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Known Participant
June 20, 2022
Question

Aligning footage in timeline with random layers

  • June 20, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 702 views

Hello, I know you can butt footage up to another one holding the shift key and dragging clip there.  But is there a way to align one clip to another when the layers are not in order?  For example, I want the clip in Layer 5 to butt up on the backside of the clip in Layer 2.  Holding shift does not do that since I'm not directly lining up to a layer directly above or below. 

Thanks for any insight,

Kevin

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3 replies

Roland Kahlenberg
Legend
June 26, 2022

Holding down Shift while draggin a Layer Stem will snap it to pertinent points in the Timeline - this includes, Keyframes, Layer IO points, Work Area IO points and Timeline and Layer Markers. You're most likely not slowing down you dragging as you reach the desired location - if you drag too quickly, you'll pass by the snap points and being sufficiently zoomed helps; especially if there are other snap points in close proximity. 
HTH

 

Very Advanced After Effects Training | Adaptive & Responsive Toolkits | Intelligent Design Assets (IDAs) | MoGraph Design System DEV
Szalam
Community Expert
Community Expert
June 21, 2022

Select layer 2. Press o to go to the out point of that layer. Then, hit page down to go one frame foward. Select layer 5. Press [.
Boom. Snapped.

Or, probably better, edit in Premiere Pro. It's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay faster than editing in AE. Then, once your clips are edited, use the Import Premiere Pro Sequence command to bring them into AE for adding your effects and motion graphics.

kevinb711Author
Known Participant
June 26, 2022

Thank you for the insight Szalam.  I'll try it out!

KB

Jqke
Legend
June 20, 2022

What I would do is just put my playhead at the beginning of Layer 2 and drag it so that Layer 5 snaps to the playhead. Additionally, the script Rift helps with layer positioning, and it's free! https://aescripts.com/rift/

~Jake
kevinb711Author
Known Participant
June 26, 2022

Thank you for the tip and info Jake!

KB