Editing

The tools and panels available to edit masks are the same in both editors. Editing of mask splines happens in a way similar to editing Bézier curves or paths in GIMP or other curve editors.

Tip

To get interactive feedback on the resulting mask, a Mask node can be connected directly to a Viewer node in the Compositor, which will then keep updating the compositing result while editing.

Transform

Reference

Mode: Mask Mode
Menu: Mask ‣ Transform

Move G: Change the location of control points. Control points can also be moved with LMB. The whole spline can be moved by dragging the center dot with LMB.
Rotate R: Change the location of control points by rotating about a pivot point.
Scale S: Change the location of control points by expanding the distance between points.
To Sphere Shift-Alt-S: Morphs the control points to the shape of a circle.
Shear Shift-Ctrl-Alt-S: Shifts control points along a defined axis so parallel control points move past one another.
Push/Pull: Moves the control points closer together (Push) or further apart (Pull).
Scale Feather Alt-S: Will scale the feather size.

Clear Feather Weight

Reference

Mode: Mask Mode
Menu: Mask ‣ Clear Feather Weight

Resets the feather weight to zero.

Toggle Cyclic

Reference

Mode: Mask Mode
Menu: Mask ‣ Toggle Cyclic
Shortcut: Alt-C

Toggle to create a closed curve or open it again. Close the mask by joining the last control point to the first.

Set Handle Type

Reference

Mode: Mask Mode
Menu: Mask ‣ Set Handle Type
Shortcut: V

Set handle type for selected spline points.

Recalculate Handles

Reference

Mode: Mask Mode
Menu: Mask ‣ Recalculate Handles
Shortcut: Ctrl-N

Make normals (handle directions) consistent.

Switch Direction

Reference

Mode: Mask Mode
Menu: Mask ‣ Switch Direction

Switch Direction handle directions in/out.

Copy Paste

Todo.

Clear Parent

Reference

Mode: Mask Mode
Menu: Mask ‣ Clear Parent
Shortcut: Alt-P

Clears any parenting relationship for the selected spline points.

Make Parent

Reference

Mode: Mask Mode
Menu: Mask ‣ Make Parent
Shortcut: Ctrl-P

Parents one or more selected spline points to the active motion tracker.

Animation

Reference

Mode: Mask Mode
Menu: Mask ‣ Animation

Masks can be animated with the shape keying system. This can be useful when there are not enough good feature points to track in the footage, or the mask is not based on footage. Mask animation timing can be edited from the Dope Sheet’s Mask Mode.

Insert Shape Key I: Will insert a shape key for the active mask layer at the current frame. This works on the level of mask layers, so inserting a shape key will keyframe all the splines and points contained in it.
Clear Shape Key Alt-I: Will clear the shape key for the active mask layer at the current frame.
Feather Reset Animation: Resets the feather offset across all animated frames.
Re-Key Points of Selected Shapes: Re-interpolate selected points on across the range of keys selected in the Dope Sheet.

Show/Hide

Reference

Mode: Mask Mode
Menu: Mask ‣ Show/Hide

Hide Selected H
Hide Unselected Shift-H
Clear Restricted View Alt-H

Delete

Reference

Mode: Mask Mode
Menu: Mask ‣ Delete
Shortcut: X

Removes control points.

Miscellaneous

Slide Spline Curvature LMB: Moves the curve and/or control points by clicking on them and dragging.
Add Vertex and Slide Ctrl-LMB: Inserts new control points and defines handle orientations by a continued mouse drag. If the last point was selected, double-click will also close the curve.
Add Feather Vertex and Slide Shift-Ctrl-LMB: Inserts new feather control points that can be transformed independently of the main spline curve. If no feather mask is in use this will create a basic feather mask to the curve.