Mikey Borup shares his preset he created for After Effects that kind of acts like the Photoshop Magic Wand or Quick Selection Tool. The Magic Wand Tool for After Effects can easily “select” and knock out specified areas of your After Effects Layer.
[blockquote source=”Mikey Borup”]Ever wish you had the magic wand tool from photoshop in After Effects? Well now you can, its super simple and works with CS6 and above as a preset[/blockquote]The Preset is available freely, or by donation. Check out the Magic Wand Tool for After Effects Preset here.
Nice! A similar effect could be achieved using Effect>Generate>Paint Bucket and setting the Blending Mode to Stencil Alpha.