Drawing

Where new shapes land

Selected when you start drawing	The new shape lands
Nothing	On a new shape layer
A group	Inside that group
A layer, or something on it	In a new group at the top of that layer

Each new shape gets the last fill and stroke you used. Drawing on a solid, footage, precomp, text or adjustment layer makes a mask instead.

Shape tools

Tool	Key	Draws
Rectangle	M	A rectangle. Shift for a square
Rounded Rectangle		A rectangle with rounded corners
Ellipse	L	An ellipse. Shift for a circle
Polygon		A polygon, from the center out
Polystar	Shift+L	A star, from the center out
Line	\	A straight line. Shift snaps to 15°

Hold Space while dragging to move the shape without changing it; let go to keep drawing from there.

Shapes stay live: their size, roundness, points and radii are editable in Properties, and they push as After Effects parametric shapes. Ellipses and polystars also show handles on the canvas for start, sweep, ratio, points, radii and roundness; a drag raises a Last Action card with the exact value. Select several of the same kind and all of them show handles; dragging one sets the same value on every one. Double-click a shape tool’s button to make one the size of the comp. For Polygon and Polystar it makes the largest that fits.

Pen (P)

• Click to place corner points; drag to pull out curve handles.
• Click the first point to close the path. Enter or Escape finishes an open one.
• Each point is its own undo step; a click-drag that pulls handles is one step, and closing the path is one more. Undo while drawing removes the last point and the Pen continues from the one before; Redo puts it back. Backspace or Delete while drawing does the same as Undo.
• Push and Push as new finish a path you are still drawing first.
• Alt while dragging a handle breaks it from its pair. Shift snaps its angle to 45° steps. Space moves the point and leaves its handles as they are.
• Over an existing path, the Pen adds a point where you click a segment and removes one where you click a point. Hold Alt to convert a point instead.

Pencil (N)

Draw freehand; the stroke is fitted to a smooth path when you let go. End where you started to close it.

In Properties:

• Recognize shapes turns a stroke that clearly reads as a rectangle, ellipse, polygon or straight line into that shape. Hold Alt as you let go to keep it freehand.
• Fidelity: accurate on the left, smooth on the right.

Text (T)

• Click to make point text, or drag to make a text box.
• Click existing text to place the cursor in it.
• Click outside or press Escape to finish. Text left empty is removed.

New text uses your last font settings. See Text for formatting.