BAO Mask Brush
  • Hi all!

    The update is available.
    Have fun!

    François
  • The tool looks amazingly good FranÇois.  And it offers me a capability I can use.  But I can't afford the price.
  • Hi Ben,
    you're right, depth sorting isn't supported yet. Also, there is a limitation on camera use (rotations and point of interest are not fully supported).
    But the good news is: the new update will fix both.
    You'll actually have the choice to 3D sort or not and you'll get full camera support.
    It's almost ready and should be available next week.

    Hope you'll like it!
    Cheers,
    François
    AWESOME!!  Thanks Francois :) 
  • I have just installed Bao mask brush 1.9.5 with AECC 2015.   When using the new Z brush function with 3D AE crashes every time.  This happens when using the camera and also when changing any parameters.   I have tried other plugins and I dont have any problem.   This seems to be related to the Z brush.

    I posted another message not sure what has happened but but seems to have disappeared. 
  • Hi all!

    The update is available.
    Have fun!

    François
    I have just installed Bao mask brush 1.9.5 with AECC 2015.   When using the new Z brush function with 3D AE crashes every time.  This happens when using the camera and also when changing any parameters.   I have tried other plugins and I dont have any problem.   This seems to be related to the Z brush.

    I posted another message not sure what has happened but but seems to have disappeared. 
  • Hi Ben,

    If it happens again, please open a support ticket and send me a file so I can check it.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Hi Ben,

    If it happens again, please open a support ticket and send me a file so I can check it.

    Cheers,
    François


    It happens every time without fail.   Ill open a ticket now.
  • Hi,

    I have an Illustrator graphic that changes color each 10 frames (hard cut). I want to simply repeat this particle along a path, using a random still frame. So i want to have the same graphic along a path, in these different, random colors.

    I tried playing around with the frame selector and the time step values, but it either gives me animated results, or it leaves spaces open. 

    Please help me out.

    Cheers,

    Paul
  • Hi Paul,

    from what you describe, I guess you want the color of the particles to change color at the same time than the illustrator layer... right? If so, your layer should be precomposed (with color change acting inside the pre-composition), or if you use the latest version of AE, you can choose to select your layer with effects applied. Then the time sampling mode should be 'current time'.

    If you still have issues, please open a support ticket and send me your project, I'll have a look at it.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Hi Paul,

    from what you describe, I guess you want the color of the particles to change color at the same time than the illustrator layer... right? If so, your layer should be precomposed (with color change acting inside the pre-composition), or if you use the latest version of AE, you can choose to select your layer with effects applied. Then the time sampling mode should be 'current time'.

    If you still have issues, please open a support ticket and send me your project, I'll have a look at it.

    Cheers,
    François
    Thanks Frainçois. Sorry my english isn't that great. I already precomposed the layer and did the color switching inside. I want the Mask Brush to show random still frames from this composition. So that the particles show different colors from the precomp (and don't animate). I think i figured it out with a workaround though.

    Another thing i ran into: when i render an mp4 (using AME) the effect doesn't show? It works when i render ProRes directly from AE, but being able to use AME would be great!

  • Another thing i ran into: when i render an mp4 (using AME) the effect doesn't show? It works when i render ProRes directly from AE, but being able to use AME would be great!
    Hi again,

    in order to use AME, make sure AME and AE are the same version. If several versions are installed on your machine, AE will open the latest AME, not the one with the same version...

    Cheers,
    François
  • Can you please make an Update so it is compatible with CC18?
  • Hi Simon,

    Adobe didn't release CC2018 SDK yet... What issue do you have with CC 2018?

    Cheers,
    François
  • Thanks for the reply.
    The installer (ae scripts plugin manager) says its not compatible. Should I be able to install it anyways?

    Cheers,
    Simon
  • Hi Simon,

    we're now fixing the 'not compatible' issue, so you'll be able to install with ae scripts plugin manager very soon.
    But you can also install 'manually', by pasting the plugins in your plugins folder.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Hi François,
    I'm just getting familiar with BAO Mask Brush again after buying it sometime ago.
    I'm experiencing some bad preview rendering in AE 2018, where the result of the plugin disappears on multiple frames, cause a flashing preview.
    Is there someway to fix this?
    Cheers,
    Daniel
  • Hi everyone!

    The issue noticed by Daniel has been fixed, a new version is available.

    Have fun!
    François
  • I needed to create some custom brush reveal strokes and tried this... I guess this is just what I was looking for! 

    There's one thing that this is missing in my opinion and it is "GLOBAL SCALE". Now I can change the scale of START/MIDDLE/END,  but what if I wanna adjust the global scale that would be the starting point of START/MIDDLE/END SCALE. Now I need to adjust all of those if I wanna change the brush size to scale to 50% for an example. So currently I need to go and set START 50% MIDDLE 50% and 50% END to get the scaling. If there would be global scale the START/MIDDLE/END scale would be relative to the global scale :)
  • Hi Miika,

    I understand what you mean, but this would make one more parameter, and Mask Brush already has a lot... When writing it, I had to make a choice: how many controls along the path?
    3 seemed a good idea at that time :-)

    But there are easy workarounds, though.
    If you're comfortable with expressions, you could add a simple slider control, and link the three scale parameters to this slider with the following expression.

    value*(effect("Slider Control")("Slider")*.01)

    This way, you can still animate each one separately, or together with the slider.

    If you don't like expressions, you could simply scale the source of your brush (and probably precompose it before, depends on what kind of source you're using).

    Hope it helps!
    François
  • Hi Miika,

    I understand what you mean, but this would make one more parameter, and Mask Brush already has a lot... When writing it, I had to make a choice: how many controls along the path?
    3 seemed a good idea at that time :-)

    But there are easy workarounds, though.
    If you're comfortable with expressions, you could add a simple slider control, and link the three scale parameters to this slider with the following expression.

    value*(effect("Slider Control")("Slider")*.01)

    This way, you can still animate each one separately, or together with the slider.

    If you don't like expressions, you could simply scale the source of your brush (and probably precompose it before, depends on what kind of source you're using).

    Hope it helps!
    François
    Hi François

    I don't have issues with expressions like that, but as you can imagine... I' was looking something that would make Mask Brush easier to use. Adjusting the brush size within the precomp is closest I guess. There are plenty of adjustments in Mask Brush, but adding global scale would make using Mask Brush more "fluent". Anycase I got Mask Brush to do what I needed it to do :)

    Thanks!

    Miika
  • Is there any chance you could add a mode, similar to the native After Effect Stroke effect, which will apply a stroke to every mask on the current layer, either simultaneously or sequentially?  I am currently using Mask Brush on a project which has a LOT of masks per layer.  as it stands right now, I have to have many duplicate instances of Mask Brush applied to the same layer, and manually select the masks one at a time for each instance.  And then if I want to modify a parameter and have it apply to every stroke, I have to make the same change on every effect instance, or start over.  I hope this seems like a reasonable request, and if it could simply mirror the functionality already present in the native Stroke effect, that would be perfect.
  • Is there any chance you could add a mode, similar to the native After Effect Stroke effect, which will apply a stroke to every mask on the current layer, either simultaneously or sequentially?  I am currently using Mask Brush on a project which has a LOT of masks per layer.  as it stands right now, I have to have many duplicate instances of Mask Brush applied to the same layer, and manually select the masks one at a time for each instance.  And then if I want to modify a parameter and have it apply to every stroke, I have to make the same change on every effect instance, or start over.  I hope this seems like a reasonable request, and if it could simply mirror the functionality already present in the native Stroke effect, that would be perfect.
    Hi!

    I'll try. But it will probably take some time before I can make it work properly... I'll let you know.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Is there any chance you could add a mode, similar to the native After Effect Stroke effect, which will apply a stroke to every mask on the current layer, either simultaneously or sequentially?  I am currently using Mask Brush on a project which has a LOT of masks per layer.  as it stands right now, I have to have many duplicate instances of Mask Brush applied to the same layer, and manually select the masks one at a time for each instance.  And then if I want to modify a parameter and have it apply to every stroke, I have to make the same change on every effect instance, or start over.  I hope this seems like a reasonable request, and if it could simply mirror the functionality already present in the native Stroke effect, that would be perfect.
    Hi again,

    Can you open a support ticket, so I can send you a new version? This way, you can tell me if it works as you expected...

    Cheers,
    François

  • Hey, Great Plugin! I basically use it to create strokes with a brush from photoshop. pretty awesome. please consider higher bit depths, it's only  8bpc...
  • Hey, Great Plugin! I basically use it to create strokes with a brush from photoshop. pretty awesome. please consider higher bit depths, it's only  8bpc...
    Glad you like it!
    I'm thinking of handling 16 and 32 bpc, but it's a lot of work, so it might take some more time...

    Cheers,
    François
  • Do you have sample AEP files / brushes from any of your demo videos available?

  • Do you have sample AEP files / brushes from any of your demo videos available?
    Hi!

    Sorry, I don't have them anymore... But they all came from 2 categories:
    -first brush type is shape layer (mostly stars). I've used a star as brush and just played with the shape, stroke parameters, colors... You can see the used brush in the demos.
    -second type is the photoshop brushes I converted into png like this

    Hope it helps,
    François
  • Im not sure the all masks is working. I have 3 masks on a solid layer and it is only reacting to the 1st mask.
  • When will version 1.9.7 be released?


  • I'm trying to run a demo version of the plugin (v1.9.16) in AE 2020 (v17.0.6). No luck. It returns an "After Effects error: invalid filter". Anyone else having this problem?
  • I just bought a few Boa plug-ins and have had no problem installing, using and enjoying them except for one- For some reason I can't get AE to see the Mask_Brush_Fill plug in. It sees the Mask_Brush plug in just fine, but even though the Mask_Brush_Fill plug-in is in my AE plug -ins folder, it doesn't show up in my Effects panel when I run AE. I'm on a mac running AE 2020. Any suggestions? Mask Fill is kind of the reason I purchased the plug-in the first place. Thanks!
  • I just bought a few Boa plug-ins and have had no problem installing, using and enjoying them except for one- For some reason I can't get AE to see the Mask_Brush_Fill plug in. It sees the Mask_Brush plug in just fine, but even though the Mask_Brush_Fill plug-in is in my AE plug -ins folder, it doesn't show up in my Effects panel when I run AE. I'm on a mac running AE 2020. Any suggestions? Mask Fill is kind of the reason I purchased the plug-in the first place. Thanks!
    Hi,
    it seems latest versions of AE have hard times finding it when it's not at the right place.
    Please make sure the architecture looks like this:
    /Plug-ins/BAO/Mask_Brush_Fill

    Hope it works and sorry for the inconvenience.
    François
  • it seems latest versions of AE have hard times finding it when it's not at the right place.
    Please make sure the architecture looks like this:
    /Plug-ins/BAO/Mask_Brush_Fill

    Hope it works and sorry for the inconvenience.
    François
    Hi, Francois, you wrote that the path architecture must be: /Plug-ins/BAO/Mask_Brush_Fill

    Is "Mask_Brush_Fill" the name of another *folder* in which the plug-in must be located -- or is that the name of the plug-in itself? 
    In other words, did you intend to write: /Plug-ins/BOA/Mask_Brush_Fill.plugin
    Thanks! 

  • In other words, did you intend to write: /Plug-ins/BOA/Mask_Brush_Fill.plugin

    Sorry, it was not clear...

    /Plug-ins/BOA/Mask_Brush_Fill.plugin
    for Mac

    /Plug-ins/BOA/Mask_Brush_Fill.aex
    for windows

    Cheers,
    François
  • Sorry, it was not clear...

    /Plug-ins/BOA/Mask_Brush_Fill.plugin
    for Mac

    /Plug-ins/BOA/Mask_Brush_Fill.aex
    for windows

    Cheers,
    François
    Okay. I am on an iMac OSv10.15 (Catalina) running AE v17.0.6. I am running the demo version of the plug-in.
    I created the folder path exactly as described (except I wrote BAO not BOA as we both misspelled it :)
    I am having the same problem, Mask_Brush_Fill is not showing up in the Effects menu. Mask_Brush is working fine, though.

  • I wrote BAO not BOA as we both misspelled it :))

    You're right! Sorry again... Seems I can't see straight today.
    Can you open a support ticket?
    This way I can send you a new version, try to see if it fixes it...

    Cheers,
    François
  • You're right! Sorry again... Seems I can't see straight today.
    Can you open a support ticket?
    This way I can send you a new version, try to see if it fixes it...

    Cheers,
    François
    Hi, I did open a support ticket and have been messaging you there too. Are you not getting those?

    -Sean

  • Hi, I did open a support ticket and have been messaging you there too. Are you not getting those?
    Sorry there's a little delay... I just replied to the ticket :-)
  • I just bought a few Boa plug-ins and have had no problem installing, using and enjoying them except for one- For some reason I can't get AE to see the Mask_Brush_Fill plug in. It sees the Mask_Brush plug in just fine, but even though the Mask_Brush_Fill plug-in is in my AE plug -ins folder, it doesn't show up in my Effects panel when I run AE. I'm on a mac running AE 2020. Any suggestions? Mask Fill is kind of the reason I purchased the plug-in the first place. Thanks!
    Hi,
    it seems latest versions of AE have hard times finding it when it's not at the right place.
    Please make sure the architecture looks like this:
    /Plug-ins/BAO/Mask_Brush_Fill

    Hope it works and sorry for the inconvenience.
    François

    Thanks for the reply! Just tried you suggestion, but Mask_Brush_Fill still doesn't show up. There was no existing BAO folder, so I created one in the plug-ins folder and put MBF in it,  but nothing changed. I am noticing that when I installed both Bones and Boa, each had a dedicated folder on install whereas the two Mask Brush plug-ins had no folder, just the two plug-in files. I wonder if that has something to do with the no show on MBF? Regardless, no matter what folder I put MBF in After Effects 2020 just isn't seeing it...
  • Thanks for the reply! Just tried you suggestion, but Mask_Brush_Fill still doesn't show up. There was no existing BAO folder, so I created one in the plug-ins folder and put MBF in it,  but nothing changed. I am noticing that when I installed both Bones and Boa, each had a dedicated folder on install whereas the two Mask Brush plug-ins had no folder, just the two plug-in files. I wonder if that has something to do with the no show on MBF? Regardless, no matter what folder I put MBF in After Effects 2020 just isn't seeing it...

    The BAO folder did the trick before, but it seems it doesn't work anymore...
    I'm working on a fix for it right now.

    Can you open a support ticket, so I don't forget to send it to you when it's ready?

    Thanks
    François
  • Torn between Bao the layer charmer and this one (mask brush)!
    I want to create custom brush strokes to follow a mask path... both of these seem to do the job.
    Is one a newer version? Help pleasee!
  • Torn between Bao the layer charmer and this one (mask brush)!
    I want to create custom brush strokes to follow a mask path... both of these seem to do the job.
    Is one a newer version? Help pleasee!
    Hi,

    if you want your brush to follow a mask path, Mask Brush is the best. And if you want to distort this brush along the mask path, Boa is the tool you need.
    Boa is newer, and faster as it uses OpenGL. But Mask Brush does things you can't do with Boa either...
    The best is to try them. They both have a free trial, so you can see by yourself.
    The only risk is you'll probably want them both ;-)

    Cheers,
    François
  • Hi, is the plugin compatible with Lottie? and will it export in .json format for web?
  • ehh dubs said:
    Hi, is the plugin compatible with Lottie? and will it export in .json format for web?
    Hi,

    Mask Brush is a 'classical' plugin, meaning images are rendered by After Effects. So you won't be able to export directly in .json format.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Greetings, I have a request please. Would it be possible to update this plugin to respect the 'Mask Expansion' parameter? I often use this effect from a mask that is linked to another mask shape via an expression, but would like the Mask Brush to be offset outside the linked mask shape. Thanks.
  • Greetings, I have a request please. Would it be possible to update this plugin to respect the 'Mask Expansion' parameter? I often use this effect from a mask that is linked to another mask shape via an expression, but would like the Mask Brush to be offset outside the linked mask shape. Thanks.
    Hi!

    Unfortunately, I've already tried, but couldn't do it...
    But you can try to play with the brush 'anchor' parameter to give it some offset.

    Hope it helps,
    François
  • Hello.

    Are there any plans to make these plugins Apple Silicon compatible?
    There has been a beta for the last 4 months and I expect the official M1 Native release of After Effects coming in a very short time.
    The plugins, in their current state, aren't compatible with this version of After Effects.
    I have the same question for the rest of the BAO Plugins.
  • Hello.

    Are there any plans to make these plugins Apple Silicon compatible?
    There has been a beta for the last 4 months and I expect the official M1 Native release of After Effects coming in a very short time.
    The plugins, in their current state, aren't compatible with this version of After Effects.
    I have the same question for the rest of the BAO Plugins.
    Hi,

    I'm working on it. But it might take some more time... Making plugins compatible is one thing, but making them safe and sure with m1 chips when the technology is still very recent is an other.
    But Mask Brush will probably be the first on my list to be released, as it doesn't use OpenGL.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Hello.

    Are there any plans to make these plugins Apple Silicon compatible?
    There has been a beta for the last 4 months and I expect the official M1 Native release of After Effects coming in a very short time.
    The plugins, in their current state, aren't compatible with this version of After Effects.
    I have the same question for the rest of the BAO Plugins.
    Hi again,

    I'm happy to announce the BAO plugins are ready to run on M1 chips :-)

    Cheers,
    François