What It Does
Shapes and Masks is a discontinued After Effects plugin that created specific shapes and masks beyond native After Effects options. It worked as a dockable panel and included mask transformation tools and data export capabilities. While no longer available, it was designed for CS4 through CS6.
Key Features
Shape creation. Built circles, polygons, rectangles with variable rounded corners, spirals (Archimedean and Logarithmic), and stars. You could create these on the current layer or generate new solid or shape layers.
Mask transformations. Modified rotation and scale on the current mask path or a duplicate. Included horizontal and vertical axis symmetry for flipping masks at their center, and a reverse mask path option that changed direction without altering vertices or tangent values.
Curve to vertices. Converted curves into vertices with customizable spacing, useful for subdividing smooth paths into point-based geometry.
Mask data export. Displayed mask data and saved it to a .txt file for external use or documentation.
Mask parameters. Set Mode, Feather, Opacity, and Expansion directly through the plugin interface.
The plugin did not work with Null objects, Lights, or Cameras. Mask parameter settings did not apply to shape layers.
Pricing
This product operated on a pay-what-you-want model before being discontinued. It is no longer available for purchase.