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Vector Paint keyboard shortcuts (PB only)


    Important: To enable Vector Paint keyboard shortcuts, Vector Paint must be selected in the Effect Controls window and the Composition window must be active.

General

    Ctrl + Z (Windows) or Command + Z (Mac OS): Undo

    Right-click (Windows) or Control + click (Mac OS): Open Vector Paint contextual menu

    Alt + right-click (Windows) or Control + Option + click (Mac OS): Open general contextual menu for After Effects

Tools

    V: Toggle between paint or erase tool and the selection tool

    C: Temporarily switch to Eyedropper tool

    Ctrl + drag (Windows) or Command + drag (Mac OS): Set Radius and Feather for Brush Settings.

    Shift + painting: QuickPaint (in mode selected in the Vector Paint contextual menu)

    Esc: Cancel an Eyedropper color selection, a stroke selection made by dragging, or a value setting changed by dragging.

    Ctrl + click Eyedropper tool (Windows) or Command + click Eyedropper tool (Mac OS): Select 3-x-3-pixel color sample (average)

    Shift + drag Eyedropper tool: Select multiple-pixel color sample (average)

Stroke selection

    Ctrl + A (Windows) or Command + A (Mac OS): Select all strokes

    Shift + L: Select last-painted stroke

    Shift + W: Select visible strokes

    Shift + T: Select current time

    F2; or Ctrl + Shift + A (Windows) or Command + Shift + A (Mac OS): Deselect strokes

    Shift + select: Toggle selection

    Ctrl + select (Windows) or Command + select (Mac OS): Select by rectangular marquee

    Backspace or Delete: Delete selected strokes

    Ctrl + C (Windows) or Command + C (Mac OS): Copy selected stroke as keyframe

Setting strokes in time

    [ (left bracket): Set start time of selected strokes to current time

    ] (right bracket): Set end time of selected strokes to current time

    Alt + ] (right bracket): Set duration of selected strokes to current time

    Alt + Page Up (Windows) or Option + Page Up (Mac OS): Move selected strokes to previous frame.

    Alt + Page Down (Windows) or Option + Page Down (Mac OS): Move selected strokes to next frame.

    Shift + Alt + Page Up (Windows) or Shift + Option + Page Up (Mac OS): Move selected strokes 10 frames earlier on the Timeline.

    Shift + Alt + Page Down (Windows) or Shift + Option + Page Down (Mac OS): Move selected strokes 10 frames later on the Timeline.

Drawing strokes

    Shift + B: Blend selected strokes

    Shift + I: Draw sequential blend strokes on intermediate frames between selected strokes that were drawn on different frames

    Shift + J: Close selected stroke (connect start and end points)

    Shift + 2: Create stroke sequence in the order in which the selected strokes were drawn

Scale selected strokes

    Alt + plus sign (+) on the numeric keypad (Windows) or Option + plus sign (+) on the numeric keypad (Mac OS): Scale up by 1%.

    Alt + minus sign (-) on the numeric keypad (Windows) or Option + minus sign (-) on the numeric keypad (Mac OS): Scale down by 1%.

    Alt + Arrow Up (Windows) or Option + Arrow Up (Mac OS): Increase the vertical scale (height) by 1%.

    Alt + Arrow Down (Windows) or Option + Arrow Down (Mac OS): Decrease the vertical scale (height) by 1%.

    Alt + Arrow Right (Windows) or Option + Arrow Right (Mac OS): Increase the horizontal scale (width) by 1%.

    Alt + Arrow Left (Windows) Option + Arrow Left (Mac OS): Decrease the horizontal scale (width) by 1%.

Rotate selected strokes

    + (on the numeric keypad): Rotate clockwise by 1°.

    - (on the numeric keypad): Rotate counterclockwise by 1°.

Reposition selected strokes

    Arrow UpArrow DownArrow Left or Arrow Right: Nudge the position up, down, right, or left by 1 pixel.

Amplifying transformations

    Combine the Scale, Rotate, and Reposition keyboard shortcuts with the following keys to alter the transformation:

    • Shift + transform shortcut: Increase increment by a factor of 10.
    • Ctrl + transform shortcut (Windows) or Command +transform shortcut (Mac OS): Scale or rotate selected strokes individually (not as a group).