Feathering mask edges

Using the Mask Feather property, you make mask edges hard-edged or soft-edged (feathered). By default, the feather width straddles the mask edge, half inside and half outside. For example, if you set the feather width to 25, the feathering extends 12.5 pixels inside the mask edge and 12.5 pixels outside it. You can also extend or contract the mask edges to control where the mask feathering appears. See Adjusting the edges of a mask.


A. No feather B. 2-pixel feather C. 40-pixel feather

Mask feathering takes place only within the dimensions of the layer frame area. Therefore, a feathered mask shape should always be slightly smaller than the layer area. If a mask feather extends beyond the layer area, the feathered edge ends abruptly.

You can adjust the feathering of a layer's mask by specifying precise values or by dragging in the Timeline window.

To adjust feathering by specifying precise values:

1. Select the mask that you want to adjust.
2. Expand the desired layer and its Mask Properties, right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac OS) the underlined value for Mask Feather, and choose Edit Value.
3. Specify amounts for horizontal and vertical feathering (or type one value and select Lock to make both values the same) and click OK.

To adjust feathering in the Timeline window:

1. Expand the desired layer and its Mask properties.
2. Drag the underlined value for Mask Feather.

Note: When you adjust feathering by dragging the single underlined value in the Timeline window, you change both the horizontal and vertical feathering. To have the Timeline display both the horizontal and vertical values, first type different values for horizontal and vertical feathered edges using the above method for adjusting precise values.