Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 5.5 Help Manual page 76

Adobe After Effects Help
Using Help | Contents
When you distribute layers of different sizes, the spaces between layers may not be
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uniform. For example, distributing layers by their centers will create equal space
between the centers—but different-sized layers will extend by different amounts into
the space between layers.
Locked layers cannot be moved by alignment or distribution options.
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Text alignment is not affected by the Align palette. For information on aligning Basic
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Text, see "Basic Text" on page 221.
To align or distribute layers:
1 Select the layers you want to align or distribute.
Note: To align, you must select two or more layers; to distribute, you must select three or
more layers.
2 Choose Window > Align & Distribute.
3 In the Align palette, click the icon representing the type of alignment or distribution
you want.
Positioning a layer in time
Move a layer in time by changing its In or Out point in the Timeline window. After Effects
provides two ways to view and change the In and Out points of a layer in the Timeline
window:
The In and Out panels represent the layer duration numerically.
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The duration bar represents the layer duration visually.
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To change the In and Out points of a layer numerically:
1 If the In and Out panels are not visible in the Timeline window for the composition layer
you want to change, open the Timeline menu (click the right arrow above the vertical
scroll bar) and choose Panels > In. On the same menu, choose Panels > Out.
2 Click the number in the In or Out panel of the layer you want to change.
3 In the Layer In Time or Layer Out Time dialog box, type a new time and click OK.
Note: Do not use this method to adjust the In and Out points in the Timeline window if
your aim is to trim, speed up, slow down, or distort time within layer footage. For infor-
mation, see "Understanding trimming" on page 81 and "About time-remapping" on
page 142.
To move a layer in time by dragging:
In the Timeline window, drag the layer duration bar to the left or right. To snap the layer
duration bar to significant points in time (such as markers, or the start or end of the
composition), press Shift as you drag.
Before and after moving the duration bar
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Managing Layers
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