Have a layer with multiple mask and would like to hide all but one while animating

[wwd]

this would be so much easier if I could figure out a way to disable all but the mask I want to work on. Insight in how to do this is much appreciated.

[Rick Gerard]

You can't disable masks but you can lock them so that you can only select points on the mask you want to work on. Start by pressing "m" to reveal all mask paths. Then drag a selection around all of the mask paths or hold down the Shift key and click the first Mask 1 and then click on the last mask in the stack and hit the Lock option. All that is left is to unlock the mask you want to work on. 

I'm not exactly sure what you are tiring to accomplish but you might want to think about creating your wing in Illustrator. You could then duplicate the wing with all the paths, group them, duplicate the group, lock the original group, make some path changes to the second group, blend the two groups setting the number of copies to the number of frames you need for your animation, then Expanding the blend, releasing to layers, moving the layers so they are above the original layer, importing as a comp, sequencing the layers, then using time remapping to loop the animated layers. You probably didn't follow that so here's a tutorial on the idea that I did a long time ago. You could be done in a few minutes instead of several hours.

[wwd]

Thanks for the video, I will give it a try

[Roland Kahlenberg]

The Keyboard Visualizer includes Mask Commands to Lock Other Masks, Hide Locked Masks and Unlock All Masks. These should help you out a lot when working with multiple masks on a single layer. 

See image below - take note that the Default Shortcut Keys do not have the shortcuts - so ... make your own, as I have.

[wwd]

@Roland Kahlenberg  Thanks so much, I am just starting to lean AE, This will be helpful, is your chart a ai file? would you mind sharing it so I do not have to recreate it?

[wwd]

@Roland Kahlenberg Just figured it out its built in, thanks again.