Anchor point animation isn't efficient

[Ziad Tosson]

When you animate the anchor point the object itself moves, That's shouldn't happen, what should happen is that only the anchor point moves, Why? so we can actually use the anchor point animation to make something, if i want to move the object i would use the position property not anchor point property

Showcase: If i want to make a rolling cube, I can't just rotate then change the anchor point, No I have to make workarounds, Cause anchor point is moving the object

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

Position and Anchor Point determine where the layer is located in the composition frame. If you move only the Anchor Point, the layer's relative position to the Comp frame will change. This is how it works in After Effects and Premiere Pro, any 3D app, or any other video editing app. If you do not offset the position by the same amount that you changed the anchor point (anchor point up 10 pixels, position up 10 pixels), the apparent position in the comp frame will change. There are easy workarounds.

Use the Anchor Point/Pan Behind tool (Y) to move the Anchor Point, and the Position values will compensate for the change, so the layer will not appear to move in the Comp.

If you hold down the Ctrl/Cmnd key and drag the Anchor Point around with the "Y" tool, the Anchor Point will change, but the position property will no longer be linked, so the layer will appear to move in the Comp Frame.

If you click and drag or enter new values for the Anchor Point in the Timeline, the layer will also appear to move, and it should because you are changing the relationship between the Anchor Point and the Position.

This makes perfect sense, but it is sometimes hard to understand and visualize until you play around with the tools.