Adobe After Effects is one of the most popular visual effects software used by movie producers, advertisement agencies, media companies, and personal videographers for post-production visual and motion effects. Key features include motion graphics creation, text animation, visual effects, compositing, animation, 3D creation, and integration with other Adobe services and products. Adobe After Effects is commonly used to complete post-production videos for social media content, advertisements, title sequences, broadcast graphics, film, and other general video post-production.
Adobe After Effects, due to its extensive features and capabilities, tends to be more difficult to learn compared to other creative software. Still, with the listed activate tools, compositions, work area, and time navigation keyboard shortcuts shown below, you will be up and running with Adobe After Effects in no time.
Activate Tools Keyboard Shortcuts
Note: You can activate some tools only under certain circumstances. For example, you can activate a camera tool only when the active composition contains a camera layer.
Note: To momentarily activate a tool with a single-letter keyboard shortcut, hold down the key; release the key to return to the previously active tool. To activate a tool and keep it active, press the key and immediately release it.
- Cycle through tools Alt-click the tool button in the Tools panel
- Activate Selection tool V
- Activate Hand tool H
- Temporarily activate Hand tool Hold down the spacebar or the middle mouse button
- Activate Zoom In tool Z
- Activate Zoom Out tool Alt (when Zoom In tool is active)
- Activate Rotation tool W
- Activate Roto Brush tool Alt + W
- Activate Refine Edge tool Alt + W
- Activate and cycle through Camera tools (Unified Camera, Orbit Camera, Track XY Camera, and Track Z Camera) C
- Activate Pan Behind tool Y
- Activate and cycle through mask and shape tools (Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, Star) Q
- Activate and cycle through Type tools (Horizontal and Vertical) Ctrl + T
- Activate and cycle between the Pen and Mask Feather tools. (Note: You can turn off this setting in the Preferences dialog box.) G
- Temporarily activate Selection tool when a pen tool is selected Ctrl
- Temporarily activate Pen tool when the Selection tool is selected and pointer is over a path (Add Vertex tool when pointer is over a segment; Convert Vertex tool when pointer is over a vertex) Ctrl + Alt
- Activate and cycle through Brush, Clone Stamp, and Eraser tools Ctrl + B
- Activate and cycle through Puppet tools Ctrl + P
- Temporarily convert Selection tool to Shape Duplication tool Alt (in shape layer)
- Temporarily convert Selection tool to Direct Selection tool Ctrl (in shape layer)
Compositions and the Work Area (Keyboard Shortcuts)
- New composition Ctrl + N
- Open Composition Settings dialog box for selected composition Ctrl + K
- Set beginning or end of work area to current time B or N
- Set work area to duration of selected layers or, if no layers are selected, set work area to composition duration Ctrl + Alt + B
- Open Composition Mini-Flowchart for active composition Tab
- Activate the most recently active composition that is in the same composition hierarchy (network of nested compositions) as the currently active composition Shift + Esc
- Trim Composition to work area Ctrl + Shift + X
- New Composition from selection Alt + \
Time Navigation Keyboard Shortcuts
- Go to specific time Alt + Shift + J
- Go to beginning or end of work area Shift + Home or Shift + End
- Go to previous or next visible item in time ruler (keyframe, layer marker, work area beginning or end) J or K
- Go to beginning of composition, layer, or footage item Home or Ctrl + Alt + Left Arrow
- Go to end of composition, layer, or footage item End or Ctrl + Alt + Right Arrow
- Go forward 1 frame Page Down or Ctrl + Right Arrow
- Go forward 10 frames Shift + Page Down or Ctrl + Shift + Right Arrow
- Go backward 1 frame Page Up or Ctrl + Left Arrow
- Go backward 10 frames Shift + Page Up or Ctrl + Shift + Left Arrow
- Go to layer In point I
- Go to layer Out point O
- Go to previous In point or Out point Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Left Arrow
- Go to next In point or Out point Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Right Arrow
- Scroll to current time in Timeline panel D
