What is Easy Ease in After Effects?

Easy Ease (F9) sets a keyframe's influence so the value slows down as it arrives and speeds up as it leaves, instead of moving at a constant rate. Easy Ease In and Easy Ease Out apply it to one side only.

What is the difference between ease in and ease out?

Ease in slows the value as it arrives at a keyframe; ease out slows it as it leaves one. In After Effects terms, ease in is applied to the keyframe being approached.

How do I make animation look smoother?

Ease your keyframes, then open the graph editor and soften the speed curve so there are no sudden spikes. Matching the ease across related moves helps more than adding keyframes.

Glossary

Easing

Name: Premation
Author: Premation

The rate at which a value travels between two keyframes. Linear is constant speed; an ease slows into or out of a keyframe, which is what makes motion read as physical.

Also called Easy Ease, Ease in, Ease out, Keyframe interpolation, Animation easing.

In After Effects

Select keyframes and press F9 for Easy Ease, Shift+F9 for Easy Ease In and Ctrl+Shift+F9 (Cmd+Shift+F9) for Easy Ease Out. The curves are shaped in the Graph Editor (Shift+F3), in value or speed graph mode.

In Premation

F9 applies Easy Ease; the Graph Editor gives every keyframe pair Bézier handles for value and speed, and the Presets panel has a named curve library.

Step by step

Select one or more keyframes in the timeline.
Press F9 for Easy Ease, Shift + F9 for Easy Ease In, or Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + F9 for Easy Ease Out. Linear and Hold are under Animation ▸ Keyframe Interpolation.
Press Shift + F3 to open the graph editor. Drag the handles in value mode to reshape the ease, and switch to speed mode to see where the move accelerates.
Pick a named easing preset from the graph editor's toolbar, or type the four control numbers of a cubic Bézier.
To reuse a curve, select a keyframe whose ease you like, press Copy in the graph editor toolbar, select other keyframes and press Paste.

Tips

Entrances usually want an ease into the final keyframe so the object settles; exits want an ease out of the first so it gathers speed as it leaves.
Use the same ease across a group of moves and stagger the timing instead of the curve shape. It makes a scene feel like one piece of work.
If a move feels wrong, look at the speed graph before adding keyframes. It is usually a velocity problem, not a missing key.
Linear is right for constant motion such as a slow drift or a spinning loop; it looks mechanical almost everywhere else.

Read the docs: Easing

Questions

What is Easy Ease in After Effects?: Easy Ease (F9) sets a keyframe's influence so the value slows down as it arrives and speeds up as it leaves, instead of moving at a constant rate. Easy Ease In and Easy Ease Out apply it to one side only.
What is the difference between ease in and ease out?: Ease in slows the value as it arrives at a keyframe; ease out slows it as it leaves one. In After Effects terms, ease in is applied to the keyframe being approached.
How do I make animation look smoother?: Ease your keyframes, then open the graph editor and soften the speed curve so there are no sudden spikes. Matching the ease across related moves helps more than adding keyframes.

Related terms

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