Keyframe Basics in After Effects

Keyframes make animations possible by allowing you to define how properties like position, scale, and opacity change over time. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create, edit, and manage keyframes to bring your projects to life, whether you’re working with text, shapes, or complex compositions. Let’s get started!

Animation in After Effects starts with a keyframe. A keyframe marks a point in time where something changes — position, scale, rotation, or any other property. You set at least two keyframes, and After Effects fills in the movement between them.

What Are Keyframes?

Keyframes tell After Effects when something starts and when it ends. Think of them like bookmarks. If you want an object to move across the screen, you place one keyframe at the start position and one at the end. After Effects creates the animation between those two points.

You’ll see keyframes appear as small diamonds on the timeline.

The Transform Properties

Almost every layer in After Effects has five basic transform properties:

  1. Anchor Point (A): The point around which a layer rotates or scales.
  2. Position (P): Where the layer is located on the screen.
  3. Scale (S): How big or small the layer is.
  4. Rotation (R): The angle of the layer.
  5. Opacity (T): How transparent the layer is.

You can reveal all these by selecting a layer and pressing A, P, S, R, or T. You can reveal multiple by pressing one of the shortcut keys, followed by Shift + another shortcut key. Pressing U will show any property with a keyframe on it.

Setting Keyframes

To animate a property:

  1. Move the playhead to where the animation should start.
  2. Click the stopwatch icon next to the property to set the first keyframe.
  3. Move the playhead to where the animation should end.
  4. Change the value of the property. A second keyframe appears.

After Effects automatically animates between the two values. This is called interpolation.

To remove animation, click the stopwatch again. This deletes all keyframes on that property, leaving it at the value currently displayed.

Scrubbing and Previewing

Once you’ve added keyframes, scrub the playhead across the timeline to see the animation. You can also press the spacebar to preview.

If it’s moving too fast or too slow, you can drag the keyframes closer together or farther apart in the timeline.

Moving Keyframes

To adjust timing:

  • Click and drag a keyframe left or right to move it in time.

  • Select multiple keyframes by clicking and dragging a selection box, or by holding Shift and clicking each one.

You can also copy and paste keyframes across layers or properties.

Interpolation: Linear vs. Smooth Motion

By default, keyframes use linear interpolation. That means things move at a constant speed. Later, we’ll explore how to smooth this out using Easy Ease and the speed graph.

For now, focus on getting used to setting, moving, and deleting keyframes.

Using Keyframes with Other Properties

Keyframes don’t just work with transform tools. You can animate almost anything:

  • Text opacity

  • Effect strength (like blur or glow)

  • Mask shape

  • Audio volume

The process is always the same — click the stopwatch, move in time, change the value.

Wrap-Up

Keyframes are the foundation of all animation in After Effects. If you can set and adjust keyframes, you can animate anything. Start simple. Practice moving one thing across the screen, then scaling or rotating it.

In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to smooth out motion using Easy Ease and the speed graph, making your animations feel more natural.