ABSTRACT
One of the reasons many users love After Effects is because it continually adds switches, shortcuts, and modules to make their lives easier when they are creating an animation. This chapter covers some of the favorite animation helpers, starting with simple ways to manipulate keyframes then working the way to Auto-Orient Rotation along with more complex Keyframe Assistants including Motion Sketch, Smoother, Wiggler, and Exponential Scale. Alternatives to copying and pasting keyframes include parenting and expressions. After Effects allows to copy and paste keyframes between related properties. Keyframes do not reference the time from which they were copied; they just remember the spacing between themselves. Keyframes also remember their velocity and interpolation settings. Position motion paths can also be pasted to a mask path, resized using Free Transform Points, and pasted back to Position. Motion Sketch can also be used to create nervous text with an organic feel.
