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Color | The color of the lines. Default: |
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Outset | The distance between the layer and the innermost line. Range: 0 to 150; Default: 10 |
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Width | The combined width of all the lines. Range: 0 to 100; Default: 5 |
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Alpha | The opacity of the lines, independent of the layer fill. Range: 0% to 100%; Default: 100% |
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Fill | The opacity of the layer fill, independent of the lines. Set this to 0% to show only the contour lines, using the shape of the layer as a guide for the lines but not showing the layer itself. Range: 0% to 100%; Default: 100% |
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Count | The number of lines. Increasing this will result in thinner lines as they are squeezed into the space set for Width (to avoid this, also increase Width if you increase Count). Range: 1 to 10; Default: 1 |
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Phase | An additional outset (negative) or inset (positive) for the lines. When you use this, lines pushed outside of the area defined by With loop back around to the inside and vice versa. Range: -999 to 999; Default: 0 |
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Fade | When turned on, the lines fade to transparent the further they are away from the layer. When turned off, the lines appear solid. Default: off |
Usage
Apply this effect, set Count to the number of contour lines you want, then increase Width until the lines are visible and are the width you want, then set Color as desired. To make the lines appear to ripple or radiate away from the layer, use keyframe animation with Phase.
Known Issue
Unlike other effects in Alight Motion, the Phase property doesn't repeat at multiples of 1.0. We plan to address this in a future update, but in the meantime if you plan to animate Phase and want it to loop seamlessly, we suggest increasing phase very gradually at each keyframe until you see the innermost line just disappear. This gives you a reference point to loop the animation.
Tip
Contour Lines is a raster effect that is applied to the edges of the visible parts of the layer instead of the layer bounds. It works with any layer, but works best with text, drawings, and images with transparency (tip: you can use Chroma Key or Luma Key to create transparency in a photo or video that didn't originally have it).
⚠️ Heavy Effect
This effect requires more computational power to render than normal effects in Alight Motion. Depending on the performance of your device and the settings you use for this effect, it may result in preview lag, especially if you use effects like this with many layers simultaneously or apply multiple heavy effects to the same layer.
Use Cases
- Create a rippling or radio wave effect by animating Phase
- This effect is useful for creating stylized geographic map contours (this works best with Fade turned on)