The viewport

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Tab strip: [Composition] [Layer]        Free / Fixed │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Stage (pasteboard)                                  │
│      ┌──────────────────────────┐                    │
│      │  Composition canvas      │  ← framed          │
│      └──────────────────────────┘                    │
│              [AI prompt bar]                         │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Transport bar: trims · timecode · ◀ ▶ PLAY · loop ·  │
│   scene tools · display controls · zoom              │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The composition canvas is framed inside a larger stage, so you can always see where the composition ends and the pasteboard begins. The pasteboard colour is set in Composition Settings → Environment.

The picture on the stage is drawn by the engine, not by the interface: the viewport shows the frames premation-engine sends it. See How a frame is rendered.

The tab strip

Above the stage. It holds the open composition and, when one is open, the Layer panel — one layer shown on its own, which is where paint and Roto Brush work happens.

• Double-click a footage or solid layer to open it in the Layer panel.
• Double-click a composition layer to open the composition it shows. Alt + double-click does the other one.

The Free / Fixed lock is at the end of this strip. Fixed locks the view so the composition never drifts as you work.

The transport bar

One row under the stage, with play in the middle. Everything on it drives the viewport.

When the row runs out of room, groups fold into its ⋯ menu from the right. Play does not move.

The J-K-L shuttle and the in / out marks are keyboard chords and rows in Composition ▸ Transport, not buttons — see Keyboard shortcuts.

To add a camera or a light, use Layer → New or the toolbar’s New Layer menu; both open real creation dialogs.

Caching a preview

View ▸ Cache ▸ Cache Work Area Now renders the work area (or the whole composition, when no work area is set) into the playback cache and leaves the playhead where it was. The cache bar over the timeline fills as it goes, and Space stops it. Cached frames then play back at full rate. Purge RAM Preview and Purge Disk Cache are in the same menu.

Direct manipulation

• Click to select, Shift-click to add to the selection, drag on empty space to marquee.
• Drag to move. Corner and edge handles scale. With more than one layer selected, the multi-select gizmo gives you group bounds with corner scale handles.
• Arrow keys nudge; Shift + arrow nudges further.
• Hold Space for a temporary Hand tool.
• Delete / Backspace deletes; Esc deselects.
• Double-click a text layer to edit it in place.
• Double-click a UI-kit component to drill into it.
• Snapping with guides, toggleable, plus snap guides computed against sibling layers.

Drag and drop

The viewport accepts drops from every library and from the operating system: shapes, text, media files, cursor items, UI-kit components, motion-graphics items, transitions, sound effects, Lottie items, saved components, effects and animation presets.

Overlays

Drawn above the canvas, each doing one job:

Multi-view layouts

1 View / 2 Views / 4 Views.

In 2-up the interactive stage shrinks to the left half; in 4-up to the top-left quadrant. The other cells are view-only renders of the same composition seen through a different view — Active Camera, any orthographic view, or a custom view — all drawn by the same engine.

This is how you check a 3D layout: model in the perspective view, verify depth in an orthographic one.

Pop-out viewports

A viewport can be popped out into its own window — Pop Out into Window in the panel’s header menu — which is what a second monitor is for. Each pop-out is its own live viewport: the engine renders a separate stream of frames for it, with its own size and zoom, rather than mirroring a copy of the main window.

3D view switching

See 3D navigation.

The AI prompt bar

A floating bar at the bottom centre of the stage for quick one-line requests, without opening the full assistant panel. See The AI assistant.