Layer markers and composition markers

Use composition markers and layer markers to store comments and other metadata and mark important times in a composition or layer. Composition markers appear in the time ruler for the composition, whereas layer markers each appear on the duration bar of a specific layer. Both kinds of markers can hold the same information.

Markers can refer to a single point in time or to a duration.

Composition markers in After Effects correspond to sequence markers in Adobe Premiere Pro. Layer markers in After Effects correspond to clip markers in Adobe Premiere Pro.

When you render a composition that contains markers, the markers can be converted to web links, chapter links (chapter points), or cue points, depending on the output format and values that you set in the marker dialog box. Markers can also be exported as XMP metadata. (See XMP metadata.)

The default comment for a composition marker is a number, whereas the default comment for a layer marker is nothing.

A marker that contains link or cue point data has a small dot in its icon.

You can add markers during a preview or audio-only preview, which allows you to place markers at significant points in the audio track of a layer.

Dragging a marker in point changes the marker's time and dragging a marker out point changes the marker's duration. You cannot simultaneously change the marker time and duration. 

• To view or edit data for a marker, double-click the marker, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (macOS) the marker, and choose Settings.
• To move a marker to a different time, drag the marker or double-click it and enter a time in the dialog box.
• To set the duration of a composition or layer marker, drag the marker's out point in the Timeline panel. Marker icons are split in half to indicate the marker in point and out point. 
• To set a marker's duration by dragging, hold the Option (macOS) or Alt (Windows) key, select the marker icon, and drag to the right.
• To change the duration of a marker, select and drag the marker out point icon; you don't need to hold Option or Alt.
• To automatically create layer markers for a layer based on the temporal metadata in the layer’s source file, select the Create Layer Markers From Footage XMP Metadata preference in the Media & Disk Cache preferences category. This preference is on by default.
• To synchronize layer markers on a precomposition layer to corresponding composition markers for the source composition, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (macOS) a layer marker and choose Update Markers From Source. This command also removes any markers that you have added to the layer.

If you add one composition to another, the original composition becomes nested as a layer in the containing composition. All of the composition markers from the nested composition become layer markers in the timeline of the containing composition. These markers are not linked to the original composition markers. Changes that you make to the composition markers in the original composition do not affect layer markers in the nested composition. For example, if you remove one of the original composition markers, the corresponding layer marker for the nested composition remains in place.

Scripts and expressions can read and use data stored in markers. Because XMP metadata for source footage items can be converted to layer markers, expressions and scripts can work with XMP metadata.

Composition markers appear as small triangles in the time ruler in the Timeline panel. You can have any number of composition markers in a composition.

If you remove a numbered composition marker, the other markers remain numbered as they were. If you change the comment from the default number, that number may be reused by a composition marker created later.

There can be at most one composition marker beginning at each time. If you add or move a composition marker to start at the same point in time as another composition marker, the added or moved marker replaces the other marker.

• To add a blank composition marker at the current time, ensure no layer is selected, and choose Layer > Add Marker or press * (multiply) on the numeric keypad.

• To add a composition marker at the current time and open the marker dialog box, make sure that no layer is selected, and press Alt+* (Windows) or Option+* (macOS) on the numeric keypad.
• To add a composition marker from the bin, drag the marker from the Comp Marker Bin button.

• To add a numbered composition marker at the current time, press Shift + a number key (0–9) on the main keyboard.

• To remove a composition marker, drag the marker to the Comp Marker Bin button or Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (macOS) the marker.
• To lock all composition markers on a composition, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (macOS) a marker on the composition and choose Lock Markers.

Apply layer markers

Layer markers appear as small triangles on the duration bar of a layer. You can have any number of layer markers on a layer.

Layer markers are retained when you render and export a movie to a QuickTime container.

• To add a layer marker to selected layers at the current time, choose Layer > Add Marker or press * (multiply) on the numeric keypad.
  

• To add a layer marker at the current time and open the marker dialog box, press Alt+* (Windows) or Option+* (macOS) on the numeric keypad.
• To remove a layer marker, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (macOS) the marker.
• To remove all layer markers from selected layers, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (macOS) a marker and choose Delete All Markers.
• To lock all layer markers on a layer, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (macOS) a marker on the layer and choose Lock Markers.
• To replace all layer markers with markers containing temporal metadata from the source file for the layer, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (macOS) a layer marker and choose Update Markers From Source.

Assign color labels to markers

You can assign color labels to Composition and Layer markers. By default, markers have no color. To change the color label of a marker, follow these steps:

Scripts and utilities for working with markers

Paul Tuersley provides a script on the AE Enhancers forum for splitting layers at layer markers.

Lloyd Alvarez provides scripts on the After Effects Scripts website that do the following:

• Magnum, the Edit Detector automatically detects edits in a footage layer and places a layer marker at each edit (or splits the layer into a separate layer for each edit).

• Zorro, the Layer Tagger allows you to 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 and can also be added as layer markers.

• Layer Marker Batch Editor edits marker attributes on all selected layers, including Flash cue point attributes.