From the course: After Effects CS5 Essential Training

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Cropping layers

Cropping layers

In this movie, I'm going to show you how to crop layers in time. In the process, I'm also going to show you several really key keyboard shortcuts that I find myself using all the time. Maybe it's just my workflow, maybe it's just me, but they are ones that I use very frequently. So, first of all, here's the trick. I'm going to move out in time and let's say I want to start at about five seconds in, once we zoom out and then zoom back in. This is where I want to start my layer. What I can do with this layer selected is hit Option or Alt on the PC and then the Left Bracket key. That is the key directly to the right of the letter P on your keyboard. So, Option+Left Bracket or Alt+Left Bracket. And you can see that it actually crops the layer to the Current Time Indicator. This saves you from having to drag this to that spot. It gets it exactly right there instantly. By the same token, if I drag this a little bit later on in time, let's say, to about 20 seconds out, if I hold Option+Right…

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