Open your After Effects project and have the Content Aware Fill window open on the side panel.
Window > Content Aware Fill
Make sure to select/highlight the layer you want to remove the object from.
You can use the magnify tool to zoom in on the specific part of the image.
Using the Pen tool, start to click and drag to draw around the object you want to remove e.g. plants in our desert scene.
Once completed, you should now only see the selected area.
This is your Mask
Twirl down the layer properties and go to the Mask properties .
Change the mode from Add to Subtract
This should now reverse your selection so you can now see the rest of the image.
Go to the Content Aware Fill window and select Surface and then click on Generate Fill Layer.
You can adjust the Range from Work Area to Entire Duration depending on whether this is an object that needs removing for the whole duration of the composition or just a short part.
There will be a progress bar showing the time it takes to analyse and render the composition/work area.
Once this process has finished you should see the result of the object being replaced by similar content which surrounded the object.
Before:
After:
Written by LA