After Effects Keyboard Shortcuts General Shortcuts 0 (number pad) .

(number pad) CTRL-N A C P R S T U V W Z Home End CTRL-M LL * (number pad) Shift-(any keyboard number) Type any keyboard number , and . ~ Press and hold Spacebar ALT-[ or ] [ or ] CTRL-A F2 CTRL-D ALT-[ or ] [ or ] Tap Spacebar - and = ; Page Up, Page Down Shift-Page Up/Down CTRL- CTRL-0 * on number pad CTRL-Click Marker Double-Click Marker Keyframes Alt-Shift-P J, K CTRL-Click keyframe in the timeline Click on the word Position (speed) CTRL-Click on keyframe in the timeline (speed) Drag keyframe handle up/down in timeline (speed) Drag keyframe handle left/right in timeline (speed) F9 Shift-F9 Control-Shift-F9 Shift-drag in timeline Double-click keyframe RAM preview - audio and video RAM preview - audio only New Composition Layer anchor point Toggle 3D camera view Layer position Layer rotation Layer scale Layer opacity Reveals all keyframes in a layer Selection tool Composition Settings Zoom tool Jump to home Jump to end Add composition to Render Queue Shows audio waveform in timeline Creates marker in timeline or on layer Creates numbered marker in timeline Jumps to corresponding numbered marker on timeline Zoom in and out on display windows Maximize window Hand tool Sets inpoint or outpoint of a clip in the timeline Slips the inpoint or outpoint of a clip to the CTI position (doesnt change clip inpoint, just moves the clip) Select all layers Deselect all layers Duplicate layer, comp, footage, etc. Sets inpoint or outpoint of a clip in the timeline Slips the inpoint or outpoint of a clip to the CTI position (doesnt change clip inpoint, just moves the clip) Plays the timeline Zoom in and out on timeline Zoom to/from frame view (the most zoomed in) Steps forward/backward in 1 frame increments Steps forward/backward in 10 frame increments Show/hide Grid Save RAM Preview Set Marker Delete marker Annotate marker Sets the first position keyframe Previous, next keyframe Toggles linear/bezier keyframe Selects all keyframes Breaks the handles Adjusts speed Adjusts the amount of influence Easy ease both in and out Easy ease in Easy ease out Snaps to keyframes Edit keyframe properties

Other Helpful Tips Layer>Blending Mode (F4) Shift -, shift = Layer>New>Adjustment Layer Click on { } (brackets) in comp window Double-click the center of the Work Area bar Shift-drag number parameters CTRL-drag number parameters Hold shift, scrub timeline Text Tool ALT-Left or Right Cursor keys CTRL Edit>History Double-click center of Work Area Bar Rendering 0 (on number pad) . (on number pad) CTRL-M CTRL-0 (on number pad) 3D ALT-CTRL-O C toggle Aa Quick Tips Layers

Dodge, burn, dissolve, overlay, sharpen, etc. Tab through blending modes Affects all layers underneath it Set In/Out points Expands the work area to cover the entire Composition. Coarse adjustment Fine adjustment Snaps to layer ins, outs, keyframes, markers, etc.

Kern letters with text tool Temporary switch to move tool to position text Shows the undo history Resets the Work Area to the length of the comp RAM Render Timeline RAM Render Audio Only Add to Render Queue Render Timeline to File Opens Camera Orientation dialog Toggle Orbit Camera tool Camera settings

To loop a clip, look in Interpret footage (File>Interpret Footage>Main), or CTRL-F To loop a sequence: Right click on sequence, select Time Remapping, alt-click on Time Remap, paste the expression: loop_out("cycle",0) To replace footage in the timeline, With the layer highlighted, hold alt and drag the new footage over the layer in the timeline If a layer flashes, it is locked To rename a layer, click on the name and hit ENTER To flip a layer upside down or reversed, set the H or V scale to -100% To create a seamless loop, set the last keyframe to one frame past the end of the comp Slip edit tool: If you have set an inpoint or outpoint on a layer in the timeline, then you can position the mouse inside the white handles area and slip the clip according to the length of the handles. To scrub audio, hold down the CTRL key while dragging the timeline cursor To move Anchor and Position together, use the Pan Behind tool To place the anchor point in the center of a shape, alt (option) click on the pan behind tool. Frame Blending vs. Motion Blur: To smooth out an animation and make it less strobed, use Motion Blur. If you want to smooth live-action video to which you assigned a frame rate much lower or higher than the original, use frame blending, not motion blur.

Remember, to use motion blur, you have to click on the MB icon in both the layer AND the master enable button above. Motion Blur can be enhanced by increasing the shutter angle or samples per frame (composition settings>advanced tab).

Photoshop In Photoshop, always create graphics with an EVEN number of pixels in height and width. To convert a PSD from footage to layers, click Layer>Convert to Layers To edit a PSD, click on the file or layer, right-click>Edit Original. AE won't "see" any added layers, though. Keyframes To Stretch a group of keyframes out over time, select them, then alt-drag the first or last one. Hold shift to snap to keyframes To time-reverse keyframes, click on at least two keyframes, then right click>Keyframe Assistant>Time Reverse Exponential Scale - Select two scale keyframes, right-click>Exponential Scale Comp Window To zoom in/out, click in the Comp window and scroll the mouse. To return to 100%, double-click the zoom tool Simple Expressions (Alt-click on a layer propertys stopwatch to create an expression) Rotation over time time*80 (or any number) As the comp plays, the layer will rotate. Works only for items that dont need X-Y coordinates. For instance, rotation, opacity, blur amount, evolution, etc., but not for scale, position, etc., because they need two numbers instead of one. Wiggle Wiggle (20, 40) (or any numbers) Creates a nervous wiggle. The first number is for the number of times per second, the second is the amount of wiggle. Works for any parameter opacity, position, scale, rotation, etc. Pickwhip After alt-clicking the stopwatch, you can drag the pickwhip (little spiral icon) to most any other layer property, and it will use that layer propertys numbers. For instance, if youve got a layer scaling from 0 to 100, and you want to fade the layer in over that same amount of time, this is the easy way to do it without setting keyframes for opacity. Just alt-click on the opacity stopwatch and drag the pickwhip to the word scale. To parent CC Particle World to another layers position property:
position x: target = thisComp.layer("Null 1"); // this would be your layer to track (target.position[0]-(thisComp.width/2))/width position y: target = thisComp.layer("Null 1"); // this would be your layer to track (target.position[1]-(thisComp.height/2))/width position z: target = thisComp.layer("Null 1"); // this would be your layer to track target.position[2]/width