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How to create a rectangle mask in After Effects

Rectangle masks are great for wipes, reveals, or simple cutouts that need clean, straight edges.

Steps to create a rectangle mask

Select your layer and choose the Rectangle Tool (Q) from the toolbar.

Rectangle Tool selected in the After Effects toolbar to create a rectangular mask

Click and drag across the layer in your comp viewer and a rectangular mask path appears in the timeline instantly.

Drawing a rectangular mask in the composition viewer in After Effects

Press MM to tweak Feather, Expansion, or Mode for cleaner results and smoother edges.

Timeline in After Effects showing a layer with a rectangle mask applied

One more thing

Hold Shift while dragging to create a perfect square mask.

Related how-tos

How to create a circle mask in After Effects
How to animate a mask path in After Effects
How to combine masks with add and subtract in After Effects

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