Can't find fill and stroke

[slam629]

Hi, I'm an absolute beginner with AE so I apologize if this is a silly question, I don't find these items as showed in the screenshot. I tried clicking on some panel in the window menu but I didn't find them.

AE CC 2015

Win 7

[Mylenium]

Those are contextual tool options that only appear with shape layers. You have to select the shape tool first. I would suggest you bother to at least read up on some basics. Blindly diving into AE is not going to get you anywhere.

Mylenium

[slam629]

You're right indeed I apologize because I forgot to mention one important thing i.e. contextual tool options don't appears despite I selected the shape tool first.

[jshier]

I am a decently advanced animator and had to look this up. Not everyone learns every little thing from the start, or sometimes don't ever run into the issue at all. No need to assume they're a beginner. This is a forum for people of all skill levels.

[Derrick Douglass]

Good point @jshier. I'm relatively new to Animate/Flash, but I've worked with Illustrator and Photoshop for years. 

Even for me it is a bit confusing since Illustrator's Selection tool allows you to interact with the stroke property, while Animate requires a Shape tool to be selected to interact with the stroke property.

I'd hate to be berated for not knowing this 😞

[damianb_]

Totally... looks like alpha internet male lost interest in this thread? What's he do that's so advanced btw?

[JuanRenzo]

Exactly. "I would suggest" that the alpha male learn some manners before answering. All his comments have that same sarcastic tone.

[carolm67404630]

This forum is for Adobe users to learn and also to find help for what sometimes can be the littlest things that even an experienced user can overlook or forget.  People who throw rocks shouln't live in glass houses.

I would bet that you are not someone that knows everything, never hits a snag, never overlooks simple things, or has thoroughly read and digested every nuance of every Adobe program.

Be kind and try to be helpful to others.  Although I have a pretty good command of several of the Adobe programs I have consulted these forums and at times discovered another way of doing something that I had not thought about.

Putting people down is not helpful. 

[KayBeeGee]

I am an experienced, AE professional of 12+ years and I had to look this up.   There is absolutely no need for aggressive, negative responses to queries that are obviously aimed to humiliate and degrade new learners. I am hoping that in these last 3.5years you've learned how better to communicate with  your fellow human beings rather than being a typical internet jerk. 

[Belle5C7E]

oh my god what are you compensating you

[Hermitsage]

I know this is an old post....but wow, I can't believe someone like you responding like this is a "community profressional." I just decided to start learning Adobe software all on my own in the past 6-7 months through the use of internet tutorials and experimentation for a fun new hobby and to learn new skills outside of what I learned acquiring my Bachelors in IT/Network Engineering and the last 10 years of my professional career in that field. I have been having a great time so far and have met/followed many wonderful and helpful artists along the way looking to assist those who don't know everything, or even anything about digital art programs at all.

I just had this same issue and question come up after starting to get used to After Effects in the past couple of months of use. I am very happy to see that reading beyond your absolutely negative comment provided me the help and answer I was looking for, but couldn't quite believe that this was the top answer. 

I hope you have learned some manners and how to treat others beneath your skill level with at least the slightest bit of decency and respect in the past 4 years since you decided to publicy post this response, as this is one of the most unprofessional responses I have ever read, and is a prime example of how NOT to offer help to anyone. I hope the next time you run into issues/problems with literally anything in your life you are not an expert on, you are also treated the same and are left helpless and talked down upon. 

Thanks for nothing and don't have a great day! 

[Daniel25992439w1yx]

4 years ago this person was a pompous jackass

[Wicked14]

"Legend", It's six years later and people still think you're a jerk for this comment. 

[slam629]

I forgot to mention one important thing,  these options don't appears despite I selected the shape tool first.

[Roei Tzoref]

Show a full screenshot

[slam629]

Sure, this is my screen, as you can see tool selected, nothing appears.

[P.M.B · Accepted solution]

You have a solid selected in the layer panel.  Deselect that layer.

[P.M.B]

If you have a non-shape layer selected the shape tools draw masks, not shapes, and the fill and stroke are not available for masks.

[SirPat]

You are a blessing to this community. May the gods of creative boon you more creative humility. Thank you so much

[Retro80sGuy]

Late to the game but I was having this problem too and found that the reason these otions didn't come up when I selected the shape layer was because I had another tool selected.  I had the Pan Behind Tool selected and it wasn't until I went back to the default tool (arrow) that these otions came up at the top like they're supposed to.

Hope this helps someone down the line.

[defaultkga3m5h2ltvv]

Hello from 2021,

I've revisited this thread a few times with similar issues, but I was still unable to find a solution to my problem until now.

Turns out I just needed to drag the tool bar down a bit!

Cheers to all of those diving blindly into After Effects like me and yet somehow still managing to learn something.

[John230493110288]

Feel so incredibly silly that the fix was that easy, but thank you for that!

[Guest]

2021 Update:

For anyone wanting to find this:

Go to Effect - Generate - Fill. 

Hope this helps 🙂

[defaultpl8suxx57z3f]

Hey friends,

and other newbs to After Effects, this took me an hour to figure out and the solution for me was clicking off any layers i had selected, i have the 2021 version if that makes any diffrence.

Also i would like to say i am a motion graphics studen who created a 10 second short that took me 4 days but i could make a 30 minute film in premier pro in half a day so its all about learning the softwear!

ALSO AFTER EFFECTS IS HELLA CONFUSING!

[KayBeeGee]

Yes, the learning curve has some obstacles but once you get over them you'll find that After Effects is a powerful animation program that blends quite smoothly with Premiere.  And you don't have to be an expert to create fantastic animations! AE's drag and drop presets can really add pop to your animation by simply tweeking a few settings. Learn what you can about the graph editor, it's your best friend in AE. And don't hesitate to ask!!

Good luck, keep learning.