AfterEffects

Apply an effect or animation preset

  • To apply an effect or animation preset to a single layer, drag the effect or animation preset from the Effects & Presets panel to a layer in the Timeline, Composition, or Effect Controls panel.
    Note: When you’re dragging an effect or animation preset onto a layer in the Composition panel, the name of the layer under the pointer is shown in the Info panel. If you release the mouse button when the pointer is not over a layer, a new layer is created to hold the effect or animation preset.
  • To apply an effect or animation preset to one or more layers, select the layers, and then double-click the effect or animation preset in the Effects & Presets panel.
  • To apply an effect to one or more layers, select the layers, and then choose Effect > [category] > [effect].
  • To apply a recently used or saved animation preset to one or more layers, select the layers, choose Animation > Recent Animation Presets, and then choose the animation preset from the list.
  • To apply the most recently applied animation preset to one or more layers, select the layers, and then press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift+F (Mac OS).
  • To apply the most recently applied effect to one or more layers, select the layers, and then press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift+E (Mac OS).
  • To apply an animation preset to one or more layers using Adobe Bridge, select the layers, choose Animation > Browse Presets, navigate to the animation preset, and then double-click it.
  • To apply the effect settings from an animation preset to the current instance of an effect, choose the animation preset name from the Animation Presets menu for the effect in the Effect Controls panel.
  • To copy a layer’s effects to one or more layers, select the effects in the Timeline panel or Effect Controls panel, choose Edit > Copy, select the target layers, and choose Edit > Paste.
Note: Applying an effect or animation preset to a layer selects the layer.

By default, when you apply an effect to a layer, the effect is active for the duration of the layer. However, you can make an effect start and stop at specific times or make the effect more or less intense over time by using keyframes or expressions or by applying the effect to an adjustment layer.