Top 10 Semi-Underground After Effects Hotkeys

I’m a hotkey fanatic, in case you haven’t noticed. Yesterday Aaron Knapp dropped a shifty unknown-to-me photoshop hotkey right on my head, so in honor of that, here are my top 10 favorite underground* After Effects hotkey combos.

1. cmd+up / cmd+down with layer selected in timeline

   What it does: Selects the layer above/below

   I use this hotkey a lot when I am in tight, nudging layers around with page-up and page-down and don’t want to go back and grab my mouse to select another layer. Bonus Tip: if you hold down shift you can select multiple layers like this.

2. shift+scrollwheel while cursor is in timeline

   What it does: scrolls the timeline left and right

   I like this one because if I’m in super-animator-mode, and I don’t want to be breaking my focus looking for that damn scollbar or zooming in and out of my timeline, I can just use this baby. Wacom users, sorry you’re out of luck unless you have a fancy pen with a scroller. Bonus Tip: Use option+scrollwheel to zoom in and out… best of both worlds!

3. EE (tap twice)

   What it does: reveal any expressions on a layer

   I’m a big expressions user, so it’s a pain in the ass to be tracking down expressions and having to twirl down the expressions window all the time. EE, and you’re ready to code.

4. cmd+option+shift+E

   What it does: applies the last used effect

   This one is just handy, there’s not any particular time I use it more often.

5. cmd+option+zero

   What it does: brings your render queue to the front

   This one I love too, because I like a really clean work area and I don’t enjoy seeing my Render Queue all the time. Personal preference, but the render queue is for rendering times only, otherwise I don’t want to see it.

6. shift+cmd+E

   What it does: removes all effects from selected layer

   What do you mean the client doesn’t like my exorbitant use of Shine and Starglow‽ This is my creative vision we are talking about here!! FINE! I’ll just delete everything!

7. cmd+option+shift+v

   What it does: toggles selected layer visibility

   Couple this with the Bonus Tip from #1 and you’ve got yourself a pretty nifty workflow.

8. shft+F9 / cmd+shift+F9

   What it does: toggles easy-ease keyframe in/out

   I’m actually surprised at how few people I see use this hotkey. It was one of the first ones I learned in After Effects and I use it all the time. I’ve seen way to many people using the right-click menu to set their easing. Another way I know not many people use this, is everytime I sit down at a new studio running OS X, and I hit cmd+shift+F9, Expose’ gives me the middle finger and I have to go to the OS X prefs and turn it off for the 5 millionth time.

9. option+dbl-click any keyframe

   What it does: shows the keyframe velocity dialog

   Maybe it’s the programmer in me, but thinking in numbers instead of battling the f-curve editor in After Effects is just faster for me. Over the years I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing exactly what numbers I need to use to get the visual I want, and this is the quickest way to get it. Also, this is GREAT when you are trying to smooth out keyframes with secondary motion, it’s much easier to pop this dialog open and set your speeds for in/out equal to each other, then it is to try to match your curves in the pseudo f-curve editor.

10. cmd+j / cmd+shift+j / cmd+shift+option+j

    What it does: toggles resolution Full/Half/Quarter

    Another one of my faves to finish off the list. I like to work at low resolutions whenever possible, but sometimes you need a quick hi-res preview to see how things are going… use this to go from quarter to full and back to quarter in the blink of an eye! Bonus Tip: cmd+option+j will throw you into your last used custom resolution mode.

So, there it is. 10 of my favorite After Effects hotkeys. I could go on for days, but I think there’s a Dunbar’s Number for learning hotkeys in one sitting, so I’ll leave it at this for now.

What did I miss? What are your favorites? Leave ‘em in the comments!
Free themographblog.com t-shirt** to anybody that can name a hotkey that I didn’t already know - I’ll be honest I swear.

*underground status is derived from the following equation: (FrequencyOfUse/NumberOfUsersThatKnowItOutOfOneHundred)*100…. ok not really

**I don’t have any TMB t-shirts, so you can’t actually win one. But I will bow down to your uber-hotkey authority.