I'm trying to use paint to rotoscope an object out of a project frame by frame, but I do not want a new sub-layer every time I make a new paint stroke/path. It eventually adds up to hundreds of sub-layers.

Does anyone know how I can just go in frame by frame and use paint like I would in Photoshop, without using vector paint?

Thanks.

Using After Effects CS3

You should be able to export what you are working on as a jpeg or png sequence, do what work you need to do, then import back into after effects. You would be working on the actual image itself, so would not need to worry about layers. Of course, depending on the length of the sequence, it might be just as much work doing it that way.

Are you using the vector paint effect or the paint tool... or the clone stamp tool? I only use the vector paint effect to draw a line over time, and the tools for touch up.
You could try making 1 paint stroke (duration set to constant) that covers your problem area on the first frame, and then use motion tracking so that your paint stroke automatically follows along with the camera movement.
I'm not sure what your doing, but I wouldn't worry about having a lot of sub-layers, I don't even look at them.

Thanks for the feedback. It's mainly for rig removal. I tend to work faster with the eraser tool when compared to the masking tool.

There has to be a way to keep the strokes contained within one effect layer. I've heard of people making hundreds and hundreds of stokes on one frame which resulted in AE crashing every time it was opened.