Layer styles

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Add, remove, and convert layer styles
Layer style settings
Blending options for layer styles

Photoshop provides a variety of layer styles—such as shadows, glows, and bevels—that change the appearance of a layer. After Effects can preserve these layer styles when importing Photoshop layers. You can also apply layer styles in After Effects and animate their properties.

You can copy and paste any layer style within After Effects, including layer styles imported into After Effects in PSD files. Richard Harrington provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website that shows how to bring a library of layer styles from Photoshop into After Effects so that you can use, modify, copy, and paste the custom layer styles in After Effects.

In addition to the layer styles that add visual elements—like a drop shadow or a color overlay—each layer’s Layer Styles property group contains a Blending Options property group. You can use the Blending Options settings for powerful and flexible control over blending operations.

Though layer styles are referred to as effects in Photoshop, they behave more like blending modes in After Effects. Layer styles follow transformations in the standard render order, whereas effects precede transformations. Another difference is that each layer style blends directly with the underlying layers in the composition, whereas an effect is rendered on the layer to which it’s applied, the result of which then interacts with the underlying layers as a whole.

When you import a Photoshop file that includes layers as a composition, you can retain editable layer styles or merge layer styles into footage. When you import only one layer that includes layer styles, you can choose to ignore the layer styles or merge layer styles into footage. At any time, you can convert merged layer styles into editable layer styles for each After Effects layer based on a Photoshop footage item.

After Effects can preserve all layer styles in imported Photoshop files, but you can only add and modify some layer styles and controls within After Effects.

Note: For details about each layer style and its properties, see Photoshop Help.

Layer styles that you can apply and edit in After Effects

Drop Shadow: Adds a shadow that falls behind the layer.
Inner Shadow: Adds a shadow that falls inside the contents of the layer, giving the layer a recessed appearance.
Outer Glow: Adds a glow that emanates outward from the contents of the layer.
Inner Glow: Adds a glow that emanates inward from the contents of the layer.
Bevel And Emboss: Adds various combinations of highlights and shadows.
Use the Bevel And Emboss layer style rather than the Bevel Alpha effect if, for example, you want to apply different blending modes to the highlights and shadows of a bevel.
Satin: Applies interior shading that creates a satiny finish.
Color Overlay: Fills the contents of the layer with a color.
Gradient Overlay: Fills the contents of the layer with a gradient.
Stroke: Outlines the contents of the layer.

Add, remove, and convert layer styles

To convert merged layer styles into editable layer styles, select one or more layers and choose Layer > Layer Styles > Convert To Editable Styles.
To add a layer style to selected layers, choose Layer > Layer Styles, and choose a layer style from the menu.
To remove a layer style, select it in the Timeline panel and press Delete.
To remove all layer styles from selected layers, choose Layer > Layer Styles > Remove All.

When a layer style is applied to a vector layer—such as a text layer, a shape layer, or a layer based on an Illustrator footage item—visual elements that apply to the edges of the contents of the layer apply to the outlines of the vector objects, such as text characters or shapes. When a layer style is applied to a layer based on a non-vector footage item, the layer style applies to the edges of the layer’s bounds or masks.

You can apply a layer style to a 3D layer, but a layer with a layer style can’t intersect with other 3D layers or interact with other 3D layers for casting and receiving shadows. 3D layers on either side of a layer with a layer style can’t intersect one another or cast shadows on one another.

When you use the Layer > Convert To Editable Text command on a text layer from a Photoshop file, any layer styles on that layer are also converted to editable layer styles.

Layer style settings

Each layer style has its own collection of properties in the Timeline panel.

Align With Layer: Uses the bounding box of the layer to calculate the gradient fill.
Altitude: For the Bevel And Emboss layer style, the elevation of the light source above the layer, in degrees.
Choke: Shrinks the boundaries of the matte of an Inner Shadow or Inner Glow before blurring.
Distance: The offset distance for a Shadow or Satin layer style
Highlight Mode, Shadow Mode: Specifies the blending mode of a bevel or emboss highlight or shadow.
Jitter: Varies the application of the colors and opacity of a gradient, which reduces banding.
Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow: Controls the visibility of a drop shadow in a semitransparent layer.
Reverse: Flips the orientation of a gradient.
Scale: Resizes the gradient.
Spread: Expands the boundaries of the matte before blurring.
Use Global Light: Set this option to On to use the Global Light Angle and Global Light Altitude in the Blending Options property group instead of the Angle and Altitude settings for each individual layer style. This option is useful if you have multiple layer styles applied to the same layer and want to animate the position of the light for all of them.

Blending options for layer styles

Each layer style has its own blending mode, which determines how it interacts with underlying layers. The underlying layer in this context may or may not include the layer to which the layer style is applied. For example, a drop shadow does not blend with the layer to which it’s applied, because the shadow falls behind the layer; whereas an inner shadow does blend with the layer to which it’s applied.

Layer styles can be categorized as interior layer styles or exterior layer styles. Interior layer styles affect the opaque pixels of the layer to which they’re applied. Interior layer styles include Inner Glow, Inner Shadow, Color Overlay, Gradient Overlay, Satin, and Bevel And Emboss. Exterior layer styles do not blend with the pixels of the layer to which they’re applied, but only interact with the underlying layers. Exterior layer styles include Outer Glow and Drop Shadow.

If Blend Interior Styles As Group is set to On, interior layer styles use the blending mode of the layer.

If you modify the Opacity property of a layer, the opacity of the contents of the layer and the opacity of the layer styles are all affected. If, however, you modify the Fill Opacity property in the Blending Options property group, the opacity of the layer styles is unaffected. For example, if a text layer has the Drop Shadow layer style applied, decreasing the Fill Opacity to 0 makes the text disappear, but the drop shadow remains visible.

Use the Blend Ranges From Source option to use the advanced blending options set for the Photoshop file that determine what blending operations to perform based on the color characteristics of the input layer.