
The other great addition to Mocha AE is that the path from Mocha to After Effects is now smoother.Roto Brush data cannot be converted to Mask Shape keyframes, and masks are embedded into so many operations in After Effects and its plug-ins that you could find yourself using Mocha AE as much as Roto Brush to create roto masks. I know what you're thinking: "Weren't you just telling me about this other great automated roto tool?" The point is that no tool does everything. Read that again, because this may be the biggest feature in After Effects CS5 that almost no one has discovered: Mocha AE can track a shape around an object over time, and you can copy that shape and paste it into a layer's Mask Shape, with keyframe data, right in the Timeline.



Mocha AE version 2, which is still a separate application that appears in the After Effects CS5 application folder, goes beyond its predecessor in three key ways: This more sophisticated approach to tracking increases signal and reduces noise so much that many of us found ourselves using Mocha AE for just about every type of tracknot just its specialty, the Corner Pin (which allows for easy replacement of a sign or billboard, for example, in a shot with a moving camera). Planar tracking goes way beyond what After Effects' own built-in point tracker can do, because it looks at whole two-dimensional surfaces or planes as one tracking target.

Mocha AE v2 with Mocha Shape Mocha AE v2 with Mocha ShapeĪfter Effects CS4 introduced Mocha AE, an incredible planar tracking application, as an included component.
