How to mask a donut (with a hole), that is moving... sync the inner and outer mask how?

[Letty2019]

Hi, still having problems with this...

I have a donut....(with the hole)

The donut is animated, moving up and down.

I masked the outside of the donut, pen tooled it,  and that looks fine.

I then masked out the hole, and I'd like to sync the hole mask with the movements of the outer donut mask.

I can't get parenting to work.  😞

I made 2 seperate comps, but can't get them to sync.

I also placed both masks in the same comp, and can't get them to sync.

Thanks for your advice! I'm baffled as always.

Letty

[Mylenium]

You have a fundamental misunderstanding here. No need to "sync" anything. You simply create the donut shape as a static item inside the pre-comp, the nanimate the pre-comp layer as a whole in the parent comp. Other than that there's a million otehr ways to do it, including simply applying a super fat stroke to a mask to create a donut if you realyl need to animate the mask shape itself, using the puppet tool, the Reshape effect and so on.

Mylenium

[Letty2019]

Hi, Can you please reccomend a video tutorial on this?   I'm having difficulty understanding.

I'm not working with a shape of a donut, I'm working with a photograph of a real donut, and am masking that. (if that info helps?)

I've been searching videos and can't find the right tutorial.

Thanks! 🙂

I forgot to mention,  I've already completed the outer mask and animated it.  My problem is I want to add the center hole mask, but have that sync with the outer mask.  Thanks for your thoughts.

[Letty2019]

Hello ?

[OussK]

Check this https://we.tl/t-ZZRLYAKdyl 

[Letty2019]

Hi!  First off, thanks very much for your time and skill making that video!!!  I feel very priveledged.

Because I already made the first donut mask and animated it... and want to add the hole now.... (your video shows that both masks are made at the same time)

Can I do this:

Start from scratch, make the ext mask and then the hole mask, then pre comp both....then.... copy and paste the old animation key frames from the original donut mask to the new pre comp'd set of masks?    I'm gonna try and get back to you.

Thank you!! 
Letty

[Andrew Yoole]

I think the confusion is more about workflow than the process.  It would save a lot of confusion if you could post a screengrab of your project, with all the animated properties visible in the timeline.

It sounds like you're trying to mask the animated object, after you've already animated it?  And you've animated the mask path to follow the animated donut?

If the image is a photograph, you just do the masking before you animate it - outer edge and inner hole.  Once the image is masked, you then animate it with standard transform tools like Position and Rotation. The masks will move with the animated image.

You could even cut the donut out in Photoshop if you wanted to, before importing to AE.  

If you've already animated the donut and don't want to lose that work, you can precompose the donut layer (make sure to "Leave all attributes in [comp]" ) which will create a nested composition with the static donut layer in it.  Mask the donut outer edge AND hole within the precomp, and remove the masks in the main comp.

[Letty2019]

Hi, will this work:  (the donut is a video clip btw)

Start from scratch, make the ext mask and then the hole mask, (don't animate) then pre comp both....then.... copy and paste the old animation key frames from the original donut mask to the new pre comp'd set of masks?  

[Andrew Yoole]

(the donut is a video clip btw)

You said earlier it was a photo, but that's okay.  So long as the donut doesn't move in the frame at all, you can just create a single mask to cut it out.  If it moves in the video clip, or the camera moves, then you will need to animate the mask.  It sounds like that's what you've done, but again, only guessing until you post a screenshot.  

The rest of your questions can't be answered until you clarify the above - is the donut moving or perfectly still within the source video file?

[Letty2019]

Hi, the donut moves, it's an avi, bounces up and down and left right.

Yeah, I'd like to save all my animation (path) work.  My fault for not doing the center hole with the exterior of the donut mask at the same time. 😞

Can it be saved?   Thanks!!!

I tried my earlier theory and it's not working.  I have a bad feeling the key frames I made for the donut's path, are only for the ext of the donut and can not be applied to the new hole mask??

[Letty2019]

I'm think I'm scr*wed.

I've tried copy and pasting the original path keyframes to the newly precomp'd masks of the ext and hole, and no luck.

It seems the path key frames are only good for the image they were created for.

They can't be added to another mask and make that 2nd mask work right.

Is that right?   Both masks should've been made at the same time, so they can be animated in one key frame?

Very frustrating. 

[Andrew Yoole]

Sorry if this is frustrating, but it continues to be difficult to assess your problem without clear information or screengrabs of the project.  Is the video of the donut actual footage of a donut?  Or an animation?  Do the edges of the donut change extensively as it moves?  Is the donut three dimensional and rotates as it moves?

If the donut in the video changes over time, particularly if it changes in three dimensions, then you have to manually mask the outside and inside of the donut, perhaps even frame by frame.

If the donut is a flat 2D animation the process may be much easier, but unless you provide some clear details of the project it's really just a stab in the dark.

If the donut is on a single coloured background you may be able to key it instead of mask it, but again .. I don't know what you're working with unless you tell me.  🙂

[Letty2019]

I posted a new question in a post, to keep it simple.  My wording here makes us both go off in different directions.  I'm a novice, so that's why its hard for me to understand. Sorry.

Please close this one.  I posted a new simple question a few mins ago.

Thanks for your time, again sorry for the confusion.

Letty.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects/make-a-mask-within-a-mask-and-have-both-follow-exact-sa...

[Letty2019 · Accepted solution]

The answer is here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects/make-a-mask-within-a-mask-and-have-both-follow-exact-sa...