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After Effects Hotkeys - Keyboard Shortcuts (DRAFT) by

Most used hotkeys in After Effects

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

Keyboard Image

Most Used

Undo
Command + Z
Redo
Command + Shift + Z
Deselect all
F2 or Command + Shift + A
Command + A -> twirl down
Expand All Layers
Command + A
Select all
I
Jump to beginning of layer
O
Jump to end of layer
V
Select
H
Hand Tool
Tempor­arily activate Hand tool
Hold down the spacebar or the middle mouse button
` / ~
Full Screen
U
Collapse All Layers
Z
Zoom
Option (when Zoom In tool is active)
Zoom out
W
Rotation tool
Y
Pan Behind tool (Anchor Point)
Q
shape tools (Recta­ngle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, Star)
Command + T
Type tools (Horiz­ontal and Vertical)
G
Pen
Page Down or Command + Right Arrow
Go forward 1 frame
Page Up or Command + Left Arrow
Go backward 1 frame
You can edit hotkeys for your own custom uses. EDIT > Kayboard Shortcuts

More Hotkeys - link text
  

Windows

Workspace Windows

1. File menu: At the very top are your menus that can do everything from starting a new project to changing the layout. If your After Effects doesn’t look like the screenshot above, change the Window – Workspace to Editing.
2. Tool Bar: Just below the file menu is the tool bar. Selecting these tools will change what you can do in your compos­ition (note: in After Effects, a compos­ition is basically a sequence or a new video). We’ll go over the most important tools below.
3. Project & Effect Controls Windows: Just below the tools on the upper left are two important windows. The Project window is where you’ll see all of your imported documents and compos­itions. The Effects Controls window, which can be viewed by clicking on the tab, is where you’ll adjust effects added to layers. A layer is like track in tradit­ional video editing. Once you add a video clip, shape, text, etc. to your compos­ition, it will create a new layer.
4. Compos­ition Window: This is the preview monitor where you can see what your video looks like. You’ll also be working a lot within this video to create shapes, write text, and make adjust­ments to layers.
5. Other Windows: To the right of the compos­ition window are an assortment of windows that can be customized by checking them on or off through the Window file menu. The windows that I find most useful are the Paragraph, Character, and Effects & Presets panels. Paragraph and Character allow you to customize your text fonts and design. Effects & Presets is where you’ll find all kinds of fun effects to add to your video.
6. The Timeline & Render Queue: Below everything is the time line. This is where you’ll be changing the timing of your video, adding animat­ions, and making other adjust­ments to your layers. Behind the timeline panel is the render queue, which is where you export videos and choose export settings.