If you want to take your AE chops to the next level, you need to know your shortcuts like the back of your hand. There’s a ton of shortcuts and which ones you need to remember depends on your workflow. To get you started, Topher put together this primer which does not cover every shortcut there is so if you have some good ones to share, please do so in the comments and help make this the “Ultimate” Guide to After Effects Keyboard Shortcuts.
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The Basics:
The first keyboard shortcuts I ever learned, were the keys to display certain properties. S shows Scale, P shows Position, A shows Anchor Point, R for Rotation, and T for Opacity (T is for Transparency I guess, but it displays Opacity). Consequently, if you press one of these, and then hold down shift and continue to press more keyboard shortcuts, it will display them as well, without getting rid of the previous. This goes for any parameter-displaying keyboard shortcuts we talk about.
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Tool Shortcuts:
I hate having to go to where my toolbar palette is located, so I have made it a point to memorize these keybaord shortcuts to switch my tools instantly: V for Selection Tool, H for Hand Tool, Z for Zoom Tool, W for Rotation Tool (Wotation?), C cycles through the various Camera Tools, as well as the new Unified Camera Tool in AECS4, Y for the Pan Behind Tool (to move your Anchor Point), Q cycles through the shape/mask tools, G cycles through the various Pen Tools, Control+T switches between Vertical and Horizontal Text Tools, Control+B is for the Brush, Clone Stamp, or Eraser Tools, and Control+P is for the Puppet Tool (AECS3 and above). Also keep in mind you can hold the Space Bar or the Scroll Wheel button if you have one on your mouse to enable the Hand Tool as well. Also you can use the Scroll Wheel to zoom in and out in your composition window.
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Previewing and Display Shortcuts:
I touched on this in my last article, 11 Frequently Asked Questions about After Effects, with explaining how to RAM preview correctly. Numpad Zero previews Audio and Video, Numpad Period previews only Audio, and Enter previews only Video. Also holding Control+Scrubbing your timeline displays A/V in realtime. Now that’s out of the way, here are some more shortcuts to save you some time. Caps Lock will temporarily suspend image updates until you hit it again, Alt-Clicking the Grid and Guide Options or hitting the ‘ (apostrophe) key will toggle the Title/Action Safe Zones. You can also use the ~ (tilda) key to display the palette your mouse is currenly within the bounds of to make it full screen.
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Timeline Shortcuts:
These are going to tell how to move around in your timeline as well as setting work areas easier, and modifying parameters. First off, you can use the B key to set the beginning of your work area and the N key to set the end… great for if you need to RAM preview certain areas. You can select certain layers and hit Control+Alt+B to set your work area to the duration of those layers, or if no layers are selected it will reset the work area to the entire comp. Also to refine that you can use the Page Up and Page Down keys to move frame by frame within the timeline, and adding shift to the mix moves you 10 frames either way. Using Alt+Page Down/Up moves your layer 1 frame or Shift+Alt+Page Down/Up moves it 10 frames. The J and K keys will move you right and left between keyframes, and if you want to make a keyframe Easy Ease, just select it and hit F9. Also to move to the very beginning or end of your comp, hit the Home key or End key. Add Shift to that, and you move to the beginning or end of you Work Area.
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Creating Things:
Pretty simple concept, but its time consuming to keep going to the File menu time after time. These will help you with constant trips up north. Control+Alt+Shift+T makes a new text layer, Control+Y makes a new solid (Control+Shift+Y modifies your solid settings), Control+Alt+Shift+L makes a new light, Control+Alt+Shift+C makes a new camera, Control+Alt+Shift+Y makes a new Null Object. To add the last effect you used is Control+Alt+Shift+E.. You can make a new composition with Control+N, as well as modify your Composition Settings with Control+K. For duplicating layers you use Control+D, but to split a layer you use Control+Shift+D. To use the Make Movie function (same as sending to Render Queue, but with an Output already generated) is Control+M.
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Only If You Have It:
This section is dealing with shortcuts that only deal with things that display if you have them. Such as if you hit the U key, it displays all keyframes, but if there are no keyframes, it shows nothing. You can use this by selecting one layer, or certain layers to show the properties for those layers only. Also, if you have no layers selected, pressing these shortcuts will reveal the parameters for all the layers in the composition. EE reveals all Expressions, RR reveals Time Remapping properties, LL reveals audio Waveform, as well as L reveals parameter to modify the level of volume. MM will show any masks and their properties, as well as F showing just the Mask Feather, M showing just the Mask Shape, and TT just the Mask Opacity. If a layer is 3D you can use AA to show the Material Options, E shows any Effects applied, and UU displays all the modified properties for the layer selected.
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File Menu Shortcuts:
This is the stuff that really doesn’t have to deal with the design aspect of using After Effects, but it is a really helpful thing to know when you are working on a deadline. For a new project hit Control+Alt+N and to open a project is Control+O. There are few different ways to save too: Regular save is Control+S, to Save As is Control+Shift+S, and to Increment and Save is Control+Alt+Shift+S. Importing files is Control+I and Importing Multiple Files at once is Control+Shift+I. You can also import files by double clicking in the project window, and if you shift select or control select within the import box that pops up, you can select multiple files.
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That about does it for this massive roundup of Keyboard Shortcuts. Remember you can change your shortcuts and make them custom by going to Adobe.com and downloading the script from Jeff Almasol, but I would recommend against it. Additionally, you can find some sweet keyboards and keyboard stickers online to make your work area even more awesome than it already was.
Jeff Almasol’s Shortcut Modifier Script After Effects Keyboard Stickers
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Winrar! Just what I needed!
Good one! I believe keyboard shortcuts improve workflow productivity.
exactly what I need
i find this article so useful , thanks for summarize these subjects..
This will come in handy! I already knew a few, but with this list I can take my skills and create things faster!
Good article – keyboard short cuts make life better.
Rotation in my old version 7 copy is the W key. Did it change with the newer releases?
Also I love – command+option+f to fit image to comp. I use that a lot.
I always forget what this one does * (on the number pad).
I appreciate your round-up site Topher.
Good call dude! The rotation tool is still W actually… We will get that changed right away!
The * key actually sets a marker on the layer or layers you have selected, or if no layers are selected, sets a marker on the timeline of the comp as a whole.
Thanks for catching that. I updated the post
In CS4 the R is for rotation, like it should be
To clear up… R is to display the Rotation parameters, but W gives you the Rotation TOOL
I knew some of these, but some i didnt know, so great to learn more – to help work faster!
Thanks Topher,
Do you know about a keyboard shortcut that toggle mask’s visibility on and off?
I think this might be what you are looking for:
http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/8.0/help.html?content=WS66A7ECEA-27AB-4fab-B6D6-39977725A870.html
almost…
“To show or hide mask path and shape paths in a view, click the Toggle Mask And Shape Path Visibility button __ at the bottom of the Composition panel.”
i asked for a keyboard shortcut that switch this button on and off…
there is one?
it was on that linked page…
“press Ctrl+Shift+H (Windows) or Command+Shift+H (Mac OS)”
good very useful
Thanks bro.., great !!!!!
Nice article! Good to get them summarized!
This is a nice list! How do you switch the timeline view from frames to seconds?
Braden – command (mac) or control (pc) click on the time indicator in your timeline to toggle timebases.
Thanks Carl!
ctrl+f9 = easy ease in, ctrl+shift+f9 = easy ease out
edit: shift+f9 = ease in, ctrl+shift+f9 = ease out
ctrl+click = set interpolation back to linear/auto bezier
Another nice one. Thanks Topher!
Perfect timing. I was just looking for a good guide on shortcuts. You guys always come through.
Absolutely all of the keyboard shortcuts for After Effects are listed here:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/9.0/WS3878526689cb91655866c1103a9d3c597-7987a.html
Would have been way better in a bulletted list.
Thanks for the post though.
In CS4, when I hold shift to open multiple properties, a flow chart pops up. Is there a way of disabling this? It becomes very annoying and will just flash if I hold down shift for long.
Thanks.
You have to hit the key for one property THEN hold shift down
say you press P for position, then hold shift and continue to press S for Scale and A for Anchor Point.
Gets kind of annoying… haha
isnt “t” for opaci-T ?
Ahh… well I guess that would work… but I thought that Transparency would make more sense… whatever helps you remember it I guess… haha.
IMHO it was Transparency but maybe Adobe team already bound “O” to some other tool and after everything they’ve realized that they need to make keyboard shortcuts for Layers’ properties…and the “O” key was already used for other tool as a shortcut.
yeah thats true but “W” for rotation is indeed a bit weird…
Great! I’ve picked up a few. Here are two I use a lot not mentioned:
Tool Shortcuts:
For the Hand Tool I press and hold the spacebar. Great for sliding along the timeline and repositioning the comp window.
Creating Things:
I just right-click and use the pop up contextual menu. Right-click in the timeline and you get your new layer, null, all that jazz. Works great to import assets over in the project window as well!
ciao…
Check out this link for shortcut sets! Only around £10.
http://www.editorskeys.com
thank you so much
What about if u want to split footage in the time line
what shortcut do you use?
Cmd-Shift-D on Mac Ctrl-Shift-D on Windows
should come in handy
How to nudge a layer in timeline time wise? Say I wanna nudge, or move since the nomenclature is up for debate, my layer 1 frame forward, how can I do this? I’ve been googling the answer for an hour to no avail. Thank You and Lloyd uR scripts rock!
When I select a layer I use alt + ] and alt + [ to crop a layer to where the slider is at. B and N to trim the stage and I and O to jump to the beginning and end of a layer.
But the U shortkey I love the most!!
i was looking for this
thanks a lot
Hello. And Bye.
R reveals the rotation property in the timeline, but W is the keyboard shortcut for the Rotation tool.