FAQ

Best Practices

Should my source layer have continuous rasterization / collapse transforms turned on or off?

Always use continuous rasterization. If you don't and your layer gets scaled through parented transforms, your result can become blurry.

continuous rasterization disabled

continuous rasterization enabled

If you are rendering 3D strokes with the Sphere (3D) pen shape, it's doubly important to be using continuous rasterization!

Repeater parameters such as rotation and scale transform about the composition center (think of the composition center as your anchorpoint). You can offset these with the origin transforms, but if your layer is not set to continuous rasterization, you're now mixing two different coordinate spaces: layer and world, and confusion will ensue!

When continuous rasterization is set, your layer is in unified world space and things make sense.

Which layer types should I apply Thicc Pro to?

TLDR: Solid layers with continuous rasterization is always recommended

Text and shape layers should only be used when your path source should be the text or shapes themselves. Otherwise, solid layers with continuous rasterization should be used.

Adjustment layers can work but shouldn't be used. In the below image we have Thicc Pro correctly applied to a solid layer with a mask as the source. Note how we can see the background checkerboard, and the stroke isn't getting cutoff by the bounds of the mask:

Thicc Pro applied to a solid layer

Here's what happens when we use an adjustment layer instead. The stroke is getting cutoff by the bounds of the mask and we don't receive transparency inside of the mask:

Thicc Pro applied to an adjustment layer

This is because Thicc Pro discards all upstream effects so it can just render the masks as strokes instead of using them as clipping masks. If we use an adjustment layer, all below layers are considered "upstream buffers" and are discarded, leaving nothing but empty alpha:

Thicc Pro on an adjustment layer with mask set to None

Which color space should I use? What are the pros and cons of each?

No one colorspace is best for all palettes and styles. We recommend starting with Oklab for most gradients, then switch based on the result you want:

Colorspace	Pros	Tradeoffs
RGB	Direct, predictable channel blending that works well for simple fades and neutral colors	Opposing colors can pass through gray or muddy-looking midtones (though mostly remedied by inbuilt gamma correction)
HSL	Vivid transitions that travel around the hue wheel by the shortest route	Midpoints can feel overly saturated or uneven in brightness, especially around low-saturation colors
Oklab	Smooth, perceptually even transitions with more consistent apparent brightness	Can feel more subdued than HSL when you want an obvious rainbow or neon hue sweep

Visual Comparisons

For some palettes there's a huge difference in vibrance between HSL and Oklab / RGB:

The Vaporwave (5) preset in Oklab is quite subdued

For others, there's very little difference. Fewer color stops to interpolate can often mean a greater difference in results. Note how there's almost no difference between RGB and HSL since we are blending between many colors:

Rainbow Loop (7) preset in Oklab

Gamma also plays a big role and reacts differently based on colorspace. Below a custom gamma of 0.1 is used:

The classic RGB problem when gamma correction is disabled, we get muddy blending between primary colors. Enabling Auto Gamma , using HSL or working in a linear workflow fixes this issue:

Auto Gamma deliberately disabled produces this muddle result

HSL doesn't suffer from the same issue

Hue Shift and Gamma

Hue Shift rotates every gradient stop before Thicc Pro calculates the colors between them. The selected Color Space then determines the route between those shifted stops:

• RGB blends the shifted red, green, and blue channel values
• HSL follows the shortest path between the shifted hues
• Oklab finds a perceptually even transition between the shifted colors

This means the same palette and Hue Shift value can produce different intermediate colors in each mode, even though the stop colors match.

Gamma also runs around the interpolation step. Thicc Pro linearizes the shifted stop colors using the active gamma, blends them in the selected color space, then converts the result back. Gamma changes are often most obvious as midpoint brightness changes in RGB, but they can also affect the saturation and lightness of HSL blends and the final character of Oklab blends.

Use Gamma Mode: Auto as the starting point. If a gradient still looks muddy, too bright, or too saturated, choose the Color Space that gives the right color route first, then fine-tune Gamma.

At 0% Gradient Blending, there is no visible interpolation between stops, so Color Space and Gamma have no visible effect. Hue Shift still changes the stop colors themselves.

How do I?

How can I have masks that clip the rendered result instead of just being used as the path source?

By default, Thicc Pro disregards masks as clipping bounds so that it can render cleanly without you having to dig into each mask and disable them:

Even though both masks are set to Add neither clips the rendered result

If you'd like to use a mask to actually clip the contents of Thicc Pro you'll need to set a layer alpha track matte since the clipping occurs post effects. You'll may also want to disable Use All Masks as the Path Source, since that's on by default.

Using a mask as the Path Source and having it clipped by another layers mask

How do I phase shift / rotate the width profile along my path?

Set the Width Scope to Individual Trims and then use the Trim Paths: Trim Offset to seamlessly shift the width modulation along the path.

You might also want to set the Gradient Scope to Individual Trims so it appears in sync with the width modulation, seen below:

How do I convert a parametric shape into a bezier path?

After Effects doesn't give plugins access to parametric path data, it must be converted to bezier paths first. So if you're rendering one of the following on a shape layer, follow these steps.

If you don't, you'll be greeted by the following warning:

1. Once you're happy with how your parametric shape looks (this is important because you can't change the parameters once it's converted to a bezier path), twirl down to the path inside the timeline

1. Right click and select Convert To Bezier Path

1. Enjoy your shape layer!

Masks on solid layers don't need to follow these steps, as they are already in bezier curve format

How do I add motion blur?

Thicc Pro doesn't render it's own motion blur but you can simply add CC Force Motion Blur after Thicc Pro to realistically emulate it:

Path animating its height, in motion

I'm having trouble

Thicc Pro isn't rendering anything ☹️

If Thicc Pro doesn't have any valid paths to render, your result will look blank. Troubleshoot this by verifying the following steps one by one:

1. If you are working on a solid layer, do you have a mask applied to your layer and assigned in the Path Source?

   
2. If you are working on a shape layer, ensure you have converted any parametric shapes into bezier curves
3. If you're working with 3D cameras, ensure the layer you applied Thicc Pro to isn't set to 3D
4. If you are working on a 3D motion path, ensure the data is on a point light and that it's visible to the camera
5. Ensure you are not using the Cinema 4D composition renderer, as this disables all effects
6. If you've checked the above and nothing is happening, it's possible that your graphics card driver is not up to date. To diagnose this, check the error log and contact support

Why do I have a visible seam in my closed path?

If you have a thick stroke with Line Cap: Round and you're working with trim paths, you might notice a visible seam where Trim Start and Trim End meet:

Line Cap: Round with no trim paths

Line Cap: Round with trim paths set to 99.9%, visible seam

Line Cap: Butt with trim paths set to 99.9%, no visible seam

This can be fixed by working with a Butt Cap or Pen Shape: Sphere 3D; since round line caps overlap themselves the seam is unavoidable.

Why do I have strange geometry?

Thicc Pro gives you as much stylistic freedom as possible; parameters can be pushed to extremes that can create impossible geometry. For example, note how the different Pen Shapes (Round on the left, Flat on the right) react when the width becomes too wide for the path:

Very thick strokes, sharp corners, abrupt width changes, or extremely short path sections can cause the two sides of that generated surface to cross, collapse, or change direction too quickly.

Try these adjustments in order:

1. Lower Stroke Width or the repeater's Width +/- until the geometry becomes stable
2. Smooth sudden width changes with Width Easing or gentler Curve Graph handles; if a profile jumps directly between 0% and a large value, raise the minimum slightly
3. For sharp corners, lower Join Limit or switch from Miter Join to Bevel Join or Round Join
4. For unstable open, trimmed, or dashed ends, lower Cap Limit, lengthen the visible segment, or try Butt Cap
5. Simplify source paths that contain duplicate points, extremely short segments, or very sharp cusps
6. If X or Y rotation is involved, use Pen Shape: Sphere (3D); the 2D pen shapes do not generate true perspective geometry. See the advanced tutorial for visual examples of this

Butt Cap is less artifact-prone because it simply cuts the generated stroke geometry off at the path endpoint. It does not need to construct anything beyond that point.

Other FAQ

How does multi-path transparency and blending work?

2D and 3D pen shapes handle transparency differently:

2D pen shapes handle transparency between multiple paths / repeated copies

The 3D pen shape renders with knockout opacity and doesn't handle overlapping path transparency

Render order is determined by:

• For 2D pen shapes, path heirarchy determines render order
• For Pen Shape: Sphere (3D), camera-space z distance determines render order (objects closer to the camera obscure objects further away)

Final alpha is influenced by:

• Master Opacity
• The interpolated opacity of its gradient stops in Gradient mode
• The repeater's cumulative Opacity %, when applicable

For more detail about opacity where a path overlaps itself, see RGBA blending.

How does repeater order work? How does it work with multiple paths?

Repeated copies receive increasing amounts of offsets based on their index. The original copy is index 0, second copy index 1 and so on. The calculation is:

offset * index

If we apply a translation offset of 50 pixels:

• the original path gets no offset (0 * 50)
• the first copy receives 50 pixels (1 * 50)
• the second copy receives 100 pixels (2 * 50)

Multiple paths and repeater order

Original paths are shown in order 1-3 with their vertices. A rainbow gradient scope and thick-to-thin variable stroke has been stretched across all paths and copies to visualize the order:

The above order is the same as how multi-path scope works with repeater enabled.

How does trim paths work with repeater copies?

Trimming multiple paths with repeater enabled follows this order:

Original paths labelled 1-3, repeated copies labelled with alphabetical suffix.

Note the default order is the same as how multi-path scope works with repeater enabled.

Trim Paths order can be modified using the Reverse, Increment or Randomize checkboxes. Repeated order can't be changed.

Which text animators are supported?

Most animators that modify text vertices are supported:

• X&Y Position
• X&Y Anchor Point
• X&Y Scale
• Skew
• Skew Axis
• Z Rotation
• Tracking
• Line Anchor
• Line Spacing

Animators that are not supported:

• Blur
• Opacity

Is path and box text supported?

Yes!

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