Reversing the playback direction of a layer

You can easily reverse a layer's playback direction. When you do, all keyframes for all properties on the selected layer also reverse position relative to the layer. The layer itself maintains its original In and Out points relative to the composition.

Note: For best results, replace the layer with a composition having the same frame size as the layer, and reverse the layer inside the composition. This is the most accurate way to reverse footage. For more information on nesting compositions, see Organizing a project using nesting.

To reverse a layer's playback direction:

1. In a Timeline window, select the layer you want to reverse.
2. Press Ctrl+Alt+R (Windows) or Command+Option+R (Mac OS).

Note: You can also play a layer backward by typing a negative time-stretch value in the Time Stretch dialog box.

To reverse the order of keyframes without reversing the layer's playback direction, select keyframes and choose Animation > Keyframe Assistant > Time-Reverse Keyframes (see Using the Time-Reverse Keyframes keyframe assistant).

To reverse a layer's playback direction without reversing the order of its keyframes, use time-remapping to reverse the layer (see About time-remapping).