Six tools.One small panel.

Create

New layers without going through menus and dialogs.

1. Select a layer in your timeline (optional).
2. Click a tile: Text, Adjust, Solid, Null, Shape, Camera or Light.
3. The new layer lands right above the selected one, with the same start and end.

TipA null is the quickest way to animate several layers together: create it, then parent the layers to it.

Curves

Speed curves you can apply in one click, and keep.

1. Select two keyframes or more in the timeline.
2. Click a curve: Easy Ease, Smooth, Silk, Expo Out, Expo In, Punch, Snap Out or Glide.
3. To keep your own: select two keyframes with an ease you like, click Save. It appears as “My curve 1”.

Beat

Markers on the beat of your song, only on the part you actually use.

1. Drag your audio layer from the timeline onto the drop zone. Or select it and click the zone.
2. The panel listens to the part of the layer that's on the timeline (its trimmed in and out), shows the beats and the BPM.
3. Move Sens. to the left for only the big hits, to the right for every beat.
4. Click the waveform to listen from there and check the beats.
5. Click Add markers. Done.

TipUse WAV, MP3 or AIFF. If the audio sits inside a video file, export the audio first.

Layers

The layer chores, in one place.

1. Anchor point: select layers, click one of the 9 points. The layer doesn't move on screen, even if it's scaled or rotated.
2. Precompose: puts the selected layers in a new comp, trimmed to their length.
3. Decompose: select a precomp layer to bring its layers back into the current comp, with their timing. The status bar tells you if something couldn't be kept (time remap, effects on the precomp…).
4. Rename: renames layers by type and content, like “TXT – Title” or “VID – Clip 04”.

Style

Like a format painter for layers.

1. Select the layer whose look you like and click Copy. The panel lists what it copied.
2. Select one or more layers and click Paste.

Effects

Your go-to effects without digging through Effects & Presets.

1. Select layers, click an effect in the list to apply it.
2. Alt+click puts the effect on a new adjustment layer instead.
3. Type in the search field to find any installed effect, plugins included. Click the star to add it to your favorites.

Search & undo

Every action of every tab, from the keyboard.

1. Click on the panel once, then press Ctrl K.
2. Type a few letters (“anc”, “glow”, “null”), pick with the arrows, press Enter.
3. Your last 5 actions are always at the top.

TipAfter Effects keeps the keyboard for itself unless the panel is focused, so click the panel first.