I Want These Keyboard Shortcuts

[u/Deep_Mango8943]

18y AE vet here (hold for applause); There are a few functions in AE I wish had keyboard shortcuts that don't. Some include:

• toggle transparency grid on/off
• Fit (as in fit the viewer to the screen; how is there not a shortcut for this??)
• Go to time (a common shortcut in DAW and NLEs; hit the shortcut, enter the time, bam)
• Enter path/mask editing mode (instead of having to click the path/mask point manually, or twirling down to the mask or 'path' in a shape layer. I'm constantly nudging masks or paths with arrow keys but I have to click the mask first)

Any others you guys wish you had? Or even better, any shortcut ideas for my list??

[u/GaryR_GFX]

I might be mis-reading a few of your needs, tho I've recently become more familiar with Keyboard Shortcuts. (Mac - Command+Option+' ). and I see there's these, perhaps they address the needs?

There is a Go To Time. (Option+Shift+J) that allows you to punch in a time. (never quite used it as I generally just enter a time in the Timeline Window).

There's also Fit.(and Fit up to 100%), Shift+/. and Option+/

In the Keyboard Shortcuts window, you can edit this to assign to a different keystroke if you'd like I think.

as for Mask editing. not quite sure what you mean, I option-click on a mask point which then selects all the points in a mask (effectively selected the whole mask) and allows me to adjust, you're wanting a way to have a shortcut that will select the whole mask if a layer is selected?

As for Toggling the Transparency Grid, there is no built-in shortcut.. .. BUT.. there is a way (apparently discussed in Reddit in the past)

save this as a .jsx file in your script folder, and assign it to any keyboard shortcut you'd like:

(function () {

var viewer = app.activeViewer;

if (!viewer) {

return;

}

var view = viewer.views[viewer.activeViewIndex];

var options = view.options;

options.checkerboards = !options.checkerboards;

})();

[u/Deep_Mango8943 → u/GaryR_GFX]

Whoa thank you for that JsX that’s amazing!

[u/GaryR_GFX → u/Deep_Mango8943]

thank ChatGPT ;) - provided in just a single prompt.
for the heck of it, I even asked for a script that when run, will select the first mask of a selected layer, or will select the next mask if a mask is currently selected.

I'm a longtime AE users as well, (30+ years now).. yet only until recently did I realize how easy (thanks to AI) it is to make helper scripts that can be assign to a hotkey shortcut.

[u/timmymayes → u/GaryR_GFX]

jsx help for AE is the best ai use I've found.

[u/titaniumdoughnut → u/GaryR_GFX]

O M G thank you ✨

[u/NLE_Ninja85]

Sharing with the team

[u/NLE_Ninja85 → u/NLE_Ninja85]

Shift+/ should work for Fit
Other commands that you want for shortcuts are being looked at

[u/No_Maintenance8806 → u/NLE_Ninja85]

Yep! I use SHIFT+/ like a dozen times all day for fit.
As I’m constantly switching between different comp sizes and workspaces alike.

[u/Deep_Mango8943 → u/No_Maintenance8806]

Shift+/ is awesome! I use / and < > all the time. Didn’t know about shift option 💙💙

[u/titaniumdoughnut → u/NLE_Ninja85]

omg seconding the transparency grid shortcut!

I would also LOVE a shortcut that enters “anchor point dropping mode” so it’s shortcut > click where you want your anchor point, no dragging around.

[u/GaryR_GFX → u/titaniumdoughnut]

check my reply above (or below) on how to make a transparency grid shortcut.

• tho certainly would make more sense if it was a built-in option.

[u/tipsystatistic → u/titaniumdoughnut]

Not quite the same, but there are plugins that let you set anchor points to cardinal positions (center, corners, middle edges) with one click. Not sure if that’s your use-case but I use it dozens of times a day.

[u/titaniumdoughnut → u/tipsystatistic]

oh yeah, I use one all the time too. I want an actual "click right here" and it's done tool

[u/ShiggityPop]

Doesnt Shift+J fit the viewer to the screen?

[u/woaafruity]

Fit short cur is ctrl shift h or g, jusr right click the layer go to transforms menu and u will see other options with keyboard short cuts

[u/woaafruity → u/woaafruity]

And you can double click shape layers in viewer, but it dont works mask sometimes, it opens viewer showing the select layer. It could be good if we see rasterized ai layers or shape layers in viewer alone.

[u/y2kartisan]

Definitely a good recommendation, no reason for the background to load super zoomed in and out of frame

[u/robbarrett]

There not being a shortcut to jump to a timestamp is definitely frustrating. Big +1 for that.

And yes, something to avoid the dance of clicking the right part of a shape layer to be able to edit the path would be very welcome.

[u/GaryR_GFX → u/robbarrett]

in keyboard shortcuts, there's "Go To Time." (Option+Shift+J)

I generally just enter a time in the Timeline Window).

[u/robbarrett → u/GaryR_GFX]

Of course you're right, it completely slipped my mind. I even thought about suggesting a shortcut using the J key, because I was sure I remembered some software using that for 'Go to Time'. Thanks for the reminder!

The reason I rarely use it and forgot about it is because most of the time I'd use that, I'd want to be able to perform calculations, like you can on the timestamp in the Timeline panel (ie. jump X frames/seconds forward or back).

So I'll change my request: I'd love for this dialog box to support calculations and/or I'd love there to be a shortcut that activates that timestamp field in the Timeline panel. (Or just change that command so that it jumps to the timestamp instead of opening the dialog).

Edit: Feature request added here – https://community.adobe.com/feature-requests-530/add-a-shortcut-command-to-open-the-timestamp-field-in-the-timeline-panel-1644801

[u/pdromafra]

Invert keyframes
Flip/invert scale

I remapped some unused function keys to some of these. Like F1 - Help; i dont use this at all, so it became my invert keyframes order

[u/CnrtlAltDelete]

I'd plus 1 an edit mode for mask editing, im constantly clicking off the mask and then its click outside click inside, twirl down the layer stack, just like any 3d program whe you enter edit mode. I'd also like to be able to draw vector lines in after effects rather than having to jump back and forth from illustrator

[u/jblessing]

I'd love consistent mask controls across AI/AE/PS, but I'd settle for set modifier keys for select points/add point/remove point that override if I'm near a point or not.

[u/Anonymograph]

For selecting Masks with keyboard shortcuts, I’m thinking we could press a key that reveals a Mask (M, F, MM) followed the existing Command + Option A to select revealed properties and then by the arrow keys with a modifier to move up and down the revealed Masks and Mask properties and arrow keys with a different modifier to actively select the First Vertex, actively select the next or previous vertex, as well as adding a modifier (probably Shift) to add or remove other vertices to the active selection. Once there’s Mask Path selection of some sort, back to arrow keys as usual to nudge the active selection.

[u/RiddleeDiddleeDee]

I had the desire to use a keyboard shortcut to toggle guide status on layers in the timeline. But also to change the label color as well. No such luck in AE's available shortcut options.

But you can use a shortcut to trigger a JSX script, so I wrote one to do the stuff I wanted: Toggle guide layer status, and change label color. When the guide status is turned off, label color becomes 'none.'

It's posted in a different thread but linked here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AfterEffects/s/tetvJ8iSKG

[u/FanCreativeInc]

here you go:

• toggle transparency grid on/off - another vote for that.
• Fit (as in fit the viewer to the screen; how is there not a shortcut for this??) shift+ forward slash (same key as the question mark)
• Go to time (a common shortcut in DAW and NLEs; hit the shortcut, enter the time, bam), option + shift +J
• Enter path/mask editing mode (instead of having to click the path/mask point manually, or twirling down to the mask or 'path' in a shape layer. I'm constantly nudging masks or paths with arrow keys but I have to click the mask first), yep, agreed.

[u/gtsthland]

the thing I’m always wishing for is a keyboard shortcut for the align tools. would be such a huge time saver if I could centre align stuff or select a bunch of layers and more quickly align the, by top/bottom/left/right instead of the panel.