Exercise 3 · Cut & Reveal

Project 2 · Cinematic Reveal · Week 4 · Masking · ~45 min

Practice goal: Draw and combine masks (modes, feather, expansion, opacity), then animate a Mask Path wipe-on reveal.

Set up: New project. Solids work fine; plus a short word/title to reveal.

Steps

New composition, 1920×1080, 30 fps, 5 s; name it Main.
Add a dark full-frame solid (background); above it add a bright/colorful solid (or a photo) named “Reveal.”
Select “Reveal”; with the Pen tool, click points to draw one closed mask (a rough oval) — only the inside shows.
Press M for Mask Path; draw a second overlapping mask on the same layer.
Change the second mask's Mode between Add, Subtract and Intersect — watch how the two combine.
Press F for Mask Feather (≈ 60 px); press MM and adjust Mask Expansion and Mask Opacity (≈ 70%); toggle “Inverted” to compare.
Now animate a reveal: add a text layer with a short word, and with the Rectangle/Pen tool draw a mask that fully covers it.
Press M; at 1:00 set a Mask Path keyframe with the mask covering the word.
Go to 0:00 and drag the mask's edge past the start of the word so nothing shows — a left→right wipe-on.
Easy Ease both Mask Path keyframes (F9) and add a little Mask Feather so the wipe edge is soft.
Optional write-on: apply Effect ▸ Generate ▸ Stroke to a mask path and check “Paint on Transparent” for a drawn-line look.
Press U to verify all mask keyframes; add a readable hold, then save & render.

Two masks combine via different modes (with feather, expansion and opacity), and a title wipes on via an animated, feathered Mask Path.

Pittman_Ex03_CutAndReveal.aep → render Pittman_Ex03_CutAndReveal.mov · versions Pittman_Ex03_CutAndReveal_001.aep

This drill is your in-class activity for the week; it ladders directly into the project.