Effects and animation presets overview

With animation presets, you can save and reuse specific configurations of layer properties and animations, including keyframes, effects, and expressions. For example, if you created an explosion using several effects with complex property settings, keyframes, and expressions, you can save all those settings as a single animation preset. You can then apply that animation preset to any other layer.

Many animation presets don’t contain animation; rather, they contain combinations of effects, transform properties, and so on. A behavior animation preset uses expressions instead of keyframes to animate layer properties.

Animation presets can be saved and transferred from one computer to another. The filename extension for an animation preset is .ffx.

After Effects includes hundreds of animation presets that you can apply to your layers and modify to suit your needs, including many text animation presets. 

You can browse and apply animation presets in After Effects using the Effects & Presets panel or Adobe Bridge. To open the Presets folder in Adobe Bridge, choose Browse Presets from the Effects & Presets panel menu or from the Animation menu.

Downloading, installing, and moving animation presets

The animation presets installed with After Effects are in the Presets folder.

• Windows: Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects\Support Files
• macOS: Applications/Adobe After Effects

By default, Animation presets that you create are saved in the Presets folder.

• Windows: My Documents\Adobe\After Effects
• macOS: Documents/Adobe/After Effects

You can add a single new animation preset or an entire folder of new animation presets to either of the Presets folders.

When After Effects starts, it searches both Presets folders, and their subfolders for installed animation presets and adds them to the Effects & Presets panel. After Effects ignores the contents of folders with names that begin and end in parentheses; for example, the contents of the folder (archived_animation_presets) are not loaded.

Animation presets are loaded and initialized only when the Effects & Presets panel is shown. If the Effects & Presets panel is closed or hidden behind another panel, the animation presets are not initialized.

Save an animation preset

For the animation preset to appear in the Effects & Presets panel, it must be saved in the Presets folder.

Effects overview and resources

After Effects includes various effects, which you apply to layers to add or modify characteristics of still images, video, and audio. For example, an effect can alter the exposure or color of an image, add new visual elements, manipulate sound, distort images, remove grain, enhance lighting, or create a transition.

Effects are sometimes mistakenly referred to as filters. The primary difference between a filter and an effect is that a filter permanently modifies an image or other characteristic of a layer, whereas an effect and its properties can be changed or removed at any time. In other words, filters operate destructively, and effects operate non-destructively. After Effects uses effects exclusively, so changes are non-destructive. A direct result of the ability to change the properties of effects is that the properties can be changed over time, or animated.

You browse and apply effects using the Effects & Presets panel. You modify effect properties using the Effect Controls panel or Timeline panel or by moving effect control points in the Layer panel or Composition panel.

You can apply multiple instances of the same effect to a layer, rename each instance, and set the properties for each instance separately.

Effect plug-ins

All effects are implemented as plug-ins, including the effects included with After Effects. Plug-ins are small software modules—with filename extensions such as .aex, .pbk, and .pbg—that add functionality to an application. Not all plug-ins are effect plug-ins; for example, some plug-ins provide features for importing and working with certain file formats. The Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in, for example, provides After Effects with its ability to work with camera raw files. 

Because effects are implemented as plug-ins, you can install and use additional effects that parties other than Adobe provide, including those you create yourself. You can add a single new effect or an entire folder of new effects to the Plug-ins folder, which is located by default in one of these folders:

• Windows: Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects\Support Files

• macOS: Applications/Adobe After Effects

When After Effects starts, it searches the Plug-ins folder and subfolders for all installed effects and adds them to the Effect menu and the Effects & Presets panel. After Effects ignores the contents of folders with names that begin and end in parentheses; for example, the contents of the folder (archived_effects) are not loaded.

After Effects comes with several third-party plug-ins, including Foundry Keylight, Synthetic Aperture Color Finesse, Imagineer mocha shape, fnord ProEXR, and CycoreFX HD plug-ins. These plug-ins are installed by default with the full version of Adobe After Effects software.

The installers for some plug-ins install their documentation in the same directory as the plug-ins themselves.

The EXtractoR and IDentifier plug-ins from fnord software are included with After Effects to provide access to multiple layers and channels of OpenEXR files. Learn more about ProEXR plug-ins, IDentifier, and EXtractoR.

Animating effects

You animate effect properties in the same way that you animate any other properties—by adding keyframes or expressions to them. Usually, even effects that rely on animation for their normal use require that you set some keyframes or expressions. For example, animate the Transition Completion property of a Transition effect or the Evolution setting of the Turbulent Noise effect to turn a static effect into a dynamic effect.

Color depth

Many effects support processing image color and alpha channel data at a depth of 16 bits or 32 bits per channel (bpc). Using an 8-bpc effect in a 16-bpc or 32-bpc project can result in a loss of color detail. If an effect supports only 8 bpc, and your project is set to 16 bpc or 32 bpc, the Effect Controls panel displays a warning next to the effect name. You can set the Effects & Presets panel to list only the effects that support the color depth of the current project. Learn more about color depth and high dynamic range color.

Effect opacity

The property group of each effect includes a Compositing Options property group. Effect Opacity property provides functionality similar to every effect as the Blend With Original controls. With this property, you can change the global opacity, and it affects the entire effect. There is no need to add a mask separately.

The Blend With Original controls group lets you precisely apply any effect to a particular area of an image by masking the desired area.

Render order

The order in which After Effects renders masks, effects, layer styles, and transform properties—called the render order—may affect the final result of an applied effect. By default, effects appear in the Timeline and Effect Controls panels in the order in which they were applied. Effects are rendered in order from top to bottom in this list. To change the order in which effects are rendered, drag the effect name to a new position in the list. Learn more about render order and collapsing transformations.

Adjustment layers

An effect applied to an adjustment layer affects all layers below it in the layer stacking order in the Timeline panel.

Expression Controls effects

Expression Controls effects don't modify existing layer properties. Instead, these effects add layer properties that expressions can refer to. 

Preventing edge clipping with the Grow Bounds effect

Because an effect is applied to a layer, the results of some effects are constrained within the bounds of the layer, which can make the effect appear to end abruptly. You can apply the Grow Bounds effect to a layer to temporarily extend the layer for calculating the results of other effects. This process is not necessary for newer effects, which tend to be 32-BPC effects.

Effects applied with tools

Some effects—including the Puppet effect, the Paint effect, and the Roto Brush effect—are applied to a layer with a tool rather than being applied directly in the same manner as other effects. 

Compound effects and control layers

Several effects rely on a control layer (or layer map) as input. These compound effects use the pixel values of the control layer to determine how to affect the pixels of the layer to which the effect is applied (the destination layer). Sometimes, the effect uses the brightness values of the pixels in the control layer; in some cases, the effect uses the individual channel values of the pixels in the control layer.

For example, the Displacement Map effect uses the brightness values of a control layer to determine how far to shift pixels of the underlying layer and in which direction. The Shatter effect can use two control layers—one to customize the shapes of the shattered pieces and one to control when specific parts of the destination layer explode.

The compound effect ignores effects, masks, and transformations of a control layer. To use the results of effects, masks, and transformations on a layer, precompose the layer and use the precomposition layer as the control layer.

It's common to use a control layer that isn't itself visible—that is, its Video switch   is off.

Most compound effects include a Stretch Map To Fit option (or a similarly named option), which temporarily stretches or shrinks a control layer to the dimensions of the destination layer. This provides a pixel in the control layer corresponding to each pixel in the destination layer. If you deselect this option, the calculations for the compound effect are performed as if the control layer is centered on the destination layer at its original size.

You can create control layers by drawing or painting in an image-editing program, such as Adobe Photoshop.

Tips for creating control layers

• For many compound effects, neutral gray pixels in the control layer correspond to null operations. Therefore, a neutral gray solid layer is a good starting point for creating a control layer.

• Apply the Turbulent Noise effect to a layer and precompose it to create a good control layer for turbulent or atmospheric results.

• You can create a control layer by precomposing a white solid layer, a black solid layer, and a mask on the top layer that determines which areas are white and black. Increasing the feather of a mask softens the transition between black and white values.

• The contrast between adjacent pixel values determines how smoothly the values change across the surface of the control layer. To create smooth changes, paint using a soft or anti-aliased brush, or apply gradients. To create abrupt changes, avoid intermediate shades, using a few widely spaced shades, such as 50% gray, black, and white.

Effects with a Comp Camera attribute

Some effects can use the camera and lights within the same composition. These effects include Card Dance, Card Wipe, and Shatter. Some of these effects always use the composition camera, whereas others have light and camera options in the Effect Controls panel.

When you apply an effect with a Comp Camera attribute to a 2D layer, it can track the camera and light positions within the composition and render a 3D image on the 2D layer it's applied to. The results of the effect appear to be three-dimensional; however, the layer with the Comp Camera attribute applied remains a 2D layer and, therefore, has the following characteristics:

• 3D layers above and below it in the Timeline panel cannot intersect with each other or cast shadows on each other.

• It cannot intersect with 3D layers or cast or accept shadows.

Effect Controls panel

When you apply an effect to a layer, the Effect Controls panel opens, listing the effect you applied and controls to change the property values for the effect. You can also work with effects and change most effect property values in the Timeline panel. However, the Effect Controls panel has more convenient controls for many properties, such as sliders, effect control point buttons, and histograms.

The Effect Controls panel is a viewer, which means that you can have Effect Controls panels for multiple layers open at once and use the viewer menu in the panel tab to select layers.

• To open or close the Effect Controls panel for the selected layer, press F3.
• To select an effect, select it. To select the next or previous effect in the stacking order, press the Down or Up arrow keys, respectively.
• To expand or collapse selected effects, press the Right Arrow key or Left Arrow key.
• To expand or collapse a property group, select the triangle to the left of the effect name or property group name.
• To expand or collapse a property group and all its children, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (macOS) the triangle.
• To expand or collapse all property groups for selected effects, press Ctrl+` (accent grave) (Windows) or Command+` (accent grave) (macOS).
• To reset all the properties of an effect to their default values, select Reset at the top of the entry for the effect in the Effect Controls panel.
• To duplicate selected effects, choose Edit > Duplicate or press Ctrl+D (Windows) or Command+D (macOS).
• To move an effect to a different place in the rendering order, drag the effect up or down in the effect stack.
• To set the properties of an effect to the properties used in an animation preset, choose from the Animation Presets menu at the top of the entry for the effect in the Effect Controls panel.
• To show the Animation Presets menu in the Effect Controls panel, select Show Animation Presets in the panel menu.
• To modify the range of an effect property, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (macOS) the underlined property value for the control and choose Edit Value from the context menu.

Effects and Presets panel

Browse and apply effects and animation presets with the Effects & Presets panel. An icon identifies each item in the panel by type. Numbers within the icons for effects indicate whether the effect works on a maximum of 8 bits, 16 bits, or 32 bits per channel.

You can scroll through the list of effects and animation presets or search for effects, and animation presets by typing any part of the name in the search box at the top of the panel.

The options that you choose in the Effects & Presets panel menu determine which items are shown:

Shows effects that work with any color depth, not only the effects that work with the depth of the current project.

Shows all available effects.

Shows all animation presets, including animation presets saved by you in the Presets folder.

The panel organizes effects and animation presets according to the option that you select from the panel menu: Categories, Explorer Folders (Windows) or Finder Folders (macOS), or Alphabetical.

Use the following commands in the panel menu to manage your effects and animation presets:

Opens the folder that contains the effect or animation preset selected in the Effects & Presets panel.

Updates the list of effects and animation presets.

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.

• 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 (macOS).
• 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 (macOS).
• 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 effects from one layer 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.

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.

Animation presets are applied at the current time.

Delete or disable effects and animation presets

After you’ve applied effects to a layer, you can temporarily disable one or all the effects on the layer so that you can concentrate on another aspect of your composition. Effects that are disabled are not rendered, either for previews or for final output. However, in the Render Queue panel, you can specify that the composition is rendered for final output with all effects on, regardless of which effects are rendered for previews in the Composition panel. Disabling an effect does not delete the keyframes created for any of the effect properties; all keyframes remain until the effect is deleted from the layer.

You can’t disable or delete an animation preset from a layer as a unit. You can individually delete or disable the effects, keyframes, and expressions that it comprises.

• To delete one effect from a layer, select the effect name in the Effect Controls or Timeline panels and press Delete.
• To delete all effects from one or more layers, select the layers in the Timeline or Composition panel and choose Effect > Remove All or press Ctrl+Shift+E (Windows) or Command+Shift+E (macOS).

• To temporarily disable one effect, select the layer in the Effect Controls or Timeline panel, and then select the Effect switch   to the left of the effect name.
• To temporarily disable all effects on a layer, select the Effect switch   in the Switches column for the layer in the Timeline panel.

Remove an effect or animation preset

You can remove an effect or animation preset from the folder in which After Effects searches for these items, preventing it from being loaded and from being shown in the Effects & Presets panel or Effect menu.

Effect control points

Some effects have effect control points, which determine how the effect affects the layer. For example, the Advanced Lightning effect has two effect control points—Origin and Direction—which specify where the lightning begins and in which direction it points.

Effect control points are in layer space for layers that are not continuously rasterized and for which transformations are not collapsed. If a layer is continuously rasterized or has collapsed transformations, then effect control points are in composition space. Learn more about coordinate systems: composition space and layer space and render order and collapsing transformations.

Vector layers (including shape and text) are continuously rasterized, so their effect control points are always in composition space. Learn more about continuously rasterizing a layer containing vector graphics.

Null object layers, solid-color layers, and other layers based on source footage items by default have effect control points in layer space.

View an effect control point

• To view an effect control point in the Layer panel, choose the effect name from the View menu at the bottom of the Layer panel.
• To view an effect control point in the Composition panel, select the effect name in the Timeline or Effect Controls panels.

Move an effect control point

• In the Composition or Layer panel, drag the effect control point.
• In the Effect Controls panel, select the effect control point button ; then, in the Composition or Layer panel, select where you want the effect control point.
• In the Timeline or Effect Controls panel, drag or enter values for the x and y coordinates for the effect control point as you would do to modify any other property.

Randomness and random seeds

Because true randomness isn't repeatable, many effects simulate randomness using a calculation that generates seemingly random results for each value of a Random Seed property. Multiple instances of the same effect give the same results if all their settings—including the Random Seed property values—are the same. This allows you to get predictable, deterministic results while still achieving the appearance of randomness.

Changing the Random Seed value doesn't make things more or less random; it only makes them seem random in a different way.

You can add randomness to any property with the expressions in the Random Numbers category.

Compositing effects

Effects in Adobe After Effects contain compositing options that make it easy to blend any effect with the original clip and modify only a portion of a clip without additional adjustment layers or track matte layers.

Animation preset list

A variety of animation presets are bundled with the product and are located in the Support Files/Presets folder. 

Here is a complete list of the types of animation presets packaged with After Effects:

Adobe Express

Backgrounds

Behaviors

Image - Creative

Image - Special Effects

Image - Utilities

Legacy

Shapes

Sound Effects

Synthetics

Text

3D Text

Animate In

ANIMATE OUT

CURVES AND SPINS

LIGHTS AND OPTICAL

MULTI-LINE

PATHS

ORGANIC

MISCELLANEOUS

Transitions - Dissolves

Transitions - Movement

Transitions - Wipes

Do more with After Effects

Create incredible motion graphics, text animation, and visual effects with Adobe After Effects. Design for film, TV, video, and web.

More like this

• Working with Adobe Bridge and After Effects
• Plug-ins
• Adjustment layers
• Set a property value