In this article we will look at one of the basic concepts in After Effects - key frames.

Key frames (keys in After Effects) are certain points (Fig. 1) on the timeline of layers in After Effects, which allow you to create certain animation effects for objects in AE. Keyframes bring an object to life and can be used to zoom in on an object, change its position, fade out, etc.

Fig.1

I will show the basic principle of how key frames work, using the example of changing position plain text. Essentially, this change will involve moving the text to the right side.

First, create the text: on the top of the toolbar, click the Horizontal Text button (Ctrl+T) and simply enter it into the composition preview window (Fig. 2).

Fig.2

In the Layers panel you should have a text layer, over which we will perform moving manipulations using key frames. Therefore, we turn our gaze to this panel and click on “triangle”. To get to the transformation points, click on the triangle next to Transformation. A menu with the following items opened in front of us: Anchor Point, Position, Scale, Opacity and Rotation (Fig. 3). In this case, we will be interested in the Position item, so we move on to it.

Fig.3

Once we've moved to Position, we need to activate the Keyframes panel. To do this, we click on the “clock” next to the Position item. As you can see in Fig. 4, a key point with the initial starting position of the text has appeared on the left. Pay attention to the values ​​next to this item. In my case it is 373 and 320. The value on the left (373) is the value of the object's horizontal movement (X-Axis), and the value on the right (320) is the value of the object's vertical movement (Y-Axis). (Fig.4)

Fig.4

For example, we want our text to move from left to right. To do this, we need to pull the slider on the timeline a little to the side for 2-3 seconds and change the value 373 to a larger one. I set it to 550. And as you can see in Fig. 5, the text moved to the right. Well, another key (key frame) appeared on the timeline.

Fig.5

Now, when you move the time slider to the starting keyframe, the text will move. If you don’t want to enter exact movement parameters, you can move the text directly in the preview window and the values ​​will change automatically both along the X and Y axis

In the same way you can create beautiful effects flying text using 3D layers, etc. Also, you can “play” with the Scale, Opacity and Rotation items, and then look at the changes.

In general, key frames are the basis for working with any animated image, and not only Adobe program After Effects, so you need to practice well with creating keys in order to create beautiful and high-quality projects in the future.

Ctrl + N . Create a new composition;

Ctrl+Y . Create a new layer;

Ctrl+Shift+C . Take the selected layers under Pre-compose;

Ctrl+Shift+D . Split selected layers at the pointer location;

Ctrl+D. Create a duplicate layer (takes over all values);

B. Move the start of the work area to the pointer;

N. Moves the end of the work area to the pointer;

Page up. Rewind one frame;

Page down. Fast forward one frame;

Left and right arrow on keyboard. Move the layer 1 pixel left and right respectively;

U. Show/hide keys;

E. Open all effects applied to this layer;

P. Open the “Position” property;

S. Open the “Scale” property;

T. Open the “Transparency” property;

A. Open the “Anchor point” property;

M. Open masks with Mask Path;

[ . Drag the beginning of the layer to the pointer;

] . Drag the end of the layer to the pointer;

I. Go to the beginning of the layer;

O. Go to the end of the layer;

Drag the source from the Project window while holding down the ALT key to the selected layer in the working window. Replacing the layer with another source from the “Projects” window, adopting all animations and properties;

Changing the size of a layer or mask while holding down the Shift key. Dimensions vary with a given proportion;

Moving a layer while holding down the Shift key. The layer moves only along one of the axes;

Creating a mask or shape while holding down the Shift key. The mask and shape are created in a ratio of 1 to 1. Necessary for drawing equilateral figures (circle, square);

Resizing while holding down the Ctrl key. The scale changes only along one of the axes.

If something from the description is not clear, don’t be lazy. Try to apply these combinations yourself and you will see their benefits in work.

In many of my lessons, I often use hotkeys, and this is not because I like to mock the audience, but because I’m simply used to using them (the keys). In this article I’ll tell you about the main keys in After Effects that you need to know at least (use this at your discretion), plus, as a bonus, there will be information on how you can reconfigure these hot buttons (since in After Effects it’s not possible to customize buttons just as it might seem at first glance).

Using hot keys (in any program) significantly speeds up work. Let's look at the main keys used by default in After Effects:

Toolkit and layers:

"V"= Selection Tool (Default Main Tool)

"H" or “Hold Spacebar on the viewing window and move the left mouse button” = Hand Tool ("Hand" that allows you to quickly move around the viewing window)

"Z" or “Mouse wheel in the preview window” = Zoom Tool (Usual enlargement of the working composition window, I always use the wheel, like most)

"W"= Rotation Tool

"C"= Camera Mode (Camera in After Effects, you can press "C" several times to select the right tool cameras, I usually use Undefind camera)

"Y"= Behind Tool (Tool for controlling the pivot/anchor point of an object)

"Q"= Shape or Shape Masker tool (Shapes, a tool for a ready-made mask of a specific shape, you can also click several times to select your shape)

"G"= Pen tool (Masks, creating and editing masks)

“Ctrl + T”= Text Tool (Tool for creating text, vertical or horizontal)

“Ctrl + Y”= Solid layer (I always create a solid layer through this hotkey when working)

“Ctrl + Alt + Y”= Adjusment Layer (Same as solid, but only adjusment layer)

“Enter"= for any of the selected layers allows you to rename it.

On the timeline and at work:

“Ctrl + Right Arrow” or Page Down= Next frame (often used)

“Ctrl + left arrow” or Page Up= Previous frame (often used)

“Shift + Page Down”= Jump forward 10 frames

“Shift + Page Up”= Jump back 10 frames

“Alt + Page Down”= Move selected layer forward 1 frame

“Alt + Page Up”= Move selected layer back 1 frame

“Alt + ]”= Crop the selected layer to the right to the cursor in the timeline (often used)

“Alt + [”= Crop the selected layer on the left to the cursor in the timeline (often used)

"Home"= Move cursor to beginning of song

"End"= Move cursor to end of song

"]" = Move end of layer to cursor (often used)

"[" = Move the beginning of the layer to the cursor (often used)

"+" = Increase timeline

"-" = Decrease timeline

“* (to numpad)”= Place a marker either on the selected layer or on the composition (if the layer is not selected)

“0 (Zero on numpad)”= RAM preview (often used)

“, (Comma on numpad)”= Ram preview SOUND ONLY

“M (twice)”= If there are masks on the selected layer, then this hotkey opens all settings for this (these) masks

"F"= If there are masks on the selected layer, its “Feather” parameter opens

"U"= Opens all parameters with keyframes on the selected layer

“L (twice)”= On the selected AUDIO layer, opens its waveforms (graphic peaks)

"I"= Move cursor to the beginning of the selected layer

"O"= Move cursor to end of selected layer

"J"= Go to previous key in timeline (keyframes)

"K"= Move to next key in timeline (keyframes)

"B"= Crop the "work area" of the composition on the left (often used)

"N"= Trim the "work area" of the composition on the right (often used)

“Ctrl + D”= Clone the selected layer (often used)

“Ctrl + Shift + D”= Split the selected layer into two (where the cursor is)

"P"= Position parameter for the selected layer

"S"= Scale parameter for the selected layer

"R"=Rotation parameter for the selected layer

"T"= Opacity/Intensity parameter for the selected layer

"A"= Anchor point/Point of interest for the selected layer

“Ctrl + M”= Add composition to render (often used)

“ " ” = Show Safe Area boundaries in the preview window. This is the "e" button on the Russian keyboard (often used)

“Ctrl + C”= nothing more than a “countercopy” which I like to call. Copying the selected object, text, layer, keys and everything. (often used)

“Ctrl + V”= Insert a selected object, text, layer, keys and everything. (often used)

“Ctrl + X”= Cutting out the selected object, text, layer, keys and everything. (often used)

“Ctrl + Z”= Undo previous actions (often used)

“Ctrl + S”= Save project (often used)

“Ctrl + N”= Create a new song

“Ctrl + Alt + S”= Render one frame from a composition

“Ctrl +Shift+ H”= Shows the composition in the viewport without layer indicators or other composition details.

"F4"= Toggle switch modes, in other words, hide/open parent, modes, blending, 3d switches on the timeline. Favorite button for beginners.

"F9"= Easy Ease key interpolation, on the timeline.

“Ctrl +Shift+ C”= Precompose the selected layers.

Of course, this is only a part of all hotkeys; I tried to indicate the most common ones. Of course, all these hotcases can be customized in your own way, but doing this is not as easy as in Vegas or Cinema; for this you need to find:

Folder (in win7)

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\After Effects\program version\

In this folder we find text file which is called:

"Adobe After Effects version of the program Shortcuts.txt"

In this text file you can find and change (add or remove) any of the existing hotkeys in After Effects.

But be careful when changing this file! I recommend making an additional backup of this file to avoid After Effects crash!

I needed to change the keyboard shortcuts in Adobe After Effects CC 2015.
I went to Adobe Help and this is what I found out. There is a “Visual Keyboard Shortcut Editor”. Here is the link

https://helpx.adobe.com/ru/after-effects/using/keyboard-shortcuts-reference.html
Next it was written:
Visual editor Keyboard shortcuts allows you to visually configure the necessary keyboard shortcuts. In the keyboard-style user interface, you can view the keys that are already assigned to shortcuts, the unassigned keys that you can customize, and change the assigned shortcuts.
To open the editor, select Edit > Shortcuts (Ctrl+Alt+’). Here is a photo of the visual editor.

But it turned out to be a bummer. No matter how many times I typed this combination, nothing happened. I'm working on it. There will be results, I will write a blog and a video clip.

Then I went a different route. I opened After Effects, clicked on the “Edit” tab, and a window opened. In it I selected the “Settings” option and then “General”.

The “Settings” window opens

At the very bottom there is a tab “Open settings in Explorer”. Clicked on it and went to the folder

In this folder I found the file “Adobe After Effects 13.7 Win ru_RU Keyboard shortcuts.txt”. I have a Russian version of After Effects. Your file may be named differently. For example like this.

Anyway, this file contains text with key combination settings. I opened the file

It's simple, a command and a key combination. Here you can change the key combinations. For example

“Undo”=”(Ctrl+Z)”

But before you change anything, you need to copy this file, for example, to your desktop. To be on the safe side. If something goes wrong, you can always change the file to the saved one.

For example, I will change the keyboard shortcut for the “Undo” command. Instead of Z, I’ll insert the key combination from the command “Ungroup”=”(Ctrl+Shift+G)”. The command is below and it will be convenient. I cut out the Ctrl+Shift+G key combination and, after deleting Z, paste this combination into the “Undo” command. The “Ungroup” command remains empty.

I save a text file. And I reload the program. After a reboot, the “Undo” command corresponds to the key combination Ctrl+Shift+G, not Z.

It's simple. But you need to make sure that the keyboard shortcuts do not overlap. That is, there were not two teams for one combination.
I recorded a video on this topic here.

Composition markers and layer markers are used to store comments and other metadata, and to create timestamps in a composition and layer. Composition markers are present on the composition time ruler, layer markers are displayed in the duration panel for each layer separately. Both types of markers can contain the same information.

Markers can refer to a single point on a scale or a time interval.

After Effects composition markers correspond to sequence markers in Adobe Premiere Pro. Layer markers in After Effects correspond to clip markers in Adobe Premiere Pro.

When rendering a composition that contains markers, markers can be converted to web links, chapter links, or cue points, depending on the output format and the value specified in the marker dialog box. Markers can be exported in XMP metadata format. (See XMP Metadata section.)

By default, the composition marker comment is a number; the layer marker comment contains nothing.

A. Song marker lasting 1 second. B. Song marker with cue data C. Layer marker lasts 2 seconds. D. Layer marker with edit cue data

Note.

Markers make it easy to align layers or the current time indicator with specific time points. When moving a keyframe, current-time indicator, or layer duration slider in the Timeline panel, press and hold SHIFT to snap those elements to markers.

Adding markers only during preview or preview playback of audio allows you to place markers at the desired points on the audio track layer.

Dragging a marker's in point changes the marker's duration, and dragging a marker's out point changes the marker's duration. You cannot change the time and duration of a marker at the same time.

• To view or edit a marker, hover over the marker and double-click it or click it right click mouse (Windows) (or Control-click on Mac OS), and then choose Settings.
• To move a marker to a different time point, drag the marker to the desired location or double-click the marker and enter the time in the dialog box.
• To set the duration of a composition or layer marker, drag the marker's exit point in the Timeline panel. Marker icons are split into two halves to clearly indicate the marker's entry point and exit point.
• To set the duration by dragging, hold down Option (macOS) or Alt (Windows), then click the marker icon and drag to the right.
• To change the marker duration, click and drag the marker exit point icon; There is no need to hold down the Option or Alt key.
• To automatically create layer markers based on the source file's temporary metadata, select the Create Layer Markers from XMP Footage Metadata option in the Media and Disk Cache category of Settings. These settings are enabled by default.
• To synchronize the layer markers on the pre-composition layer with the corresponding markers in the source composition, right-click the layer marker (Windows) (or Control-click it on Mac OS), and then choose Update Markers from Source. This command also removes all markers added to the layer.

Note.

If the layer uses a file rather than a composition as its source, this command will restore the layer markers to match the source file's temporary XMP metadata.

When you add one composition to another, the first composition will become a nested layer of the second. All markers from the nested composition will become layer markers in the timeline of the container composition. These markers will not be linked to the original composition markers. Changing markers in the original composition will not affect the nested composition's layer markers. For example, if you delete one of the original composition markers, the corresponding nested composition layer marker will remain in place.

Scripts and expressions can read and use the data contained in tokens. Because XMP metadata of source footage elements can be converted into layer markers, expressions and scripts can work with XMP metadata.

Creating Composition Markers

Composition markers appear as small triangles on the ruler in the Timeline panel. A composition can have any number of composition markers.

When you delete a numbered composition marker, the numbers of the other markers remain the same. If you enter a comment instead of the default number, that number can be used for a song marker created later.

You can only create one composition marker at a time. When you add or move a composition marker in place of another composition marker, it will replace the existing marker.

• To add a blank composition marker at the current point, you need to deselect all layers and choose Layer > Add Marker or press the * (multiply) key on your numeric keypad.

Note.

• To add a numbered composition marker at the current point, click SHIFT keys+ (0-9) on the main keyboard.

Note.

If specified number is already occupied by another composition marker, After Effects does not create a new marker. Instead, it will move the existing marker with that number to the new position.

• To remove a composition marker, drag the marker to the Composition Marker Bin button, or press CTRL, point to the marker, and left-click it (Windows) (or COMMAND-click it on Mac OS).
• To lock all composition markers in a composition, right-click the marker (Windows) (or Control-click it on Mac OS), and then choose Lock Markers.

Applying layer markers

Layer markers appear as small triangles in the layer duration panel. A layer can contain an unlimited number of markers.

Layer markers are preserved when the movie is rendered and exported to QuickTime format.

• To add a layer marker to selected layers in this moment time, choose Layer > Add Layer, or press the * (Multiply) key on your numeric keypad.

Note.

Pressing this key during preview or audio preview adds a marker to the current point without interrupting the process.

• To add a layer marker at the current moment and open the dialog box, press the combination ALT keys+* (Windows) or OPTION+* (Mac OS) on the numeric keypad.
• To remove a layer marker, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) the marker.
• To remove all markers from selected layers, hover over and right-click the marker (Windows) (or Control-click on Mac OS) and then choose Remove All Markers.
• To lock all markers on a layer, right-click the marker (Windows) (or Control-click on Mac OS) and then choose Lock Markers.
• To replace all markers on a layer with markers that contain temporary metadata from the source files, hover over the layer marker, right-click it (Windows) (or Control-click on Mac OS), and then choose Refresh Markers from the source."

Note.

In After Effects CS6 or later, adding a layer marker no longer deselects other objects (such as masks or effects).

Assigning color labels to markers

You can assign color labels to composition markers and layer markers. By default, markers do not have any color. To change the marker color, follow these steps:

Click and open the marker settings window.

Change the New Label property. To set color marks, select the menu item Settings > Tags.