Select the item in the Timeline panel, press Enter (Windows) or Return (macOS), and enter the new name.
Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (macOS) the item in the Timeline panel, choose Rename, and enter the new name.
When the layer name and the source footage name are the same, square brackets appear around the layer name in the layer name view, like this: [layer name]
The source footage item is selected in the Project panel.
You can filter layers in the Timeline panel to show only layers with properties that match a search string or certain other characteristics. See Search and filter in the Timeline, Project, and Effects & Presets panels and Showing properties and groups in the Timeline panel (keyboard shortcuts).
Christopher Green provides a script (Selected_Layers_Renamer.jsx) on his website with which you can rename multiple layers selected in the Timeline panel. You can search and replace text in the names, append characters to the beginning or end of the names, trim a specified number of characters from the beginning or end of the names, or replace the names with numbers in a series.
Many of characteristics of a layer are determined by its layer switches, which are arranged in the Timeline panel in columns. By default, the A/V Features column appears to the left of the layer name, and the Switches and Modes (Transfer Controls) columns appear to the right, but you can arrange columns in a different order. (See Columns.)
To show or hide columns in the Timeline panel, click the Layer Switches 
, Transfer Controls 
, or In/Out/Duration/Stretch 
button in the lower-left corner of the Timeline panel. Press Shift+F4 to show or hide the Parent column. Press F4 to toggle the Switches and Modes columns.
The results of some layer switch settings depend on the settings of composition switches, which are in the upper right of the layer outline in the Timeline panel.
Quickly change the state of a switch for multiple layers by clicking the switch for one layer and dragging up or down that column for the adjacent layers.
Switches in the A/V Features column
Video
Toggles layer visuals on or off. (See Toggle visibility or influence of a layer or property group.)
Audio
Toggles layer sounds on or off.
Solo
Includes the current layer in previews and renders, ignoring layers without this switch set. (See Solo a layer.)
Lock
Locks layer contents, preventing all changes. (See Lock or unlock a layer.)
Switches in the Switches column
Shy
Hides the current layer when the Hide Shy Layers composition
switch 
is
selected. (See Show
and hide layers in the Timeline panel.)
Collapse Transformations/Continuously Rasterize
Collapses transformations if the layer is a precomposition; continuously rasterizes if the layer is a shape layer, text layer, or layer with a vector graphics file (such as an Adobe Illustrator file) as the source footage. Selecting this switch for a vector layer causes After Effects to rerasterize the layer for each frame, which improves image quality, but also increases the time required for previewing and rendering. (See Render order and collapsing transformations and Continuously rasterize a layer containing vector graphics.)
Quality
Toggles between Best and Draft options for layer quality for rendering, including rendering to the screen for previews. (See Layer image quality and subpixel positioning.)
Effect
Select to render the layer with effects. The switch does not affect the setting for individual effects on the layer. (See Delete or disable effects and animation presets.)
Frame Blend
Sets frame blending to one of three states: Frame Mix , Pixel Motion 
, or off. If the Enable Frame Blending composition switch 
is not selected, the frame blending setting of the layer is irrelevant. (See Frame blending.)
Motion Blur
Toggles motion blur on or off for the layer. If the Enable
Motion Blur 
composition
switch is not selected, the motion blur setting of the layer is
irrelevant. (See Motion
blur.)
Adjustment Layer
Identifies the layer as an adjustment layer. (See Adjustment layers.)
3D Layer
Identifies the layer as a 3D layer. If the layer is a 3D
layer with 3D sublayers—as is the case for a text layer with per-character
3D properties—the switch uses this icon: 
. (See 3D
layers overview and resources.)
The Video (eyeball)
switch for a layer controls whether the visual information for a
layer is rendered for previews or final output. If the layer is
an adjustment layer, the Video switch controls whether the effects
on the layer are applied to the composite of the layers below it.
If the layer is a camera or light, the Video switch controls whether
the layer is on or off.
Several components of layers—such as paint strokes, path operations in shape layers, and text animators in text layers—each have their own Video switches. You can use the Video switch to toggle the visibility and influence of these items individually.
You can isolate one or more layers for animating, previewing, or final output by soloing. Soloing excludes all other layers of the same type from being rendered—both for previews in the Composition panel and for final output. For example, if you solo a video layer, any lights and audio layers are unaffected, so they appear when you preview or render the composition. However, the other video layers do not appear.
to the left of the layer names. to the left of the layer name.The Video switch is dimmed for other layers when a layer is soloed, indicating that the other layers are not visible.
Lloyd Alvarez provides a script on his After Effects Scripts website with which you can tag layers and then select, shy, and solo layers according to their tags. The tags are appended to comments in the Comments column in the Timeline panel.
The Lock switch prevents layers from being edited accidentally. When a layer is locked, you cannot select it in either the Composition or Timeline panels. If you try to select or modify a locked layer, the layer flashes in the Timeline panel.
When
a layer is locked, the Lock icon appears
in the A/V Features column, which appears by default to the left
of the layer name in the Timeline panel.
You can use labels (colored boxes in the Label column) in the Project panel and Timeline panel to organize and manage compositions, footage items, layers, and keyframes.
Overview of After Effects color labels: Labels preferences.
Assign colors to keyframes: Keyframe Color Labels.
You can mark a layer as shy and
then use the Hide Shy Layers composition switch
at the top of the Timeline panel to hide all shy layers in the Timeline
panel layer outline. Making layers shy is useful for making room
in the Timeline panel to show the layers and layer properties that
you want to adjust.
The icon in the Switches column indicates
whether a layer is shy 
or not
shy .
Shy layers are still rendered, both for previews and for final output. To exclude layers from previews or final output, use the Video switch or make the layer a guide layer.
composition switch at the top of the Timeline panel, or choose Hide Shy Layers from the Timeline panel menu.You can also filter layers in the Timeline panel to show only layers with properties that match a search string or certain other characteristics. See Search and filter in the Timeline, Project, and Effects & Presets panels and Showing properties and groups in the Timeline panel (keyboard shortcuts).
Lloyd Alvarez provides a script on his After Effects Scripts website with which you can tag layers and then select, shy, and solo layers according to their tags. The tags are appended to comments in the Comments field in the Timeline panel.
The quality setting of a layer determines how precisely it is rendered, as well as influences the precision of other calculations involving the layer, such as motion tracking and the use of the layer as a control layer for a compound effect.
Duplicated or split layers retain the Quality setting of the original layer.
You can choose between three options for quality: Best, Draft, and Wireframe. When you select the Best option, you can choose between bilinear and bicubic sampling, which are described in the next section.
To toggle between Best (bilinear sampling), Draft, and Best (bicubic sampling) quality of selected layers, click the Quality switch in the Timeline panel. To choose from all these options plus the Wireframe option, choose Layer > Quality:
Best
Displays and renders a layer using subpixel positioning, anti-aliasing, 3D shading, and complete calculation of any applied effects. Best requires the most time for rendering—both for previews and for final output.
Draft
Displays a layer so that you can see it, but only at rough quality. Draft quality displays and renders a layer without anti-aliasing and subpixel positioning, and some effects are not precisely calculated.
Wireframe
Displays a layer as a box, without layer contents. Layer wireframes are displayed and rendered faster than layers rendered with Best or Draft settings.
For layers with quality set to Best, you can choose between bicubic and bilinear sampling. This per-layer setting determines how pixels are sampled for transformations such as scaling.
The default keyboard shortcuts for setting the sampling method for selected layers are Alt+B (Windows) and Option+B (macOS) for Best/Bilinear and Alt+Shift+B (Windows) and Option+Shift+B (macOS) for Best/Bicubic.
Bicubic sampling is somewhat more processor-intensive than bilinear sampling, and bicubic sampling is not the highest-quality choice in all cases. It’s rather easy to see artifacts with bicubic sampling in some circumstances, such as ringing and overshoots at a hard transition from one color to another. Bicubic sampling tends to be the best option in cases where transitions from one color to another are more gradual, as is the case with nearly all real-world photographic images, but not necessarily for sharp-edged graphics. Bicubic sampling helps more for scaling up than it does for scaling down.
Textures in the ray-traced 3D renderer do not use bicubic sampling; they always use bilinear sampling. Transformations within effects also still use bilinear sampling, unless the effect specifically implements another method (as with a dedicated scaling plug-in effect or distortion effect).
Property values (like Position and Anchor Point) in After Effects are not restricted to integer values; they can have fractional values, too. This allows for smooth animation, as a value is interpolated from one keyframe to another. For example, if a Position value goes from [0,0,0] at a keyframe at time 0 to a value of [0,0,80] at time 1 second in a 25-frames-per-second composition, then the value at frame 1 is [0,0,3.2].
After Effects calculates all spatial values, like Position and effect control points, to a precision of 1/65,536 of a pixel. This is called subpixel precision.
If the pixels of a layer aren't positioned directly on the pixel boundaries of the composition, a small amount of blur occurs—very similar to anti-aliasing. This blur is not a problem for an object in motion, because objects in motion have motion blur, but it can soften fine details in a static image. Also, if an image is moving slowly or at just the wrong speed, the image can appear to oscillate between sharpness and blurriness.
Because the default anchor point for a layer is the center of an object, odd-sized objects have non-integer anchor points and appear soft when positioned at integer values. To minimize blurriness and in-and-out of focus result, follow these guidelines:
Create graphics with odd or even dimensions, based on the dimensions of the composition. For example, if the composition is 640x480 pixels, create graphics with even dimensions (such as 100x100 pixels); if the composition is 99x99 pixels, create graphics with odd dimensions (such as 75x53 pixels).
Set the position information for graphics (including the hold position and final position keyframes) to integers and not fractional numbers.
When you import vector graphics, After Effects automatically rasterizes them. However, if you want to scale a layer that contains vector graphics above 100%, then you need to continuously rasterize the layer to maintain image quality. You can continuously rasterize vector graphics in layers based on Illustrator, SWF, EPS, and PDF files. Continuously rasterizing causes After Effects to rasterize the file as needed based on the transformation for each frame. A continuously rasterized layer generally produces higher-quality results, but it may render more slowly.
Shape layers and text layers are always continuously rasterized.
When you apply an effect to a continuously rasterized layer, the results may differ from the results of applying the effect to a layer without continuous rasterization. This difference in results is because the default rendering order for the layer changes. The default rendering order for a layer without continuous rasterization is masks, followed by effects, and then transformations; whereas the default rendering order for a continuously rasterized layer is masks, followed by transformations, and then effects.
Whether or not you continuously rasterize, if you view and render a composition using Best Quality, After Effects anti-aliases (smooths) the vector graphics.
You cannot open or interact with a continuously rasterized layer in a Layer panel. A result of this limitation is that you can’t paint directly on a continuously rasterized layer. However, you can copy and paste paint strokes from other layers.
A. Original B. Enlarged with Continuously Rasterize switch turned off C. Enlarged with Continuously Rasterize switch turned on
, which is
the same as the Collapse Transformations switch for precomposition
layers.
