A Solid Layer is useful for compositing and organizing imagery. Often known as a “solid” for short, it is a layer with colour. There are all sorts of things you can do with one!
For example, you could use a solid as a flat background colour, or you could overlay a solid on top of an image and change the solid’s opacity, to give the background a colourful atmosphere, such as a night-scene dark with bluish cast. Add a solid, select a suitable colour of blue, and then turn down the Opacity to the right amount.
As is the case with any layer in the Timeline, a solid will have the default Transform properties to it (anchor point, position, scale, rotation and opacity). You could potentially modify (or animate) the solid’s scale, change its proportions and turn it into more of a rectangular shape, and so on.
The steps to take
In After Effects, referring to the Main Menu, there is a Layer menu. To get there, go to the Main Menu >
Layer > New > Solid.
From the Solid Settings:
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- Name: you can give the solid a particular name or keep the temporary one that AE applies (which is the name of the colour).
- Width & Height: enter the dimensions you need, and choose “Lock Aspect Ratio” if necessary, or click the Make Comp Size button to match the existing dimensions of the composition.
- Colour: click the swatch to open the Solid Colour window, where you can select a suitable colour.
Press Ok when you are done.
When you make a solid, AE will start a Solids folder in the Project Window, and will add additional colours that you make. Therefore, you will be able to reuse these, by selecting one and adding it to the Timeline.
Once a solid has been added to the Timeline, you will want to change the duration. Initially, it’s set for one frame. It’s like a still image, so it’s simple to modify the timing. Just use the cursor to hover over the right-hand edge of the layer. At the “out point,” click and drag to change the duration.
Modifications can always be made
You can change a solid’s size and colour later. To do so, select the solid in the Composition Timeline and then go to Main Menu > Layer > Solid Settings.
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