Animation presets
A preset applies a named animation to the selected layer. Everything it creates is ordinary keyframes — retime them, re-ease them, delete half of them.
Apply from the top-bar Animate menu, or drag a preset onto a layer on the canvas.
There are three separate catalogues.
Composition-relative units
Presets resolve in composition-relative units, not absolute pixels. One authored against 1080p behaves correctly at 4K, at square and at vertical — a slide travels the same proportion of the frame rather than the same number of pixels.
Animation presets (15)
Applied to any layer.
| Preset | Kind |
|---|---|
| Fade In | Entrance |
| Pop In | Entrance |
| Slide In | Entrance |
| Rise Up | Entrance — the safe default |
| Fade Out | Exit |
| Zoom Out Exit | Exit |
| Spin | Loop |
| Pulse | Loop |
| Shake | Loop |
| Elastic Float | Loop |
| Flip In 3D | 3D |
| Swing In 3D | 3D |
| Depth Push In | 3D |
| 3D Twirl In | 3D |
| Cinematic Pan 3D | 3D — camera move |
The 3D presets need the layer to be 3D. Turn on the 3D switch in Transform first, and add a camera if the preset moves through space. See 3D layers.
Text presets (18)
These build real text animators with range selectors — open one up and you can retune the selector, not just the timing. They only apply to text layers.
In: Typewriter · Cascade · Decode · Focus Pull · Word Rise · Scatter In · Spring In
Out: Type Out · Dissolve Out · Fall Away · Converge Out
Emphasis and loops: Wave · Colour Sweep · Spotlight · Flicker · Jitter · Sway · Inch Worm
Behaviours (6)
Behaviours are ongoing, not one-shot — they describe how a layer keeps moving rather than how it arrives.
| Behaviour | What it does |
|---|---|
| Fade In+Out | Fades up and back down across the layer’s span |
| Auto-Scroll | Continuous travel |
| Drift | Slow ambient wander |
| Pendulum | Swings back and forth |
| Orbit | Circles a centre |
| Audio Throb | Driven by a referenced audio layer’s amplitude |
Audio Throb is the one worth knowing: it links motion to sound without any keyframing. See Audio.
Saving your own
- Build the animation on a layer.
- Open the Presets inspector panel.
- Save it with a name.
It then appears in the Animate menu alongside the built-ins, and can be deleted from the Presets panel.
Saving happens in the Presets panel; applying happens in the Animate menu. One home per action — the same rule that keeps New Composition on the dashboard.
After applying one
Press U. The timeline shows exactly what the preset wrote — usually two or three keyframes on two or three properties. From there:
- Drag the diamonds to change the timing.
- Select the last keyframe and press F9 for a different settle.
- Use Stagger Animations to offset several layers that all got the same preset.