Path Actions

The Path actions button in the toolbar lists the commands that fit the current selection, and is hidden when none do. On a narrow panel it moves into the More tools button. The same list is the Path actions submenu of the right-click menu.

Path commands

Command	Does	Card values
Clean up paths	Merges points that sit closer together than a distance	Distance
Simplify paths	Redraws paths with fewer points	Tolerance, Smooth, Show original path
Move along path	Moves the selected points along the curve, handles and all. The path keeps its shape	Amount, Align tangents to path
Outline stroke	Turns strokes into filled shapes
Reverse path	Reverses path direction
Join paths	Joins two open ends, or closes an open path
Average	With Direct Selection, lines up selected points: Horizontal, Vertical or Both

Card values are on the Last Action card, so you can tune the result after running it. Show original path draws the path as it was before Simplify, as a thin red line over the result.

Offset Path tool

Offset Path is a tool rather than a command. Drag across a closed path to grow or shrink it; the shapes a drag would take are hatched as you hover. The card adjusts Distance, Join and Miter limit. Set the default Join and Miter limit from Offset Path options in the toolbar.

Rectangles, ellipses and stars are converted to paths first.

Pathfinder

Select two or more closed shapes, then use Pathfinder in Properties. Shapes can come from different groups and layers.

Button	Result
Unite	One shape covering all of them
Minus Front	The back shape with the ones in front cut out
Intersect	Only where they all overlap
Exclude	Everything except where they overlap
Divide	Every overlapping region as its own shape
Trim	Each shape keeps only its visible part. Strokes are removed
Merge	Like Trim, and touching shapes of the same fill become one

Result decides how:

Destructive replaces the shapes with the result. Unite, Intersect and Exclude keep the topmost shape’s fill and stroke, Minus Front keeps the backmost shape’s, and Divide, Trim and Merge keep each piece’s own fill. The Pathfinder card lets you switch the operation afterward.
Operator keeps every shape editable and adds a Merge Paths operator in After Effects. Divide, Trim and Merge are destructive only.

A disabled button says why when you hover it.

Replicate

Replicate arranges copies of the selection as a native After Effects Repeater array, in a new group. Pick a layout from its submenu:

Layout	Card values
Linear	Copies, Step X, Step Y
Grid	Columns, Rows, Spacing X, Spacing Y
Brick	Columns, Rows, Spacing X, Spacing Y
Radial	Copies, Radius, Start, Sweep
Spiral	Copies, Radius, Start, Sweep, Scale

Drag the array’s handles on the canvas to change it directly. Later, selecting the array shows a section named for its layout in Properties, where Layout switches to another arrangement.

Expand copies turns the array into real shapes you can edit one by one.

Split and Consolidate

Split shapes into groups and Split shapes into layers put each selected shape in a group or on a layer of its own. Shapes that cut a hole in each other, or share a Merge Paths, stay together.
Split groups into layers (right-click menu and Layers) moves each selected group onto a new layer of its own.
After a push, each new layer from Split groups into layers or Split shapes into layers holds the group’s contents directly. The group is kept only when removing it would change the picture: it is rotated, scaled or skewed, below 100% opacity, keyframed or driven by an expression, hidden, or blended.
Consolidate merges groups that share the same fill and stroke into one group, named for the color. With nothing selected, it works on every layer.

Nothing on the canvas moves.

Right-click the canvas for commands that fit what is under the pointer and what is selected. A command that would do nothing is not shown.

Over a shape or the selection:

Item	Does
Remove points	Removes the selected points and keeps the path closed (Direct Selection)
Average	Lines up the selected points: Horizontal, Vertical or Both (Direct Selection)
Convert to corner, Convert to smooth	Converts the selected points, as the Convert Vertex tool does (Direct Selection)
Enter group, Isolate layer	Works inside it. See Working inside a group
Convert to Bezier path	Converts the rectangles, ellipses and stars on the pulled layers to paths in After Effects
Convert to shapes in After Effects	Converts the selected text layers to shape layers
Group, Ungroup	As Ctrl+G and Ctrl+Shift+G
Arrange	Bring to front, Bring forward, Send backward, Send to back
Flip horizontal, Flip vertical	Mirrors the selection across its own center
Path actions	The toolbar’s Path actions, plus Split groups into layers
Merge into layer, Move to new layer	As in Layers
Lock selection	As Ctrl+2
Select same fill, Select same stroke	Selects every shape matching the one selected shape, as the Magic Wand does
Copy, Cut, Paste, Paste in front, Paste in back, Paste in place, Duplicate	See Duplicate, copy and paste
Delete	Named for what it removes, such as Delete shape or Delete points. With handles selected, Zero tangent or Zero tangents
Frame selected	Zooms to the selection, as F

Over empty canvas: Exit group (when isolated), Paste, Paste in place, Select all, and Unlock all when something is locked.

Pathfinder is in Properties only.