So this little tweet about my go-to method for highlighting text got some attention:

https://twitter.com/conigs/status/1054397169980096513

It might not come as a surprise that I also have a script to make this even easier.

Download MatteLock.jsx

Save this to your scripts folder, or into a KBar button. Then follow these steps:

  1. Select the layer to apply the matte to
  2. Select the layer to use as the source of the matte.
    Optional: Hold ALT/Option to invert the matte.
    -OR-
    Optional: Hold Shift to apply inverted matte to both layers using eachother as the source.
  3. Run script

Note that by default, the script will simply apply the Set Matte effect on the first layer. Holding Shift and running the script is what creates the magic this post is all about.

And, if you like this you might like some of the other After Effects tools I've created.