Adobe After Effects CS3 User Manual

Page 331

AFTER EFFECTS CS3

User Guide

326

When a pen tool is active, path-editing mode is active. To remain in path-editing mode, select the Pen tool; press V
or Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) to temporarily activate the Selection tool as needed.

Selection modes for shapes on shape layers

A. Layer selection B. Group selection C. Free-transform D. Path editing

For information on selecting masks, see “Select masks, segments, and vertices” on page 258.

Press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac OS) with a shape vertex selected to select all vertices on that path.
Press again to select all shapes. Press again to select all layers.

Select a shape layer

•

Click the layer name or layer duration bar in the Timeline panel.

•

Using the Selection tool, click within the layer’s bounds in the Composition panel.

•

To deselect all shapes on a layer but leave the shape layer selected, click within the layer’s bounds but outside all
shape paths.

Select a shape group in group selection mode

•

Using the Selection tool, double-click a member of the group in the Composition panel. Each time that you
double-click, you descend another level in the group hierarchy.

•

To activate the Direct Selection tool

, hold Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) with the Selection tool

selected. Click a shape in the Composition panel with the Direct Selection tool to directly select that shape’s group,
regardless of how deeply nested the shape is in the group hierarchy.

•

To select a group that is contained within the same group as the group that is already selected, click the group to
select.

•

To add a group to a selection, Shift-click it. You can combine the Shift key with double-clicking and with the Direct
Selection tool to add more deeply nested groups to the selection.

Select paths and vertices in path-editing mode

•

To select a vertex, click the vertex with the Selection tool. To add vertices to the selection, Shift-click them.

•

To select a path segment, click the segment with the Selection tool. To add segments to the selection, Shift-click them.