Now that you’ve got a composition set up and a file imported, it’s time to breathe life into it. That means animation — and animation in After Effects starts with a tiny, magical thing called a keyframe.
In this lesson, you’ll learn:
✅ What keyframes are and how they work
✅ The core transform properties you’ll animate
✅ How to create a basic animation (position, scale, opacity)
✅ How to preview and adjust timing
Let’s animate!
What is a Keyframe? 🔑
A keyframe is like a milestone. You tell After Effects, “Hey, at this exact moment, I want this thing to look like this.”
Then, you add another keyframe later in time and say, “Now make it look like this.” AE does the in-between motion for you. That’s animation.
Example:
✅ You place a keyframe at 0 seconds where your text is offscreen
✅ Then place another keyframe at 2 seconds where it’s in the center
AE will move the text smoothly from offscreen to center. Simple as that.
The Core Properties You’ll Animate ⚙️
Every layer in AE has basic transform properties. Press these shortcuts to access them:
✅ P — Position (move it around the canvas)
✅ S — Scale (make it bigger/smaller)
✅ R — Rotation (spin it)
✅ T — Opacity (make it fade in/out)
✅ A — Anchor Point (controls where it scales/rotates from)
To animate anything:
1. Move the timeline indicator to a point in time
2. Click the stopwatch icon next to the property to set a keyframe
3. Move the timeline forward, change the value — AE will create another keyframe automatically
You now have motion.
Let’s Make Your First Animation ✨
Try this with a text or image layer:
▶ Select the layer and press P for Position
▶ Move to 0 seconds on the timeline
▶ Click the stopwatch (🔵 appears — that’s your first keyframe)
▶ Move to 2 seconds on the timeline
▶ Drag the object to a new location
Hit Spacebar to preview. Your object moves!
Now try the same with S (scale) or T (opacity) to build a more layered animation.
Adjusting the Speed and Timing ⏱️
Your animation might feel stiff. Here’s how to smooth it out:
✅ Select your keyframes
✅ Right-click > Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease
✅ Or just press F9 (faster)
Then open the Graph Editor (icon near the timeline) to manually tweak motion curves. This gives you buttery-smooth motion, like pro edits.
Bonus: Copy-Paste Keyframes 🧠
You can copy keyframes from one layer and paste them onto another. Great for syncing motion or repeating animations.
▶ Select the property name (like “Position”) to highlight all keyframes
▶ Hit Ctrl+C
▶ Select the same property on another layer and hit Ctrl+V
Quick Recap 🔁
✅ Keyframes = animation checkpoints
✅ Use P, S, R, T to access core properties
✅ Use Easy Ease (F9) to smoothen things out
✅ Graph Editor = clean, professional motion
Next, we’ll dive into text and shape animations — this is where your videos start looking sharp and modern. 🧑🎨