variety of shapes here demonstrating how shape effects can be applied, here we can see a variety of stroke effects ranging from
simple to more complex. So lastly back in the project panel, next double click on
gradient examples. Now when you create shapes you can also add gradient effects,
here are some more shape examples but this time with a variety of gradient
effects applied, first we have a shape made with the pen tool, a shape brought
in from illustrator and a circle shape made with the shape builder tool. So a
variety of shapes here demonstrating how gradient effects can be applied, notice
here on the end that we can apply a gradient effect not just to the fill of
a shape but also to a stroke. So those are some of the fill and Stroke effects
you can create in After Effects, let's now take a look at how we can apply and
manage fill and Stroke effects like the examples we have just seen. So now I want
to draw your attention back to the project panel and this time into the
folder called fill and Stroke practice, these are some worksheets I have put
together to help you. So let's begin by double clicking on the first comp simple
color worksheet, so here I have some shapes I have prepared for you and we are
go to start by applying simple fill color. So let's start with the circle, so
first click on the shape and with it selected come up to the top of the
interface, just to the right of the tools menu should be the settings for our fill
and Stroke effects, this is where we can manage the fill and Stroke settings
apply to our shape. So where it states fill, currently we can see the box next
to this is set to black, if we look at the stroke setting next to the fill
setting we can see it's currently set to none, right now none of these shapes have
stroke effects applied, so if we click on the black box next to fill up will pop
this shape fill color menu, from here we can select the color, so on this occasion
I will select a red color and click OK, and that's how easy it is to change the
color of a shape. So next click on the Chevron shape and with it selected come
back up to the fill color, click on the color box and select the blue color, easy!
Next click on the Seahorse shape, come back up to the fill color, click on the
color box and select an orange color. So that's how easy it is
to apply fill color to your shapes in After Effects. Remember to keep an eye on
the fill settings at the top of the interface. So back into the project panel
next double click on stroke worksheet, so again I have some shapes I have prepared
for you but this time we are going to look at how we can apply some stroke
effects to shapes, and let's start with the hexagon shape. So first click on the
shape and with it selected come back up to the top of the interface, click on the
color fill box and start by changing the color fill to a green color, with the
green applied this time we can come over to the right and apply a stroke. So I can
do this easily by clicking on the stroke value and dragging left or right like s,o
this will add a stroke to the shape, now if I want to be specific I can double
click onto the value and type in a specific valu,e in this instance I'll
type in 10 and press Enter. So just like with the fill color we can
click on the stroke color box and select a color from the picker, on this occasion
I'll select a blue color for the stroke, and that's how easy it is to apply a
stroke and change the color. So next click on the Swan shape, come up to the
fill color click on the color box and apply a purple color then come over to
the stroke but this time you'll notice something different, this time we have a
question mark in a stroke color box and as we try and drag up the stroke it is
not working. So why is this? OK, so this time we are trying to apply a
stroke to a shape brought in from illustrator, now it's important for you
to know that a shape brought in from Illustrator is treated differently,
looking in the timeline panel we can see that this is a shape layer just like the
previous, however this was originally created from an illustrator document, so
if we want to apply a stroke to this we have to use a different method. Now keep
this in mind if you ever want to apply a stroke to a shape created from
Illustrator. So to do this we need to come into the timeline panel and drop
down to reveal the contents of the shape layer, once you have revealed the
contents you will see the add button to the right of this, if we click on the Add
button we can come up and select stroke, upon clicking stroke we will now
see the setting become available for stroke. So just like we did previously,
come up to the stroke settings, click on the color box and this time choose a
yellow color, to the right of this you can now click and drag to increase the
stroke or double-click to type in a specific value. Here I will double click
and type in 30 and there we have the stroke. So remember when you create a
shape using the shape builder tool you can easily apply a stroke, but when
working with a shape created from Illustrator you will have to use the Add
button down in the layer settings. OK so let's take a look at another example.
Now in After Effects you can apply a dashed effect to a stroke, so let's click
on the next shape and with it selected come back up to the top of the interface
and let's click on the color box fill and start by changing the color to a
light purple color, with the color fill applied this time we will come over to
the right and apply a stroke, now this shape was created using the shape builder,
tool so this time the stroke setting will be easily available. So just like
earlier we will drag up the stroke and I'll set this to 10 and change the
stroke color to red, so now our stroke is applied we can now add a dashed effect,
to do this we need to come into the timeline panel and drop down to reveal
the contents of the shape layer. So come into the layer, toggle down to reveal the
contents then toggle down again to reveal the shape, then toggle down again
until you can see the stroke option. Here is where we will need to add the dash
settings, so toggle down stroke and now we can see all the options available,
from here we can also edit the color and size just like at the top of the
interface. At the bottom of the stroke option we can see dashes, so to add a
dash simply click the plus button to the right of dashes and upon click you will
add a dashed line and here we can customize the settings. If I click and
drag out on the dash settings we can specify how big the dashes are and if we
tweak the offset we can change the orientation of the dashes. Now if you
want to control the space between the dashes, if you click back on the plus
button again you will see a new gap option appear. So if we toggle this
we can increase the space between the dashes like so. So that's how easy it is
to apply a dashed line to a shape. Now there is something else you should know
about dashed lines in After Effects, you can add more than one dash to a stroke,
so let's see how this works with the next shape. So I'll press V to activate
the selection tool and click on the next shape, so with it selected, come back up
to the top of the interface, click on the color fill box and start by changing the
color fill to an orange color. With the color fill applied come over to the
right and apply a stroke. Now this shape was created using the pen tool, so this
time the stroke settings will be easily available. So just like earlier we will
drag up the stroke and I'll set this to 10 and change the stroke color to a dark
purple. OK so now our stroke is applied we can now add a dash effect, so back in
the timeline panel toggle down to reveal the contents of the shape layer and keep
toggling down until we see the stroke settings. To add a dash simply click the
plus button to the right of dashes and upon click you will add a dashed line. So
I'll set the dash here to 100 and just like earlier I'll click the plus icon
again to activate the gap option and I'll set this to 100. So right now we
have a dashed stroke applied, but like the stroke applied to our previous shape
the ends of each - have hard corners, in this instance we are going to apply
rounded corners, so on the stroke settings we will see an option called
line cap, currently this is set to buttcap, if i click on this drop down we
can change it to round cap, upon click our dashes are now rounded, easy! Now if
we come and click the plus icon again next two dashes upon click we will see a
dash - option appear on this occasion I'll drag the value down to zero which
gives us this dot effect, now if I wanted to I could keep clicking the plus button
to add more dashes but for now I'll just leave it as it is. So that's how to apply
strokes to shapes and how to get this interesting looking dahsed stroke effect to
your strokes. So back in the project panel next double click on
stroke worksheet two. So this time I have some shapes that were created from type,
now this example is a little different from the previous shapes, looking in the
composition panel here we can see three letter shapes but if we look in the
timeline panel we can only see one shape layer. Keep in mind when you create
shapes from type they will exist in one shape layer, so applying fill and Stroke
effects to shapes like this is a little different. So let's take a quick look, so
if we want to apply a quick color fill to all the letter shapes we can simply
select the shape layer, come up to fill and select a color like so, however if
you want to change the color of the individual letter shapes you will have
to do this in the timeline panel. So back in the timeline panel toggle down the
layer settings to reveal the contents of the shape layer and this time in the
contents we can see a path for each letter, let's start with the letter Y. So
if we toggle this down we can see the individual settings for this letter Y
shape, if I toggle down the fill settings we can click on the colored square and
select a light blue color and this will only apply to the letter Y shape, so we
can do this for the rest of the letter shapes, if I toggle down the settings for
letter O we can come into the fill options and set the color to a light red,
likewise with the last shape layer if we come into the fill settings we can
change the color to a light yellow, so to edit the individual color settings we
need to set that in the individual fill settings for each letter shape. Now to
apply a stroke to each individual path is fairly straightforward, first we need
to select the shape path in the setting, we can then come up to the top of the
screen and click and drag on the stroke size option and that will apply a stroke.
So we can select the O layer parth down in the layer settings, come up to the
stroke and drag one out like so, and the same for the exclamation mark. Now to
tweak the color and settings of the stroke we again need to do this in the
shape layer options. So back down in the timeline layer for the letter shape, if
we toggle down the stroke option, here we can change the stroke color to a light
pink, for the next letter shape we can toggle the stroke options and change the
color to a dark purple and for the last letter shape we can
toggle the stroke option and change the color to a gray, simple! So with our
stroke supplied we can now add dashed effects. So to the O letter shape layer i'll come
back to the stroke options and using the same technique as shown earlier I'll
click the plus icon to add a dash. I'll hit the plus icon again to add the gap
option and set the dash to 250 and the gap to 80, on this occasion I'll hit the plus
button again to add another dash and I'll set this to ten. To finish off I'll
come to the line cap option, click this and choose round cap and that will add
nice round ends to my stroke lines. So for the last letter shape, I'll coming to
the stroke settings click the plus button twice to add a dash and a gap
option, here I'll set the dash to 30, the gap to 60 and click the type shape to
deselect. So that's how you manage fill and Stroke settings for multiple shapes
on a single shape layer. Now if for whatever reason you want to turn a
stroke off on one of the layers let's say the Y shape, I can come into the
options for that particular shape part and simply toggle the visibility off for
the stroke option, like so, easy! So let's now move on to the last color effect, so
back in the project panel, next double click on gradient worksheet. So here I
have three shape examples, a shape created with the pen tool, a shape
brought in from illustrator and a shape created with the shape builder tool. So
here we are going to apply some gradient effects, so let's start with the first
shape, so first click on the shape and with it selected come up to the top of
the interface and this time instead of clicking on the color box next to fill,
this time we are going to click on the word fill, when you click on this a fill
options box will appear and it's from here where you can choose to set the
color fill to none, a solid fill, a linear gradient, or a radial gradient, on this
occasion we can select the linear gradient and click OK. Next we will click
back into the fill color box and this time we will see the gradient editor. So
it's from here where we can choose the colors to make up the gradient. At the
top we can see the two color parts to our gradient, if we click the
first color on the left we can then click a color below to set it, on this
occasion I'll select a blue color. Next I'll click the second color of the
gradient, once happy with my gradient colors I'll click OK. So now we have a
gradient effect applied, now if we look closely on the shapes as well as the
bounding box we can see these little handles, these represent the handles for
the gradient, now if we carefully click and drag these, we can alter the gradient
effect like so. We can set the gradient from top to bottom or from left to right
or at an angle, easy! Now if we want to change the color of the gradient, simply
come back up and click on the fill color square to bring back the gradient editor.
Now if you want to add another color to the mix simply move the mouse cursor
near the gradient editor at the top until it changes to a hand icon and
click once, this will add a new color which you can of course select and
choose another color, on this occasion I'll pick a red and click OK. So that's
how we can apply a gradient effect easily to a shape. Now let's try with a
shape brought in from illustrator, so I'll select the shape, come up and click
fill, I'll select linear gradient, click OK and there it is. Now notice it's
applied the same gradient effect applied to the previous shape, so back up to fill,
click on the color box and we can take away the middle color by clicking on the
color picker and dragging it away then we can select the other gradient colors
and change them, click OK and apply the new gradient. Now remember to look for
those gradient handles and I'll click and drag these to alter the direction of
the gradient and I'll click and drag the line from top to bottom like so. So
now I'll come and click on the last shape and this time I'll click on fill
and select radial gradient and click OK. So just like with the linear gradient, we
get these handles which I can click and drag the outer handles to expand the
gradient effect like so, I'll click on the fill color square and change the
gradient colors and now I have a nice radial gradient applied. So now I want to
apply a stroke, so just like earlier I'll come up to the stroke and drag out the
size click on a color and change it and then click OK. So we applied the gradient effect to the solid shape by clicking on the
word fill and choosing the option, this time if we click the word stroke, we will
get the same option as we did for fill, here we can choose a solid fill and
linear gradient or a radial gradient on this occasion I'll select linear
gradient and click OK. Upon click we will see our new gradient applied to the
stroke, so up in the color box for the stroke I'll click and just like with the
solid fill we can set the colors. Now if we look closely we can see another set
of handles, but this time for the stroke. So I'll carefully select these and drag
them to change the angle, notice this time that for the stroke we have these
dashed lines to differentiate it from the gradient fill. So I'll carefully drag
these out to alter the gradient direction, easy! So that is how you can
apply fill stroke and gradient effects to your shapes in After Effects. Now in a
previous episode we undertook a simple animation exercise where we moved a
circle shape from left to right across a straight path. Now there may be occasions
where you don't want to animate something in a straight line, perhaps you
want to animate something along a more rounded path. Now in a previous episode
we learned how to create paths, now in After Effects we can use these paths
to animate things like images and shapes across, so instead of animating in a
straight line we can animate along a particular custom path. In the next video
I'll be showing you how to animate along a path in After Effects. So see you in the next video!
