Every key, explained.

Pre-compose

Pre-composes the selected layers keeping the exact in and out points — no lost last frame, no shifted timing.

• All in one: one precomp for the whole selection
• Each separately: one precomp per selected layer, all selected afterwards

Tip: Combine with Adjustment Layer "One per selected layer" for a per-clip effect stack.

Position

Opens a 3×3 grid. Click where the layer should sit in the comp — corners with 5% edge spacing, centre exactly centred. Sets a Position keyframe at the playhead.

Tip: Works with parented layers too; the panel converts into the parent's space.

Anchor Point

Same 3×3 grid, but moves the anchor point to that spot on the layer while the layer stays visually in place — for rotating or scaling around a corner.

Tip: Needs static 2D transforms (no keyframes on Anchor/Position).

Solid

Creates a solid layer.

• Coverage: full frame, top / bottom / left / right half
• Color

Null Object

Creates a null object the length of the comp.

Adjustment Layer

Creates an adjustment layer.

• One layer over the selection: trimmed to the selected layers' span
• One per selected layer: an adjustment layer above each selected clip, trimmed to it
• Full timeline

Text

Creates a text layer.

Captions

Transcribes the selected audio and writes the subtitles as text layers, each one timed to the words.

• On your computer: the speech engine downloads once (about 600 MB) and runs locally — nothing is uploaded, nothing is charged
• Split: one word at a time, two, three, four, or a whole line
• Style: any font installed in After Effects, size, letter spacing, colour, capitals, and a shadow, outline or box behind the text
• Animation: fade, pop, slide or bounce, with the keyframes already eased

Reckon on about half the clip length.

Download

Paste a link from TikTok, YouTube or Instagram and get the file straight into your project.

• Video · MP4: the best version up to 1080p, at its original frame rate, exactly as the site has it: nothing is re-encoded
• Audio · MP3: just the sound
• Add to comp puts it on the timeline at the playhead; Project only leaves it in the Project panel
• Files go to a VSVX Downloads folder next to your project (the Desktop if it isn't saved yet)
• Update engine: when a site changes and downloads stop working, one click gets the newest downloader

If a site suddenly asks for a login, the panel updates the downloader and tries again by itself. Only download what you have the right to use.

Beat Marker

Reads the audio file (MP3, WAV, or the video itself) and puts numbered markers on the hits — the sounds you would cut on, placed a hair before the peak, the way you would mark them by ear.

• Markers: Auto for the hits that stand out, Fewer for the big ones only, More for every little hit
• BPM: leave empty for the hits; type a tempo to get an even grid on the beat instead
• Start: at the playhead, or the work-area start
• Sync to beats: lays the selected clips end to end on the markers — cut every 1, 2 or 4 markers, bottom→top or top→bottom
• Clear removes the panel's markers

Tip: a marker you don't want is one click to delete — it is quicker than placing thirty by hand.

Stagger

Arranges the selected layers in sequence.

• One after another: each starts where the previous ends
• N frames apart: a fixed offset
• Direction: bottom→top or top→bottom

Tip: Great for titles, bullet points, icons entering one by one.

Easy Ease

F9 on the selected keyframes (33% in / out).

Easing

A curve editor with the speed drawn as a shaded area. Drag the handles, pick a preset, Apply on the selected keyframes.

• Presets: Soft, Smooth, Strong, Snappy, Overshoot, Anticipate + your own (Save preset; right-click to rename / delete)
• Read selection: loads the easing of the selected keys into the editor
• Selected keys / All keys on layers
• Physics: Overshoot, Bounce, Elastic as expressions (Remove takes them off)

Tip: Overshoot beyond the graph works on Scale / Rotation; Position keeps handles inside 0–1.

Keyframes

Timing tools for the selected keyframes — across every property and effect you selected, curves preserved like Alt-drag.

• Align to playhead: first key lands on the playhead
• Fit to layer end: last key lands on the layer's out point
• Reverse: values and easing mirrored
• Stretch: timing to a percentage

Tip: Press U on the layer to reveal all animated properties, then drag a box over the keys.

Presets

Search After Effects' own animation presets (including your User Presets) and every installed effect and plugin (Reverb, Twixtor, Sapphire…), star favorites, and apply one to every selected clip.

• Effects and plugins are added to every selected layer; layers that can't take one (an audio effect on a layer without sound) are skipped
• Place at: Auto (fits the layer; "In"/"Out" presets by name), In point, Out point, Stretch over the clip, Playhead
• Rescan after adding presets

Plugins

An effect or plugin on every selected clip, then one animation copied to all of them.

• Add to selected: search any installed effect or plugin (Twixtor, Sapphire, Gaussian Blur…) and it lands on every selected layer
• Use as source: animate it on one clip (keyframes, graph, ease), select only that clip and press it
• Copy to all: every setting and keyframe, ease included, goes to the other selected clips: fitted from start to end, or with the same timing from the start or up to the end

Several effects on the source clip? Select the ones you want in Effect Controls, or none to copy them all.

Clear Effects

Removes every effect from all the selected layers in one click. Ctrl+Z brings them back.

Layers

Layer utilities.

• Cut at playhead: all selected layers at once
• Width / Height / Fit: scale to the comp
• Center: anchor to the layer's middle, layer to the comp's middle