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Using the Effects palette


    Work more efficiently with effects using the Effects palette. Access all available effects from this palette, either by browsing the categories and effect names or by using the find feature, and apply the effects to your footage. You can see effects and effect favorites three ways: by category, as they are stored in file-system folders, or as a simple alphabetical list. To display the Effects palette, click the Effects tab in the palette group. If the Effects palette or the palette group is not visible, choose Window > Effects.

To locate an effect in the Effects palette:

  1. Display the Effects palette, as described above.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • Scroll through the list. If the effects are listed by category, expand the category to see the effect names.
    • Type the effect name in the Contains text box. The list displays effects whose names contain the letters you type.

To apply an effect from the Effects palette:

  1. Locate the effect you want to apply, as described in the above steps.
  2. Drag the effect from the Effects palette to one of the following target layer locations (the target layer attribute mentioned below is highlighted when you drag over it):
    • The layer name in the Timeline window.
    • The Effects heading name for the layer in the Timeline window.
    • A point between any one of the layer's effects already listed in the Timeline window.
    • The layer in the Composition window. The Info palette displays the name of the targeted layer.
    • The layer's Effect Controls window.

    Note: After you apply the effect to a layer, that layer becomes selected in the Timeline, even if another layer had been previously selected. If you decide not to apply the effect and drag to any other place not mentioned in the above procedure, the previously selected layer remains selected.

To specify how effects are listed in the Effects palette:

    Display the Effects palette menu by clicking the triangle in the right corner of the palette, and choose one of the following views from the menu:

    Note: If you close and reopen the Effects palette menu, it retains the choices you made in the menu.

    • Categories: to show and organize the effects according to their categories as listed in the Effects menu.
    • Explorer Folders (Windows) or Finder Folders (Mac OS): to show your effects as they appear in your file system folders. If a Folder A contains only Folder B, a listing for "Folder A" will not appear. Otherwise, this options shows all folders that contain effects or favorites.
    • Alphabetical: to show all the effects in alphabetical order.
    • Show Effects: to switch the effect list between showing and not showing the effects.
    • Show Favorites: to switch between showing or not showing favorites. The only favorites that are shown are those stored in the After Effects application folder on your hard drive. For information on how to designate favorite effects, see Saving favorite effects for instant reuse.

    Note: The Show Favorites view shows only folders that are in the folder containing the application. If you want to store your effects in a folder outside this, make a shortcut or an alias to your effect folder and place that shortcut or alias anywhere inside the folder containing After Effects.

    • Show 16 Bit Effects: to show only the 16-bits-per-channel effects.
    • Reveal in Explorer (Windows) or Reveal in Finder (Mac OS): to open the folder on your hard drive that contains the selected effect. The selected effect is highlighted in the folder window.
    • Refresh List: to manually update the list of favorites without relaunching After Effects. This is useful when, while using your browser, you add or remove favorites while the program is still running. However, when you add or remove effects not designated as favorites, you still must quit and restart After Effects.