5 After Effects Tools You Don't Use...But You Should!

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There are so many different tools for After Effects that it can often feel overwhelming. How can you get the most out of the software without breaking the bank? For those in the know, some of the best tools already exist within the program itself.
In this tutorial, School of Motion TA Sara Wade walks you through some underused and under-appreciated tools that are native to After Effects. Learn to fix text, smooth paths, and streamline layers in no time at all!
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Auto-Generated Transcript Below 👇
Sara Wade (00:00): After effects has a wide range of built-in tools that can quickly become overwhelming. Let's narrow your focus with these five tips that can help save time. Hey everybody, Sara Wade here to talk about five built-in after effects tools that you really should be using, but you probably aren't by the end of this video, your workflow should feel more streamlined. So let's check these out
Sara Wade (00:35): First. We're going to take a look at something called this layer dot name. Even if you're not an expressions guru, this one's going to be super useful. Maybe even more useful than our good old friend, the wiggle expression. First, I'm going to twirl open this text layer, named school of motion. I'm going to twirl. Open the text and alt click the stopwatch to add an expression. Then I'm going to just type in this layer.name, lowercase, this capital L and layer. This is called camel case, and it's really important that you get the capitalization, right? You see how after effects is trying to fill it in for me, I'm going to type in a semi-colon there. Now, whatever I named this layer is going to show up as the text there right now, it says school of motion. But if I select the layer and hit enter, I can rename this layer to say, school of motion loves you. So this is going to be super useful, especially if you end up with projects with a ton of text and a client that likes to change things on you at the last minute, this is going to make what would have been a two to three step process. Just one step.
Sara Wade (01:45): The next tool I want to show you is actually two tools when used in combination that are really, really powerful. The first one is the motion sketch panel, and I can get to that by going to window and right down here to motion sketch, which opens up this panel. Let's go ahead and make a circle that we can animate hit control alt home to center the anchor point there. And now that start capture is active. I'm going to leave it at the default settings capture speed at 100 smoothing at one. Now in the motion sketch panel, I'm going to hit start capture. And then I'm just going to left click and drag this shape layer to create a path. So now I've got this really cool motion path. And all I had to do was draw it with my mouse. So you may notice this path has a ton of points.
Sara Wade (02:32): It's not quite as smooth as I wanted. So I'm going to use the smoother to smooth that out. I can get to the smoother tool by again, going to the window menu, going down here to smoother. You can see it pops up over here. Now I've still got this layer with the past selected. So what I'm going to do is leave spatial path as the selection. And I'm going to type in as an example, 25 and hit apply. Now look at that beautiful, smooth animation. I can go in there now and grab those Bezier handles. If I want to drag it out and edit the path, we made that path rather quickly, but we can adjust the path with these Bezier handles and even move the key frames around. Then you can play with the timing by holding Alton. Left-click, all the capabilities are still there making this a really powerful tool.
For the full transcript visit: som.bz/2SVSQiA

[@BenMarriott]

The pen tool is definitely the best tool. :) Bezier/10

[@caesium_]

Hi Ben!!!

[@caesium_]

Loveee your content!

[@animomotiongraphics7289]

Agreed! Also worth noting for people who don't know that you can use mask paths for positioning too - so you could for example auto trace a layer, then use those mask/s to drive the animation of your layer.

[@SpiritmanProductions]

I clearly haven't been making enough use of the compositing options. Thank you!

[@SarahIngleOfficial]

I just screamed, “WHAT?!” rather loudly at my screen at 6:45. I created a whole macro that did a bunch of ridiculous stuff including expressions to work around this, and it was that easy?! You just right-click?! 🤦🏼‍♀️ 😐 I’ll just be over here pondering what other stupid life choices I’ve made.

[@roblesvfx]

after all these years using After Effects I always learn a new feature, that's why I love After Effects!!

[@saragxn1890]

Never thought about the mask on effect, just saved me from a ton of layers ty so much

[@art_means_artificial]

she has got such an ugly VOICE! disgusting ... sounds like femena!

[@Researcher_Ryan]

Definitely changed my life with these. The only thing I was aware of was the pen tool path feature the others were gold and new ground for me. Thank you!

[@freelancedigitalartist]

I’m also impressed by the compositing mask like most everyone else. Thanks for sharing these tips.

[@sherifmuhammad4635]

Oh my god! The compositing mask is a huge time saver! Really great tips, thank you.

[@iamYork_]

Mind = Blown!!! As a long term Ae user I always saw these options and just assumed they6 were useless... Wow... Great tips!!!

[@guilhermesalles4313]

I love you guys. Your tips are always something that is not obvious.

[@yosukemurakami8009]

mind blown on the compositing option one

[@labrow]

Great set of tips, very clearly presented.

[@fully0fficial]

great video guys thanks! Just one question: why didn’t you draw the path with the pen tool directly onto the ellipse layer, instead of shape layer > copy and paste path data?

[@chadrogers4811]

These were some great secret tricks I never knew about! Fantastic video!

[@demiansinkler]

WOW! This is the most useful "top 5 tools"-kind video tutorial I have ever seen! Thank you so much!

[@turinhorse]

excellent tutorial again. very easy to follow. clearly spoken too.

[@nickturner6709]

Really good tips! Thank you!

[@leo.saramago]

Awesome tips, Sara! Thanks a million!!!

[@LoganPinney]

Motion tracker + smoothing?! 🤯🤯 thanks Sara!

[@throwinglight2817]

This was fantastic. Thank you.

[@Hummeldon]

I wish I found this video a couple weeks ago just for the Convert to Paragraph tip... I feel like a lot of After Effects is doing something a really clunky way for hours and then discovering a way to do that same thing in minutes or even seconds. Great tips!

[@schoolofmotion]

So true! A lot of what separates beginners from pros is just familiarization with the software, knowing hotkeys, and practice. We're happy you picked up a few new tricks, and we can't wait to see what you do with them.

[@abhitjain4529]

THESE WERE REALLY AMAZING TIPS THANK U S OO MUCH FOR THIS !!!

[@igshipilov]

Ah, four years in AE and I will only found out now about three of these features! Thank you a lot!

[@devinuzan5130]

Wow why did I not know about the Compositing Options for effects? Thank you!

[@JeremyWilliamson]

WOW!! Those were actually pretty awesome!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

[@brandonkalyan]

Thank you for sharing ♥️

[@Rocksteady72a]

The compositing mask blew my mind, omg. This will make _everything_ easier

[@waqaransari3666]

Ikr? I've been duplicating comps/layers for this up until now!

[@vinderesual]

Im putting inside my brain right on. Superrr

[@Researcher_Ryan]

I always had a feeling this was a feature but never knew how to do it until now. I always kept thinking "There's gotta be a way to mask the effect directly and not have to make it on an adjustment layer."

[@kaesekrustechannel]

isn't that basic stuff (no offense)

[@NauhFX]

That's why you have to look for the what's new videos and blog posts adobe makes every time they release a new version, they even put the what's new section in the home screen of every new release so you don't miss out on those magical new features.

[@CAP2009films]

excellent info. thanks

[@tensaidesuka]

Super helpful, thanks! I‘ve been using compositing mask for quite a time now, I think I discovered that by accident 😁

[@forsidee]

Great tips, thanks for sharing

[@joehance]

Thank you soooo much, there are really some good tricks to fasten workflows ;)

[@Neverendingtravel]

Great tips, as always!

[@milojahangirova2766]

this was so useful!! thank you

[@ChrrZ]

great tips many thanks!

[@titipokotube]

thank you! Useful video!

[@alexdib3915]

A very helpful video, thank youi!

[@RalstonRSmith]

these were great, thanks!

[@mariohyeah]

You also can create box text dragging the mouse while you create

[@sheikhakbar2067]

Very useful tips!

[@thefullsp]

Thank you! 🤟

[@ChronosCooper]

3 out of 5 I didn't know. Thanks a lot

[@richochet]

This is gold! Thanks

[@schoolofmotion]

Our thoughts exactly!

[@user-re3zr9vy9m]

thank you Great tips .

[@Sese145]

Super useful!

[@PLANBkr]

Great Tips!!!

[@gosteronlinecourses]

very helpful - thank you!

[@schoolofmotion]

Glad it was helpful!

[@masoud9372]

You're a keeper!

[@avinashsurve2898]

Thanks

[@prathmeshmahajani]

Very helpful. Super useful.

[@pedro_a_martins]

Such awesome tips!! Thank you! ^_^

[@skalzangotsal4318]

Thanks great and helpful🙏🙏🙏👍

[@Ali-pi8sh]

thanks

[@AntonioVillagomez]

Great stuff!

[@mohmax74]

Amazing tips 👍🏻

[@jen11iver53]

LOVE IT

[@damnfeeble2762]

Super helpful for beginner like me.

[@Melanie-ke4nu]

This video is awesome

[@tahaboukemia1434]

Amaaaaaaaaazing thank youuuuuuuu

[@shabbyarts]

Loved it...

[@diegoteixe_]

Awesome!!

[@JoseMendoza-ug4xj]

Powerful 🤩

[@NileshParmar]

Great video

[@ramonbaart]

You don't have to use "Convert to Paragraph Text". Instead, just click the text icon and drag a box on the composition & start typing

[@deejaymanners]

this was the fix for the situation where you already have text and instead of creating a box and copy pasting the thext there, right click and convert to paragraph is faster.

[@thefuzzman2379]

@@deejaymanners This is true. I work with a lot of text in Ae and its so frustrating to have to copy and paste the text to a bounding box and have to reformat it. Now I dont have to!

[@JuXuS1]

i was looking for mask effects all time... TNX

[@flaviocosta3682]

hooooooooly!!! thank you so much

[@deaniweenie]

Great tips. When you paste the path onto the position at 5:12 where does After Effects get the keyframe spacing/timing from? The path was created at one point without keyframes yet After Effects has spaced the path nodes as keyframes over time. What determines this time spacing?

[@TimoKanal]

Exactly what I was wondering too.

[@markwoloschuk]

@@TimoKanal AFX places keyframes in time such that the speed of the animation is constant, just like what you would get if you selected a group of keyframes, right clicked, and selected rove across time. Note that the keys in between the start and end are smaller in size and move automatically as you move the start and/or end. This indicates that those keyframes are “roving” and will automatically adjust to keep the speed constant. Looking at the speed of the animation in the graph editor can make this easier to visualize. To move keyframes between the start and end you have to select the keys, right click and unselect rove across time.

[@Ianorig]

It's super magic!

[@eyefisher]

Bravo!

[@yasirshaikh2922]

amazing wonderful , biggest like, u teach very nice , fully played.

[@pablocasts6298]

Brilliant

[@modousalieujallow24]

Hello school of motion with 5 AE tool and when I have After effects cs6 not cc Who will the 5 tools benefit me and others plz?

[@dollarproduction24]

Superb♦❣♦

[@coltoneff]

Please never stop making tip videos. I mostly use AE for VFX, not motion, but thisLayer(.)name is game changing for that tedious, well paid work we all know and love.

[@smileymask]

Been using AE since 2005. Found new things here!!

[@TimoKanal]

Hey, to create a Paragraph text, all you need to do is, with the text tool selected, click and drag to create a box.

[@alfredmb]

This is supper !

[@johnwachira7853]

1000 Like to this. Love it.

[@bluebearcreativeAU]

great video

[@jimcielencki1212]

For the Convert to paragraph text, is the box around the paragraph text the same as the sourceRectAtTime box? Instead of it fitting neatly around a word, now it fits around a paragraph?

[@yousawnothing644]

I believe this is true. I know when I use sourceRectAtTime on paragraph text it acts strange.

[@erwinsmith4586]

NICE

[@azddines4077]

great

[@gamedevelopmentgroupkerman]

super magic

[@DxrrkSide]

5:59 this was a good one

[@RonaldCortez]

Dude, Convert to Paragraph Text!!!! YES, I needed that one so bad Haha

[@grittygirlgraphics8633]

Also too, you can click on the Text tool and then just drag a box with your mouse...

[@lucaslourenco8234]

So do I!

[@Thewillanders]

Thank god i don't need to rename my layer multiple times again if i create a text!

[@alexandrugrecov8964]

Magic.

[@evm6177]

Neat tutorial lots of respect lady.. Still my rant to Adobe (as usual) what use is hidden paragraph option or an entire library of the effects panel with no individual thumbnail preview like in oh i don't know perhaps powerpoint! It's 2020 get over it seriously dude Adobe WTF...#?! when am i going to get a tool less stiflly technically curved instead more artistically bend ?!

[@SandroGarcia96]

No. That paragraph box feature isn't hidden. You can simpply click and drag when Text is selected.

[@yitphady1362]

I like that.

[@yitphady3787]

I like that

[@cheesey43]

Number 5 changes everything hahaha. OMG.

[@JanneWolterbeek]

I have never heard of a "home" key on the Mac? Where do I find it?

[@JanneWolterbeek]

ok, found it, it's actually 2 keys fn + left arrow. osxdaily.com/2015/06/17/home-end-button-mac-keyboard-functions/

[@tomasla9345]

its very nice and cool they share this here.... because their courses are way beyond my $reach$

[@schoolofmotion]

We offer a ton of free resources for everyone to use if you are not able to enroll in one of our session based courses at this time. Check our blog and sign up for our newsletter to get additional resources!

[@iamnovinov]

Yeah compositing mask just made my face explode

[@dvhughesdesign]

Can't you quickly change the copy in the text layer by double clicking the text layer name? What am I missing?

[@animomotiongraphics7289]

You can, but it doesn't rename the layer for one thing, but also say you had 20 layers of text, you can just quickly go down the layers renaming them. Every click saved is useful!

[@andydreadsbmx]

So I have a question. Probably me just over looking some functions of a text layer but why use the expression thisLayer.name; when you can just double click the layer and change it that way? I guess having the layer named the right thing helps but is there any other purpose? If you're not using paragraph text double clicking and typing what you want allows you to go to the next line while using the thisLayer.name; and renaming the layer does not allow for that.

[@paulvansommeren]

Yeah, I thought that "tip" was a bit ridiculous. Also doesn't allow you to rename in the comp window...

[@AdrienVanca]

It can be useful when your text is under a bunch of other layers and not easily clickable. But I agree it doesn't help a lot...

[@davidfitcher2953]

This channel is basically all about expressions

[@StevenWilliamsHome]

If you want to make a quick Paragraph text, just : > Select the Text Tool, Left Click and drag out a BOX in the Comp window. You will automatically be in Paragraph mode 🙂

[@williancardenas]

The title got me, lets see...

[@AzovPort]

Like 😎👍🏻➕