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Caminlondon
Caminlondon
Participant
March 11, 2020
Question

Shift Key when dragging shape doesn't make them perfect circle or square

  • March 11, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 8318 views

I don't know why but when I'm trying to create a perfect circle shape by pressing the shift key, it keeps doing an oval. Always the same proportion but never a circle.

Any idea why and how to fix this?

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    D
    David Arbor
    Inspiring
    March 11, 2020

    Eh, it happens. Don't beat yourself up over it. There's so much to learn about video settings, formats, codecs, etc. that it can take a long time to understand everything. My best advice is when something doesn't work the way you think it should (especially in After Effects), don't assume something is broken. There's probably a very good and technical reason for it. Obviously, that's not to say that there aren't bugs, so always feel free to ask questions and file bug reports and feature requests at the User Voice site, but keep questioning why things are the way they are, rather than just accepting them.

    D
    David Arbor
    Inspiring
    March 11, 2020

    What is the Pixel Aspect Ratio of your comp? You can find this by going to Composition > Composition Settings or hitting Cmd/Ctrl+K. In most cases you're going to want to work with Square Pixels (see attached screenshot). I'm guessing your setting is one of the other options.

      L
      Lissandro Silva
      Participant
      August 8, 2020

      Hello there!
      I am having a similar issue here. When I create a perfect circle/square shape by pressing the shift key it works fine, however, when I try to create the same perfect circle as a mask, it keeps doing an oval, never a circle.  The Pixel Aspect Ratio of my computer is "square pixels" as per the image above. Do you know how I can fix this?

      inuyashafan
      inuyashafan
      Inspiring
      January 14, 2021

      I think the mask you are making must be getting put onto a layer that has been stretched horizontally...

      Remember the mask sits within a layer like being in a container. 

       

      If you want a stand alone mask... make a new shape layer on top of your image layer and use it as a 'track matte' which is basically the mask on another layer 🤔 🤔

       

      Image layer - then shape layer for mask on top - then on image layer set track matte to "Alpha Inverted Matte Shape Layer 1" - the mask shape layer must be on top of your image layer 🤔 🤔🙌

       

       


      It just shouldn't be that unintuitive and have 5 steps to make a perfect circle in after effects. but you were right, the solid was the size of the composition and not a square, thus making any shape wildly disproportionate, not intuitive or useful at all in my opinion. Thanks for your help and response, I'm trying to get in the minds of the overly logical but not user friendly designers of AE. Or I'm just stupid. Oh well

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