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BuzzworthyMedia
Participating Frequently
March 13, 2017
Answered

Changing the default values for stroke (or any layer style) in After Effects

  • March 13, 2017
  • 4 replies
  • 6316 views

I've been searching for what I thought would be a seemingly simple solution and have not found it.

Does anyone know how to change the default values for stroke in After Effects? It's typically 3 point and red. I spend a lot of time changing it in many compositions to 5 point and black to match a corporate style. I know it's not a hard thing to change, but when you have to do it frequently, it really bogs down the creative process.

I imagine that if there is a solution to this, it's probably the same to change any of the default values for the layer styles available.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Mylenium

There is no such thing. This stuff is hard-coded and due to how AE inherited this stuff as sort of an afterthought from PS, the necessary infrastructure is incomplete, meaning you don't have style presets or any such thing.

Mylenium

4 replies

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user5188785
Participating Frequently
June 25, 2021

There is a way to change the default Shape properties in After Effects (the 2021 version anyway). This is the Windows way.

  • Close After Effects
  • Go to your Prefs.txt
    • Windows: C:\Users\<profile>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\After Effects\<version number>\Adobe After Effects <version> Prefs.txt
  • Open Adobe After Effects <version> Prefs.txt in yout text editor
  • Do a search for "Stroke Width"
  • You'll find this chunk:
  • I changed the value of the Stroke Width here, restarted After Effects and the change was successful.
    Kevin-Monahan
    Community Manager
    Kevin-MonahanCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    April 13, 2017

    Hi Buzzworthy Media,

    Did you get a suitable response here? If so, please mark that one as the correct one. If you still need assistance, let us know.

    Thanks,
    Kevin

    Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community &amp; Engagement Strategist – Pro Video and Audio
    B
    BuzzworthyMediaAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    April 14, 2017

    Thanks for the reminder to mark the closest answer as correct. The banter about masks was way off the mark. It does seem that this would be an easy thing to correct for the programmers. I don't know why red was chosen as the default for this tool as it's probably the most offensive in the spectrum. I guess I'll have to put in a feature request on the Adobe website.

    Roei Tzoref
    Roei Tzoref
    Legend
    April 14, 2017

    While you wait for that feature request to process, How about the suggestion you got earlier - a preset:

    1. Create your desired layer style

    2. Highlight it and go to animation->save animation preset. Call it a name

    3. anytime you want to add it, type the name in the effects & presets panel

    think of it as creating a ״style", same as you would do in photoshop. Actually, if I remember correctl,  it's only until recently that Ps remembers the last layer style used or enabled you to set another as default.

    Horshack
    Horshack
    Legend
    March 13, 2017

    The default can't be changed but AE remembers the values for the last use of the tool, so draw your initial shape and modify the values and those will be the defaults for that tool going forward.

    B
    BuzzworthyMediaAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    March 13, 2017

    That has not been my experience on any machine I've worked on. All my machines keep defaulting to 3 point, red.

    Horshack
    Horshack
    Legend
    March 13, 2017

    I just re-verified the behavior of AE keeping the last values as the default for the next shape. To make sure we're talking about the same thing and procedure here's what I did:

    1. Create a new composition, using a grey background so that I can see a black stroke color
    2. Select the shape tool (Q)
    3. Set the stroke color to black and stroke width to 5 on the tools panel
    4. Draw a shape layer in the composition panel.
    5. Draw additional shapes with shape tool or pen and the stroke color is black and width is 5 by default.
    Mylenium
    MyleniumCorrect answer
    Legend
    March 13, 2017

    There is no such thing. This stuff is hard-coded and due to how AE inherited this stuff as sort of an afterthought from PS, the necessary infrastructure is incomplete, meaning you don't have style presets or any such thing.

    Mylenium

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