Mastering Position and Timing Techniques

Animate the position of layer 22 starting at frame 25, trim its visibility to begin when the shield enlarges enough to cover it, and align keyframes for a smooth masked reveal.

Master keyframe placement and trimming techniques in After Effects to create a clean, professional masking effect using animation layers. Learn how to align elements precisely by using frame-by-frame navigation and adjust layer visibility to sync with animated transitions.

Key Insights

  • Use the Command + Left/Right Arrow keys to move the time indicator frame by frame, helping align keyframes for smooth transitions and precise timing in animations.
  • To hide a layer until a keyframe is reached, use the Trim (Option + Left Bracket) command; this keeps the layer visually hidden until it's needed in the sequence.
  • Noble Desktop's After Effects training demonstrates how to create sequential animations using simple position keyframes and masking techniques for professional results.

Note: These materials offer prospective students a preview of how our classes are structured. Students enrolled in this course will receive access to the full set of materials, including video lectures, project-based assignments, and instructor feedback.

Position! Okay, this looks nice. I like this. I like this.

I like this. Okay, so for position,  I'm going to turn back on the solo for 22. Hello, 22.

I'm going to animate its position. It tells you on page 69. 25 frames is where you want to start this.

Again, command right and left arrows move the current time indicator frame by frame. It's lining this up with the ending keyframe of the length. If you wanted it to be a little more overlapping, maybe you want to line it up with that keyframe so there's a little overlap, but it's up to you.

I mean, have fun. Okay,  so that, I'm going to animate position. Okay, this is on, I said, sorry, this is the ending keyframe.

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Position ends at 25. I'll go back about five frames. Okay, no, it's actually in between those.

Okay, cool. So it's 20 frames as it says in the instructions. Okay, and I'm going to slide that back there.

Could you grab it and drag it over? Yes. I'm never going to do that. I'm just going to hover over that number, click and drag until it slides back behind the shield.

Now it's hidden behind the shield until it slides out because it's a problem with that. Remember, the shield starts off zero scale, so that happens. Okay, what I need is for this layer not to physically exist until that first keyframe.

So I need it not to exist until the shield gets large enough to cover it. This is the point of trim. Option, left bracket.

Trim it down to the first keyframe. The layer physically is hidden until its color bar starts. So while the layer physically is in the file, it's hidden until this.

Now I get that. So I just need it to be large enough, the shield large enough to cover the number when it pops up like that. So it gives me a nice little masking effect.

Like so. Okay, it was designed to be a really fast animation because eventually they're going to be run sequentially one after the other. The everything after that stuff on day 69 is optional bonus exercises.

It's all copying and pasting.

Jerron Smith

Jerron has more than 25 years of experience working with graphics and video and expert-level certifications in Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and Illustrator along with an extensive knowledge of other animation programs like Cinema 4D, Adobe Animate, and 3DS Max. He has authored multiple books and video training series on computer graphics software such as: After Effects, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash (back when it was a thing). He has taught at the college level for over 20 years at schools such as NYCCT (New York City College of Technology), NYIT (The New York Institute of Technology), and FIT (The Fashion Institute of Technology).

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