Toggle Transparency Grid Shortcut in After Effects

[Walter Soyka]

There is neither an entry in the shortcuts file nor a way to access the transparency grid from scripting. This would make a good feature request.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Greg C neumayer]

I’ve always hated the colors, so notwithstanding Walter’s answer, I changed the colors so they were (what I consider) much more helpful. I made them a neutral green-gray and a purple-gray so most everything showed up without giving me a headache. Here’s a link to my notes about it. Note that the exact line numbers may have shifted.

https://antifreezedesign.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/after-effects-change-default-transparency-grid-colors/

[Kalleheikki Kannisto]

I vaguely recall using a macro program some 15 years ago (possibly QuicKeys) that could simulate button pressing on the screen (meaning clicking the mouse at a specific point on the screen). So at least theoretically if you have a workspace where you keep the toggle button always in the same screen location you could probably find some such program to work around this. QuicKeys doesn’t exist today, but maybe some other program can do this.

[Walter Soyka]

I know I said this wasn’t accessible in scripting… but I was wrong. I found an undocumented way to do it:

https://www.keenlive.com/renderbreak/2016/10/keen-toggletransparencygrid/

You can assign shortcuts to specific script items, so toggling the transparency grid from the keyboard is now possible.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]