Quick Start

1. Pull

Open a composition with shape layers in it, then in Design Mode click:

• Pull all to bring in every shape layer, mask and text layer in the comp, or
• Pull selected to bring in only the layers selected in the timeline.

Only layers that exist at the current time come across. The layers appear on the canvas and in the Layers list, collapsed.

2. Select

Press V for the Selection tool and click a shape. Layer Selection, Group Selection and Path Selection, under the first toolbar button, decide what a click picks up; Shift+V cycles them.

Press A for Direct Selection to work on points and handles instead.

3. Edit

• Drag to move, drag the box’s handles to scale and rotate.
• Change colors and strokes in Properties > Fill & Stroke.
• Draw something new with the Rectangle (M), Ellipse (L) or Pen (P).
• After most edits, the Last Action card appears at the lower left. Change its values to adjust what you just did.

Undo (Ctrl+Z) and redo (Ctrl+Shift+Z) work on Design Mode’s own history. None of these edits touch After Effects until you push.

4. Push

Click Push. Your edits are written back to the same layers as one After Effects undo step, and a message confirms what landed.

To leave the original layers untouched, click Push as new instead: everything on the canvas is created as new layers at the top of the comp.

See Pull and Push for the details.