Frustrated beyond words: painting in AE

[thelor]

Hi guys.

I don't do any fancy effects. Very simple stuff. And yet my work is moving at a snail's pace ever since I decided to give After Effects a try. Admittedly I am new to AE but already I can see it is not very intuitive (and please don't say it's my problem not the software's problem because I am about to explain why, exactly, I think that way).

Basically, what I want to do is: paint an arrow using the brush tool. Note: I did not say ANIMATE an arrow using the brush tool. I just want to paint one. Something a three year old child can do if given a market and a paper. Something which I, a 29 year old man, cannot do in AE.

I have looked up tutorials. Most of the results end up being for animating the brush strokes (that's a laugh!). and the few results I found for simply using the brush stroke to begin with, did not work. The closest I came to using the brush tool, was when I created a null layer, moved it to where I wanted the arrow, and then opened the null layer in the layer panel and I could paint in the layer panel. But when I painted in the layer panel, I would go back to the composition and see that there is absolutely nothing.

This is something that should take a few seconds. I have spent literally hours. HOURS, trying to do the simplest GED task one can do in a graphics software.

Maybe I'm the stupidest person on the planet. Or maybe AE is monkey butt for not letting the simplest of tasks be... simple.

Again: I'm not trying to make explosions and planetary rotations here. I'm trying to paint an ugly arrow.

Note: i did try the clunky "solution" of finding an arrow PNG with a transparent background. but after I imported it into AE it just became a big black rectangle. So even my GED solution to my GED problem failed.

Any suggestions would be appreciated but I hope to God none of them are prefaced with "maybe you should familiarize yourself with the basics of the software blah blah." I'm like: bro there is nothing more basic than painting a goddamn arrow.

PS I'm very frustrated not because I dislike Adobe or anyone here but rather because I don't think people were meant to sit in front of a computer screen for three hours trying (and failing!) to paint arrows.

[Roland Kahlenberg · Accepted solution]

For generating new elements with the Brush Tool, you should use a Solid on which to paint with.

1) Create a Solid - any color will do but ensure it is at least full screen.

2) Pick the Brush Tool from the Toolbox

3) Double-click the Solid to open it in the Layer Panel - you can only use the Brush Tools in the Layer Panel

4) Ensure you have the Brushes and Paint Panels open.

5) Select an appropriate Brushes Size from the Brush Panel. In the Paint Panel, set Mode to Normal, Channels to RGBA ( to paint on all the color channels and include the Alpha Channel so what you paint gets color and also transparency and opaque regions defined. Then set Duration to Constant since you don't want to animate what you will be drawing.

6) Then, in the Layer Panel, draw your arrow with the Brush Tool.

7) Jump back to the Composition Panel, to confirm the Brush Effect has been applied

8) Grab a cup of coffee and admire your work. 🙂

[thelor]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Roland+Kahlenberg  wrote

For generating new elements with the Brush Tool, you should use a Solid on which to paint with.

1) Create a Solid - any color will do but ensure it is at least full screen.

2) Pick the Brush Tool from the Toolbox

3) Double-click the Solid to open it in the Layer Panel - you can only use the Brush Tools in the Layer Panel

4) Ensure you have the Brushes and Paint Panels open.

5) Select an appropriate Brushes Size from the Brush Panel. In the Paint Panel, set Mode to Normal, Channels to RGBA ( to paint on all the color channels and include the Alpha Channel so what you paint gets color and also transparency and opaque regions defined. Then set Duration to Constant since you don't want to animate what you will be drawing.

6) Then, in the Layer Panel, draw your arrow with the Brush Tool.

7) Jump back to the Composition Panel, to confirm the Brush Effect has been applied

8) Grab a cup of coffee and admire your work. 🙂

No exaggeration: I think you've added at least at least a few months to my lifespan. Thank you so much.

[Roland Kahlenberg]

I should add - if you want to view just the arrow, in the Composition Panel, twirl down the Solid's layer arrow to view the Paint properties - you can also hit the "e" key to display Effects for the selected layer. So, twirl down the Paint effect's arrow, in the timeline, to display the Paint properties. There is an option to "Paint on Transparent" - enable that and the Solid's color will be transparent; leaving only the arrow visible, to allow you to composite other layers below.

There's some good info here - Use the After Effects Brush, Clone Stamp, and Eraser Paint tools

[P.M.B]

thelor  wrote

Hi guys.

Maybe I'm the stupidest person on the planet. Or maybe AE is monkey butt for not letting the simplest of tasks be... simple.

First: A little rant of my own...

Obviously you're not the dumbest person on the planet but it's curious that you assume the task you cannot complete is "the simplest of tasks".   I mean, how would YOU know? 

This type of comment often baffles me.  It's understandable that you would not know how to do something you've never done before in software you've hardly used but given those facts,  how could YOU accurately judge how simple or complicated a given task "should" be?

So weird how often people seem to know exactly how easy or hard something they have no idea how to do should be. 

Now....on to the task of trying to "empty your cup" of how you KNOW things should be so it might be filled with how things ARE.

The simple answer is that apart from After Effect's many shortcomings, It's just NOT a painting program and as a result painting in it is clunky & not very intuitive.

My suggestion to you would be to open Photoshop, or Illustrator or, if you don;t have a CC subscription, any free painting program and paint you arrow there.  You could also create your arrow as a shape layer using the pen tool but maybe you want that "painted" look.

Finally as for your frustration with the .png file you imported showing as a "black box".   That for sure is not AE's fault.  AE can display .png files just fine.  So the problem is probably with the specific .png file your using.

thelor  wrote

I don't think people were meant to sit in front of a computer screen for three hours trying (and failing!) to paint arrows.

Huh?   What DO you think people were meant to do, open a piece of professional industry software and be able to paint an arrow?  Based on what experience are you making that assumption? 

My final suggestion to you is press your reset button & try again.   Your baseless assumptions & expectations about how easy your experience is "supposed" to be is getting in your way.   Seriously....

[thelor]

Gutterfish  wrote

thelor   wrote

Hi guys.

Maybe I'm the stupidest person on the planet. Or maybe AE is monkey butt for not letting the simplest of tasks be... simple.

First: A little rant of my own...

Obviously you're not the dumbest person on the planet but it's curious that you assume the task you cannot complete is "the simplest of tasks".   I mean, how would YOU know? 

This type of comment often baffles me.  It's understandable that you would not know how to do something you've never done before in software you've hardly used but given those facts,  how could YOU accurately judge how simple or complicated a given task "should" be?

So weird how often people seem to know exactly how easy or hard something they have no idea how to do should be. 

Now....on to the task of trying to "empty your cup" of how you KNOW things should be so it might be filled with how things ARE.

The simple answer is that apart from After Effect's many shortcomings, It's just NOT a painting program and as a result painting in it is clunky & not very intuitive.

My suggestion to you would be to open Photoshop, or Illustrator or, if you don;t have a CC subscription, any free painting program and paint you arrow there.  You could also create your arrow as a shape layer using the pen tool but maybe you want that "painted" look.

Finally as for your frustration with the .png file you imported showing as a "black box".   That for sure is not AE's fault.  AE can display .png files just fine.  So the problem is probably with the specific .png file your using.

thelor   wrote

I don't think people were meant to sit in front of a computer screen for three hours trying (and failing!) to paint arrows.

Huh?   What DO you think people were meant to do, open a piece of professional industry software and be able to paint an arrow?  Based on what experience are you making that assumption? 

My final suggestion to you is press your reset button & try again.   Your baseless assumptions & expectations about how easy your experience is "supposed" to be is getting in your way.   Seriously....

Here's the thing: I understand what you're trying to say and there are some valid points here but there are also some valid counterpoints.

Obviously each software has its uses, and even among softwares with the same basic function there can be differences. But there are also certain constants. I'll use a stupid example: finding the calculator on your phone. No matter whether you have an android or an iphone or a blackberry or a windows phone, the calculator app is going to be on the home page by default. And when you open it, it will have the same exact functions.

Video editing software is obviously more complex than a simple arithmetic calculator, yes, but you gotta admit: the brush tool is right there on the toolbar. It's impossible to miss. Whereas when it comes to actually using the brush tool... I had to come on the forums and waste you good people's valuable time.

Moreover, even a beginner can understand to some degree how easy or hard to use a particular software is. Especially someone like me who is usually only using the most basic of features. (this is why I use open source GIMP even though I know it is inferior to Photoshop in a multitude of ways). Sony Vegas for me was always very streamlined and straightforward and GED friendly even when I first started using it. (simply because I had some very very very little experience with final cut before that).

You can compare it to language. If you're native language is Mandarin Chinese, then learning Spanish, for example is going to be very difficult and your knowledge of Mandarin will give you almost nothing in terms of groundwork for learning Spanish. But if you are a native French or Italian speaker? It's a different story entirely. I understand each video editing software is a different language, but it should at least be the same language group, that's all I'm saying.

[P.M.B]

I understand it's frustrating.  Believe me, If I controlled everything and everyone things would be alot better us all, at least for awhile

[defaultn4g7k7847bew]

Keep your frustrations with newbies to yourself. What you wrote in your rant will not help the person asking for help. It is common troll behavior. Be nice, or shut up. Remember that saying? If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. Try it. Especially when carrying the very high title of Adobe Community Professional. This is a community of sorts and you just bullied someone in the community. Take it out on your dog or your girlfriend, not a community member. Please be helpful in the community, and polite - even encouraging. Teach people, don't discourage or ridicule. Be the bigger person no matter how pissed off you get.

[BartonGarrett256]

I feel your pain. You are not alone. 

As Guitarfish(sp) notes, for many reasons, to not go absolutely crazy I find I need to use the whole suite of Adobe products to get many projects done, all are powerful tools but most have quirky horrible UI shortcomings that can drive the feckless to what a friend used to call "a bridge run".  Try doing a single squiggly line using the pen tool in Ps.  I spent hours figuring out how to.  It can be done in Ae in five seconds.

Some of this is because the programs have grown by assimilation.  They are kind of Balkanized, contain way too many counter-intuitive and dissimilar shortcuts for near identical things we have to memorize.  And once you become an expert smugness sets in.

I recall struggling with calculus in college, suffering through a grad student TA who put a complex equation up on the board, stared at us dumbfounded and said "Look it's right there". Someone from the back of the room threw a book at him and said "Get out or we will de-pants you. And tell the prof we want a teacher not a boy genius". 

I've told the Adobe people I've met they need better error messages- I  think the team that writes error messages are lawyers who used to write nuclear arms control agreements. Some of the plug-ins I use say things like " hey I think you wanted to do X, click over here instead".  Ahhh. 

Use Google, I have found unless you are in a very obtuse rabbit hole way off in a corner someone will have had the same problem and was kind enough to post a fix or leave a trail. The trick is separating the wheat from the chaff. Start with the newest post and keep mental notes of where you find real solutions. 

[P.M.B]

BartonGarrett256  wrote

As Guitarfish(sp) notes...

"Guitar" Fish...I like it.  My friends in Key West used to call me "Guitar" Paul because there were two other Pauls.  "Canadian" Paul & "Nug" Paul.

[BartonGarrett256]