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Activity Forums Adobe After Effects How do I move the center point of a layer?

  • How do I move the center point of a layer?

    Posted by Nick Army on April 15, 2008 at 1:59 am

    Hi, I have an image – a logo I created – but when I import from photoshop the center point is not in the center of the logo. How can I move the center point where I want it in order to animate properly? Thanks a lot!

    Chris Heuer replied 18 years, 4 months ago 4 Members · 5 Replies
  • 5 Replies
  • Lars Bunch

    April 15, 2008 at 3:41 am

    Hi,

    The center point is known as the anchor point in AE. With the layer selected, hit the “a” key to bring down it’s properties. You can modify the values as you might the postion or you can use the “Pan Behind Tool” by hitting “Y” and drag the center point around on screen.

    Lars

  • Nick Army

    April 15, 2008 at 12:11 pm

    Hey Lars, thanks a lot! Such a simple thing but it’s never come up for me. I eventually did Layer > Transform > Anchor Point as a makeshift solution, but had to guess coordinates. This is 100x better. Thanks so much for your quick reply!

  • Chris Heuer

    April 15, 2008 at 1:23 pm

    Lars is spot on, definitely go with the Y key to take the coordinate guesswork out of the picture. You just grab the anchor point and put it where you want it.

    The only problem with that method is if you already have position keframes for that layer. Then I’d use the anchor point property sliders.

    Chris Heuer
    Freefall FX, LLC

  • Jay Lee

    April 25, 2008 at 4:40 pm

    Is there a way to automatically center the anchor point?

    I’ve been using the Pan Behind tool and dragging until I get the coordinates on the Info Palette to say Position: 0,0

    But I get the feeling there’s an easier way? Thanks for any info!

  • Chris Heuer

    April 25, 2008 at 5:47 pm

    That is a very good question! I’ve never thought about it. Try holding down shift, option or control/command while dragging the anchor point with the Pan Behind tool.

    Just a guess but it might “snap to center” or something!

    Good luck, let me know if it works

    Chris

    Chris Heuer
    Freefall FX, LLC

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