After Effects MCP Server

Rearrange shape items in a group: delete, duplicate, move to a position, Group Shapes (wrap the items in a new group), Ungroup Shapes (dissolve groups) or Convert To Bezier Path (turn a rectangle, ellipse or polystar into a free path). Grouping, ungrouping and converting open the composition and run the Layer > Mask and Shape Path command on the items

Choose a layer tool in the Tools panel: Rotation, Pan Behind (Anchor Point) or Selection, for the user's next drag in the Composition panel. To rotate or move an anchor point from here, use set_transform

Turn Multi-Frame Rendering on or off with a CPU limit for the next render, start, pause, continue or end Watch Folder mode (File > Watch Folder: After Effects then renders projects saved into the folder and stops taking other work), and report whether this After Effects is a render-only engine

Show or hide the Render Queue panel (Window > Render Queue), pause, continue or stop a render in progress, turn the whole-queue completion notification on or off, and read progress: each item's status, start time and elapsed time

Bake a property's expression into a keyframe on every frame and switch the expression off, keeping its text (Animation > Keyframe Assistant > Convert Expression to Keyframes). Keyframes already in the span are replaced

Convert layers with a Layer menu command: Create Shapes from Text (new shape layers with the outlines), Create Masks from Text (a solid with a mask per character), or Convert to Editable Text (Photoshop text layers to After Effects text). Selects the layers and runs the command in their composition

Copy from one layer's property to properties on other layers: its keyframes (Edit > Copy and Paste, or Paste Reverse Keyframes with reverse), its expression only (Edit > Copy Expression Only), or a link: an expression on each target that follows the source, as Edit > Copy With Property Links then Paste, or dragging the expression pick whip, would write

Create a composition (Composition > New Composition) with a size, pixel aspect, duration, frame rate and background colour, optionally in a folder, and open it

Make compositions from footage or compositions in the Project panel (File > New Comp from Selection): one per item, or one holding them all, sized and timed from an item, optionally with the layers in sequence and added to the Render Queue

Add a folder to the Project panel, optionally inside another folder, and move items into it

Add a footage item without adding a layer: a colour-bar placeholder for footage that is not available yet (File > Import > Placeholder) or a solid (File > Import > Solid), optionally into a folder

Queue a composition to render as its own proxy (File > Create Proxy > Still or Movie): adds a Render Queue item whose post-render action is Set Proxy. Render it with render_queue

Convert Illustrator, PDF or SVG footage layers to shape layers (Layer > Create > Create Shapes from Vector Layer). Each new shape layer is placed above its source, which is turned off

Delete layers from a composition

Find the cuts in video footage layers (Layer > Scene Edit Detection) and add a marker at each, split the layer at each cut, or split and pre-compose each scene; none only returns the cut times

Duplicate a composition (Edit > Duplicate), optionally renaming the copy

Duplicate layers (Edit > Duplicate), or copy them into another composition

Add, move, remove or clear a composition's ruler guides (View > Add Guide, Edit Guide, Clear Guides). Positions are pixels from the left (vertical guides) or top (horizontal guides); guides are numbered from 1 in the order they were added

Change existing keyframes of a property (Animation > Keyframe Interpolation, Keyframe Velocity, Keyframe Assistant, the Graph Editor buttons and the keyframe context menu): interpolation presets such as Easy Ease, Easy Ease In/Out, Auto Bezier, Continuous Bezier, Linear and Toggle Hold Keyframe; incoming and outgoing interpolation and ease (speed and influence of the Bezier handles); Rove Across Time; motion path tangents; keyframe colour label; the value of every chosen keyframe (Edit Value); and Time-Reverse Keyframes. keys.times adds a keyframe where none exists, holding the value there, as…

Composition and layer markers (Layer > Add Marker, the Marker dialog): list, add (or set a numbered composition marker 0-9), edit comment, duration, chapter, web link, cue point, label and protected region, remove one or all, move the current time to a marker, or Update Markers From Source. Give layers for layer markers; omit them for composition markers

Read or replace the project's XMP metadata (shown in the Metadata panel and in Adobe Bridge). showPanel toggles Window > Metadata

Run your own ExtendScript in After Effects and return its last expression. It runs unrestricted: it can change or delete anything, read or write files, and run system commands (system.callSystem, which needs Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network). Prefer the specific tools

Export a composition as a Motion Graphics template (.mogrt) (File > Export > Export As Motion Graphics Template) to the Local Templates Folder or a folder on a local drive. The file is named after the template name

Browse the effects on the Effect menu by category (Blur & Sharpen, Distort, Generate, Expression Controls, ...) or by name, from the built-in effect catalog: display name, match name, category, the controls After Effects documents for each, and whether this After Effects has it installed (Effect menu; Effects & Presets panel)

Search the fonts After Effects can use (Character panel font menu, app.fonts) by name, or list only variable fonts or missing and substituted fonts. Returns PostScript names for set_text, families and styles, variable font axes, and the favourite and recent font lists

Find missing footage, effects or fonts (File > Dependencies > Find Missing Footage, Find Missing Effects, Find Missing Fonts). Footage and fonts are listed; reveal also runs the menu command, which shows them in the Project or Timeline panel. Missing effects can only be revealed

Search the project like the Project panel search field (File > Find): items whose name or comment contains text, and items that are missing, unused or used, optionally of one type

Describe the running After Effects and the computer: version, build, language, memory in use, render-engine and watch-folder modes, operating system, the project's GPU acceleration (File > Project Settings) and the types available, whether viewer updates are paused, and the values of preference keys you name

Read the project's colour settings (File > Project Settings > Color): bit depth, working colour space, working gamma, Linearize Working Color Space, Blend Colors Using 1.0 Gamma and Compensate for Scene-referred Profiles, and optionally the ICC colour profiles that can be the working space

Read the controls of effects on layers (Effect Controls panel): each control's name, match name, type (number, menu, point, point3d, color, layer, mask, topic, group or custom; checkboxes are numbers 0 or 1), current value, menu choices, range, units, keyframe count and expression

Describe footage items (Project panel, Interpret Footage): source kind (file, solid, placeholder), file and missing path, alpha, frame rates, fields and pulldown, pixel aspect, loop, proxy and the compositions that use each item

Describe the open project: file, unsaved changes, bit depth, working colour space, expression engine, item counts by type, the active item and the render queue

Read a layer property: its value, keyframes (time, value, interpolation) and expression. Properties are named by a shortcut or a path of match names or names; this includes the Data group of a data-driven layer

Read Render Queue items in full (Render Queue panel): status, start and elapsed render time, log level, notification, time span, every render setting and every output module's format, file, file name template, post-render action and settings, by the names set_render_settings and set_output_module accept

Read text layers' Source Text: text, font (with its PostScript name, family, style and variable axes), character and paragraph formatting, point or paragraph text and box size, and where each paragraph and composed line starts and ends

Read tracking results from layers: each tracker's track points (Feature Center, Feature Size, Search Offset, Search Size, Confidence, Attach Point, Attach Point Offset), or the Face Measurements and Face Track Points that detailed face tracking records, at a time and optionally every keyframe

Describe the focused viewer (Composition, Layer or Footage panel) and its views: zoom, channel, exposure, Fast Previews, transparency grid, rulers and guides; the active composition's resolution and current time; the active tool; and whether viewer updates are paused

Move the current time to the previous, next, first or last keyframe (the keyframe navigator arrows, J and K): of one property, or of every animated property of the layers (the selected layers by default)

Move a composition's current-time indicator: to a time in seconds (View > Go to Time), forward or back a number of frames (Page Down/Page Up), to the start or end, to the start or end of the work area, or to a layer's In or Out point

List the tools by area, or describe one tool's parameters

Import files into the project (File > Import): footage, image sequences, layered Photoshop or Illustrator files as footage or compositions, another After Effects or Premiere Pro project, data files (JSON, mgJSON, CSV, TSV), or a .jsx expression library that expressions call through footage("name.jsx"), optionally into a folder

Change how footage is interpreted (File > Interpret Footage > Main or Proxy): alpha (ignore, straight, premultiplied with a matte colour, or guess), invert alpha, frame rate, field order, Preserve Edges, pulldown removal or guessing, pixel aspect ratio and loop count. copyFrom applies another item's interpretation first (Remember Interpretation, then Apply Interpretation)

List the effects installed in After Effects with their display name, match name and category, filtered by a search string. Match names are what apply_effect takes most reliably

List project items (compositions, footage, folders) with their id, type, folder and size. Ids are what other tools take

List the effects on layers, in order, with each effect's properties and values

List a composition's layers, top to bottom, with index, id, type, switches, timing, parent, blending mode and track matte. Indexes are what other tools take

List the masks on layers (Timeline panel, Masks group): index, name, mode, inversion, lock, colour, RotoBezier, motion blur, feather falloff, feather, opacity, expansion, selection and vertex count; optionally each path's vertices, tangents and feather points

List the paint strokes on layers (Paint effects made with the Brush, Clone Stamp and Eraser tools) and the Roto Brush & Refine Edge effects, with every setting's name and value, so set_paint_strokes and set_roto_brush can address them

List the render settings and output module templates (Edit > Templates) available for queueing

List a shape layer's Contents (Timeline panel): groups, paths, fills, strokes and path operations as a tree with their type and match name, optionally with every property value

List text layers' animators (Text > Animator groups) with their properties and values and their selectors

Rename, move to a folder, set the label colour of, or delete project items

Delete masks (or all of them: Layer > Masks > Remove All Masks), duplicate them (Edit > Duplicate), select them or move the selection to the next or previous mask, toggle Layer > Mask > Hide Locked Masks, or limit an effect to masks (the effect's Compositing Options > Mask Reference)

Build a Motion Graphics template from a composition (Essential Graphics panel): add layer properties as controls, name the template, open the composition in the Essential Graphics panel, or export it as a .mogrt file. Returns the template's controls

Puppet tools: add an empty Puppet effect to layers, choose a Puppet pin tool in the Tools panel (Position, Starch, Overlap, Advanced or Bend Pin) so pins can be placed in the Composition panel, duplicate a Puppet mesh, or list the meshes and pins with their paths for set_keyframes

Read the Render Queue, or remove, duplicate (Edit > Duplicate in the Render Queue panel), or turn items on and off for rendering

Read, save or check a saved script setting (app.settings): text values kept in the After Effects preferences between sessions, under a section and key of your choosing. Values are stored as text, at most 1999 bytes

Work with Team Projects (File > Team Project): check sign-in and status, list team projects, create or open one, share your changes with a comment, get the latest changes, resolve conflicts, convert the open team project to a local .aep, or close it. Needs a Creative Cloud sign-in with Team Projects available

Move layers in time without changing their length: put the In or Out point at a time ([ and ]: the current time; or the composition start or end), alone or as a set keeping offsets; nudge by frames (Alt+Page Up/Down) or seconds; stagger them in order (Quick Offset); or slip-edit the source under fixed In and Out points

Open a composition in the Composition panel and make it the active one

Open a footage item in the Footage panel, reveal its file in Finder or Explorer (Reveal in Finder / Reveal in Explorer) or in Adobe Bridge (File > Reveal in Bridge), or open it in the application that made it (Edit > Edit Original). With target bridge and no item, opens Adobe Bridge (File > Browse in Bridge)

Open a layer (Layer > Open Layer) in the Layer panel, open its source (Layer > Open Layer Source: footage in the Footage panel, a pre-composition in the Composition panel), or select its source item in the Project panel (Reveal Layer Source In Project)

Open an .aep project, an .aet template (which opens as an untitled copy) or a .mogrt Motion Graphics template as a project, or start a new empty one. Unsaved changes in the current project are discarded, so save first

Duplicate effects on their layers (Edit > Duplicate), move an effect up or down the layer's effect stack (drag in the Effect Controls panel), or copy effects with their keyframes and expressions to other layers in the composition (Edit > Copy, Edit > Paste; uses the clipboard and opens the composition in the Composition panel)

Parent layers to another layer (or remove the parent), keeping their current position on screen, or with jump (Alt/Option while parenting): the child takes the parent's transform and jumps to it

Paste SVG artwork from the clipboard (for example copied from Illustrator) into a composition as shape layers (Edit > Paste). Opens the composition first

Pre-compose layers into a new composition (Layer > Pre-compose), moving all attributes or leaving them in the original

Free memory or disk cache (Edit > Purge): all memory and disk cache, all memory, undo history, image cache memory, snapshots, all disk cache, all 3D cache, or all cache. Purging undo means earlier steps can no longer be undone

Add a composition to the Render Queue (Composition > Add to Render Queue) with a render settings template, an output module template and an output file, optionally a time span, a single frame (Composition > Save Frame As > File) or as a pre-render that imports the result and replaces the composition's uses (Composition > Pre-render)

Quit After Effects (After Effects > Quit, or File > Exit on Windows). Unsaved changes are refused unless you choose to save or discard them. After Effects quits a moment after the call returns

Fit, centre or flip layers (Layer > Transform): Fit to Comp, Fit to Comp Width, Fit to Comp Height, Center In View, Center Anchor Point in Layer Content, Flip Horizontal, Flip Vertical. The fit and centre commands select the layers and make their composition active

Re-read footage items from disk so changes made in other applications appear (File > Reload Footage)

Play layers faster or slower with time remapping (Layer > Time > Enable Time Remapping), which also raises or lowers the pitch of their audio. Replaces any Time Remap keyframes with a constant speed and moves the Out point to the new end

Time remapping (Layer > Time): enable or disable it, Freeze Frame at a time, Freeze On Last Frame (extend the layer to the composition end holding its last frame), hold one frame between two times and then resume, or set Time Remap keyframes saying which source time shows at each composition time (as the Layer panel's remap marker does)

Remove effects from layers by name or index, or all of them, or turn them off and on

Remove keyframes from a property: all of them, or those between two times

Remove text animators from text layers: chosen ones by index or name, or all of them (Animation > Remove All Text Animators)

Render every queued item in After Effects (blocks until done; raise AFTEREFFECTS_SCRIPT_TIMEOUT_MS for long renders), or send the queue to Adobe Media Encoder

Replace a footage item's source everywhere it is used, keeping layer changes (File > Replace Footage): with another file or image sequence, a colour-bar placeholder, a solid, or a composition built from a layered Photoshop or Illustrator file (With Layered Comp)

Replace layers' source with another footage item or composition (Alt/Option-drag in the Project panel), keeping their properties, effects and keyframes

List the fonts the project uses, marking ones that are missing and substituted (as in the Resolve Fonts dialog), or replace fonts across every text layer

Run an ExtendScript file in After Effects (File > Scripts > Run Script File) as one undo step with dialogs suppressed, or schedule it to run after a delay (optionally repeating) and cancel a scheduled run, or run a script listed in the File > Scripts menu by its file name. Scripts run unrestricted

Run an Animation or Timeline command that acts on the selection: Enable Auto-keyframe (toggle), Select Equal / Previous / Following Keyframes, Select Keyframe Label Group (and its On Selected Layers, On All Layers and Visible Keyframes variants), Keyframe Assistant > Exponential Scale, RPF Camera Import and Create Keyframes from Data, Reveal in Timeline, Reveal Properties with Animation, Reveal All Modified Properties and Reveal Expression Errors. Select keyframes first with select_keyframes; layers (and property) given here are selected before the command runs

Run an audio command on layers: Convert Audio to Keyframes (Animation > Keyframe Assistant), which adds an Audio Amplitude layer with Slider keyframes, or Edit in Adobe Audition (Edit menu), which opens the layer's audio file in Audition when it is installed

Run a Layer > Camera or Layer > Light command on a layer: link the focus distance to the Point of Interest or to another layer, set the focus distance to another layer once, create an orbit null, create a stereo 3D rig (whose Stereo 3D Controls set_property can change), or create cameras or lights from a 3D model layer. Selects the layers the command needs first

Composition and work-area commands: Trim Comp to Work Area, Crop Comp to Region of Interest (needs a region drawn in the Composition panel), Set Poster Time, Lift Work Area and Extract Work Area (on the given layers, or all), set the work area to the layers' span, Composition Flowchart, and Reveal Composition in Project. The menu commands make the composition active

Run an Edit menu command: Undo or Redo (several steps back or forward through Edit > History), Cut, Copy, Paste, Select All, Deselect All, or Select Label Group. They act on the focused panel and its selection; give comp to focus that composition first. Copied layers can be pasted into Premiere Pro

Run an After Effects menu command by its English menu name (found with app.findMenuCommandId) or its numeric id, such as an extension panel under Window > Extensions or a custom workspace. Commands act on the current selection; one that opens a dialog waits for the user, so prefer the specific tools

Project file commands: close the project (File > Close Project), revert to the last saved version (File > Revert), open the most recent project (File > Open Recent), or save a numbered copy and continue in it (File > Increment and Save). Close, revert and open_most_recent can lose unsaved work

Run a View menu or viewer command on a viewer: Zoom In, Zoom Out, Show Grid, Snap to Grid, Show Layer Controls (these toggle), the view layout (1, 2 or 4 views), Share View Options, New Viewer, or close the viewer (File > Close). Give comp to use its Composition panel; otherwise the focused viewer

Save one frame of a composition as a PNG file (Composition > Save Frame As)

Save the project in place, or as a new .aep file (the project then refers to it)

Save a copy of the project while it keeps its own file (File > Save As > Save a Copy), or a copy in the text-based XML format (Save a Copy As XML, .aepx). The project must have been saved; saveFirst saves it in place first

Choose the active tool in the Tools panel (shape and mask tools: Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, Star; Pen, Add Vertex, Delete Vertex, Convert Vertex, Mask Feather; Brush, Clone Stamp, Eraser; Roto Brush, Refine Edge; or Selection), and/or open the Paint, Brushes or Content-Aware Fill panel (Window menu, which toggles a panel that is already open). Drawing with the tool is then done by hand in the Composition or Layer panel

Select or deselect keyframes of a property in the Timeline panel, or deselect every keyframe, property and property group (Edit > Deselect All in the Timeline). Selected keyframes are what run_animation_command's keyframe commands act on

Change which layers are selected in the Timeline: select given layers (by number, as typing it on the keypad), add or remove them, invert the selection, select children of parents, move the selection to the next or previous layer or extend it, select all or none

Select items in the Project panel: replace the selection, add to it (extend the selection), remove from it, or clear it; optionally show the Project panel. Menu commands act on this selection

Separate a Position property into X, Y (and Z) Position so each can be keyframed alone, or join them again (Animation > Separate Dimensions)

Arrange layers one after another in time, in the order given, optionally overlapping with an opacity dissolve (Animation > Keyframe Assistant > Sequence Layers)

Change the 3D view of a composition's Composition panel (View menu): switch to the active camera, front, left, top, back, right, bottom or a custom view (View > Switch 3D View) or the last view, reset the view, look at the selected or all layers, or create a camera from the current view. Opens the composition in the viewer first

Change application and project performance settings: memory limits (Preferences > Memory & Performance), the project's Mercury GPU acceleration (File > Project Settings), whether preferences are saved on quit, and the preferences the scripting guide documents (expand flowchart compositions, JavaScript debugger)

Set layers' Audio Levels (the Audio group, L in the Timeline) in decibels: a static value, or keyframes at times (Animation > Add Audio Levels Keyframe)

Edit a mask path or a shape layer's Path property: replace its vertices and tangents, make another vertex the first (Layer > Mask and Shape Path > Set First Vertex), reverse its direction, move, scale and rotate all its points about an anchor (as Free Transform Points does), or set variable-width feather points on a mask (Mask Feather tool: extent, tension, Hold, inner or outer). Points are in the layer's own pixels; tangents are relative to their vertex; vertex and segment numbers start at 0

Set camera layer options (Layer > Camera Settings, and Camera Options in the Timeline): zoom, F-Stop, depth of field, focus distance, aperture, blur level, iris shape, rotation, roundness, aspect ratio and diffraction fringe, highlight gain, threshold and saturation, and Point of Interest. Values are keyframed when the property is animated or a time is given

Choose a camera navigation tool in the Tools panel: the Unified Camera tool, Orbit (around the cursor, the scene or the camera's Point of Interest), Pan (Track XY) or Dolly (Track Z). Navigating with the tool in a viewer is done by hand

Change the project's colour settings (File > Project Settings > Color): bit depth (8, 16 or 32 bpc, where 32 is high dynamic range float), working colour space (a profile from get_color_management, or "" for None), working gamma, Linearize Working Color Space, Blend Colors Using 1.0 Gamma and Compensate for Scene-referred Profiles

Choose a composition's 3D renderer (Composition Settings > 3D Renderer: Classic 3D, Advanced 3D or Cinema 4D) and turn Draft 3D on or off (Composition panel). With no settings it reports the renderer, the installed renderers, Draft 3D and the active camera

Change a composition's settings (Composition > Composition Settings): name, size, pixel aspect, duration, frame rate, resolution, start timecode or frame, drop-frame timecode, background, motion blur (shutter angle and phase, samples), nesting options and work area; and its Timeline switches Enable Frame Blending and Hide Shy Layers

Choose the active tool in the Tools panel (selection, hand, zoom, rotation, camera orbit, pan and dolly modes, shapes, pen, type, paint, Roto Brush, puppet pins), or cycle to the next tool in a group as clicking a tool button repeatedly does. Camera tools need a camera layer

Display colour in the Composition panel (View menu): turn Use Display Color Management on or off (the command toggles it; scripts cannot read its state), choose a Simulate Output preset (display colour management must be on), or open the Lumetri Scopes panel. Applies to the composition opened in the viewer

Apply an effect from the Effect menu to layers by display name or match name and set any of its controls by name in the same call, or set the controls of an effect already on the layers (Effect Controls panel). Values: numbers, true/false for checkboxes, [x, y] pixels for points, "#RRGGBB" for colours, a menu choice's text or number, a layer's name or index for layer controls, a mask's name for mask controls, an object for the controls inside a group, and a list of strings to replace a Dropdown Menu Control's items. With time, each value is a keyframe

Open a composition in the Essential Graphics panel as its primary composition (Composition > Open in Essential Graphics), set the template name, rename controls, and list the controls

Write an expression on a property, as typed in the expression editor (or clear it with an empty string), and report any expression error After Effects finds. The expression can use the whole expression language: global objects (thisComp, thisLayer, time, value), time conversion, vector math, random numbers, interpolation (linear, ease), colour conversion and other math; comp, footage, layer (sub-objects, general, properties, 3D, space transforms), camera, light, effect, mask, property, project, key, marker and path attributes and methods; dropdown menu attributes; text style objects for per-ch…

Choose the engine that evaluates the project's expressions (File > Project Settings > Expressions): javascript (the default, faster, modern syntax) or extendscript (Legacy ExtendScript, for old expressions)

Set the favourite font families shown in the Character panel font menu, or have After Effects rescan font folders outside the system ones (such as the Adobe local Fonts folder) for added or removed fonts

Frame blending (Layer > Frame Blending): set layers to Off, Frame Mix or Pixel Motion (the layer's Frame Blending switch), and turn the composition's Enable Frame Blending switch on or off, without which layer frame blending is not previewed

Set a 3D layer's Geometry Options: extrude and bevel text and shape layers (bevel style, bevel depth, hole bevel depth, extrusion depth) or bend footage and precomposition layers (curvature, segments). Extrusion needs the Advanced 3D or Cinema 4D renderer (set_comp_3d_settings). Values are keyframed when the property is animated or a time is given

Set the Comment column text of project items; an empty comment clears it

Add keyframes to a property at several times, with their values, and optionally the interpolation (linear, bezier, hold) and easing (Easy Ease influence and speed) for each

Set layer switches and timing: name, comment, enabled (video), audio, solo, shy, lock, 3D, motion blur, adjustment layer, effects (Effect switch), Collapse Transformations / Continuously Rasterize, Preserve Underlying Transparency, quality and sampling (Bilinear, Bicubic), blending mode (or step to the next or previous one), Auto-Orient, label, in and out points, start time, stretch

Add Photoshop-style layer styles (Layer > Layer Styles: Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Outer Glow, Inner Glow, Bevel and Emboss, Satin, Color Overlay, Gradient Overlay, Stroke), Remove All, Convert to Editable Styles, and set Blending Options (Global Light, Fill Opacity, channels, Blend Interior Styles as Group, Use Blend Ranges from Source). The style commands select the layers and make their composition active; set each style's own values with set_property

Set light layer options (Layer > Light Settings, and Light Options in the Timeline): light type, intensity, colour, cone angle and feather, falloff type, radius and falloff distance, casts shadows, shadow darkness and diffusion, Point of Interest, and an environment light's source layer. Values are keyframed when the property is animated or a time is given

Change masks on layers (Layer > Mask): mode, inversion, lock (or lock every other mask: Lock Other Masks; unlock them all: Unlock All Masks), outline colour, RotoBezier, Motion Blur (same as layer, on, off), Feather Falloff (smooth, linear), feather, opacity, expansion, name and selection

Set a 3D layer's Material Options: casts shadows (off, on, only), light transmission, accepts shadows (off, on, only: a shadow catcher), accepts lights, ambient, diffuse, specular intensity and shininess, metal, appears in reflections, reflection intensity, sharpness and rolloff, transparency and its rolloff, and index of refraction. Also turns a layer into an environment layer (Layer > Environment Layer). Values are keyframed when the property is animated or a time is given

Change, add or remove a Render Queue item's output module (Output Module Settings dialog, Composition > Add Output Module): template or output format (QuickTime, AVI, H.264, image sequences such as PNG, TIFF, JPEG, OpenEXR, DPX, Targa, Photoshop, SGI, IFF, Radiance, or audio as AIFF, MP3, WAV), output file and file name template, channels, depth, colour, starting frame number, resize, crop, audio output, project link, source XMP metadata and post-render action, and optionally save it as a template. Codecs such as GoPro CineForm are chosen through a template made in Edit > Templates > Output Mo…

Change or keyframe existing paint strokes (Paint effect, Timeline panel): Start and End (write-on), colour, diameter, hardness, opacity, flow and the other brush settings, a clone stroke's Clone Position, Clone Time and Clone Time Shift, the stroke's Transform, and the effect's Paint on Transparent. Strokes themselves are drawn by hand with the Brush, Clone Stamp or Eraser tool

Read or change project settings (File > Project Settings): time display style (timecode or frames), footage start time, feet + frames and film type, frame count start, colour depth, expression engine, and the transparency grid in Project panel thumbnails. With no changes it returns the current settings

Set a property's value, as in the Timeline or Properties panel (layer Transform, shape, camera and light options, effect properties): with no time and no keyframes the static value, otherwise a keyframe at the time (or the current time). Text layers' Source Text takes a string

Give footage items or compositions a proxy (File > Set Proxy): a file or image sequence, a solid or a placeholder, or remove it (None). useProxy switches between the proxy and the original (the proxy indicator in the Project panel)

Change Render Queue items' render settings (Render Settings dialog): apply a template (Best Settings, Draft Settings, DV Settings, Multi-Machine Settings or your own), set quality, resolution, disk cache, proxies, effects, solo switches, guide layers, colour depth, frame blending, field rendering, 3:2 pulldown, motion blur, time span, frame rate and Skip Existing Files, the log level and the completion notification, and optionally save the result as a template

Set the Roto Brush & Refine Edge effect's settings on layers (Effect Controls panel): propagation (Search Radius, View Search Radius, Motion Threshold, Motion Damping, Edge Detection, Enable Classic Controls, Use Alternate Color Estimation), matte (Feather, Contrast, Shift Edge, Reduce Chatter, Smooth) for the Roto Brush or Refine Edge matte, and refinement (Fine-tune Refine Edge Matte, Extend Where Smoothed, Increase Radius, View Map). Settings are found by their English names. Segmentation strokes and propagation are done by hand with the Roto Brush and Refine Edge tools

Change settings of existing shape items: group Transform and Blend Mode; rectangle, ellipse, polystar and path geometry and Reverse Path Direction; fill and stroke colour, opacity, Stroke Width, Line Cap, Line Join, Dashes, Taper, Wave, Fill Rule and Composite; gradient type, Start and End Point and Highlight; and the path operations' settings (Merge Paths Mode, Repeater copies, offset and composite, Trim Multiple Shapes, Offset Paths copies, Zig Zag points, Wiggle Paths correlation, ...). Each option must apply to every item named

Change a solid layer's solid (Layer > Solid Settings): name, colour and size, either for every layer that uses the solid (Affect All Layers That Use This Solid) or for these layers only, through a new solid

Set a text layer's Source Text and formatting (Character and Paragraph panels) for the whole layer or a range of characters or paragraphs: font (by PostScript name, or family and style), size, fill and stroke, tracking, kerning, leading, scale, baseline shift and super/subscript, caps, ligatures, tsume, digits, indents, spacing, justification, composer, direction and orientation, step changes, and Reset Character/Paragraph. Applies at the current time if Source Text is animated

Add a text animator (Animation > Animate Text) with its properties (position, scale, rotation, opacity, fill colour, tracking, blur, character value, variable font axes, All Transform Properties...) and selectors (Animation > Add Text Selector: Range, Wiggly, Expression) with their settings; or add properties and selectors to an existing animator, or change an existing selector. A new animator without selectors gets a Range selector, as in the Animate menu

Set a text layer's Path Options (text on a mask path: Reverse Path, Perpendicular To Path, Force Alignment, First and Last Margin), More Options (Anchor Point Grouping, Grouping Alignment, Fill & Stroke, Inter-Character Blending, Variable Font Spacing), Enable Per-character 3D (Animation menu) and Orient Each Character Independently (Layer > Transform > Auto-Orient)

Use another layer as a layer's track matte (alpha, alpha inverted, luma, luma inverted), or remove the matte

Edit a track point on a layer's tracker (created by start_tracking track_motion): Feature Center, Feature Size, Search Offset, Search Size, Attach Point and Attach Point Offset, in pixels. With a time, or when the property is already keyframed, it sets a keyframe; otherwise the static value

Set layer transform values without keyframes: anchor point, position, scale (percent), rotation (degrees), opacity (percent), and 3D orientation and rotations. Animated properties are set at the current time

Change a viewer's view options: magnification (zoom percent, 100 for actual size), the Show Channel menu (RGB, red, green, blue, alpha, colorized, straight RGB; alpha boundary and overlay in the Layer panel), exposure, the transparency grid, Fast Previews (Off, Adaptive Resolution, Draft, Fast Draft, Wireframe), rulers, guides (show, snap, lock), which view is active, and maximizing the panel. Also the composition's resolution (Full, Half, Third, Quarter, Custom) and pausing viewer updates (Caps Lock)

Open or close a panel from the Window menu: Tools, Info, Audio or Preview. Choosing an open panel's command closes it

Show the Character or Paragraph panel (Window > Character, Window > Paragraph), or toggle both text panels

Split layers at a time (Edit > Split Layer): each becomes two layers, the original ending at the time and a duplicate above it starting there, both keeping all keyframes

Set up tracking from the Animation menu on one layer: Track Motion (adds a point tracker and opens the layer in the Layer panel), Track Mask (the mask tracker for the chosen masks), Track this Property (a track that drives the chosen property), Paste Mocha mask (Edit menu), Track in Boris FX Mocha; or open the Tracker panel or the Motion Tracking workspace (Window menu). The analysis itself runs from the Tracker panel; read and edit the resulting track points with get_tracking_data and set_track_point

Time-stretch layers (Layer > Time > Time Stretch, the Stretch column): to a percentage or a new length, holding the In point, the current time or the Out point in place; or stretch so the In or Out point lands on a time (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+, and +.). Optionally keep keyframes at their original times, or conform the source footage's frame rate instead

Apply a switch to every layer in a composition (Layer > Switches): Unlock All Layers, Show All Video, or Hide Other Video (turn video off for every layer except the given ones)

Switch to a built-in workspace (Window > Workspace), or reset the current workspace to its saved layout. Custom workspaces can be chosen by name with run_menu_command

Remove unused footage, consolidate duplicate footage, or reduce the project to the chosen compositions and what they use (File > Dependencies)

Trim or extend layers' In or Out point to a time (Alt+[ and Alt+]: trim to the current time), or trim a set of layers together so the earliest In point or latest Out point lands there, keeping their offsets. Trimming never changes the source