How To Zoom In And Out In Adobe After Effects

After Effects is a seriously complex piece of software, allowing users to do just about anything they can dream up, within the realm of visual effects and motion graphics editing. As such, it can be quite difficult to navigate at first, and new users may feel themselves in over their heads.

One way to make editing and creating in After Effects much easier is by learning how to quickly, effectively, and accurately zoom in and out from your project’s timeline, as well as from the project itself, in the preview/editing window. This can make your edits that bit more accurate.

To learn how to zoom in and out in Adobe After Effects, just follow our tutorial below. And for any additional information or unanswered queries, see our FAQs at the end of this article.

How to zoom in and out of effectively anything using the mouse wheel in Adobe After Effects

1. Open up the Adobe After Effects app on your device, and load a project you want to test your new zooming skills on
2. Now, whether it’s the composition panel, the timeline, or the layer or footage panels, you can quickly and easily zoom in and out of them, by just hovering your cursor over them, and scrolling the mouse wheel.
   1. To zoom in on any of these panels, hover the cursor over them, and scroll forwards
   2. To zoom out from any of these panels, hover the cursor over them, and scroll backwards
3. If you want to be even more accurate, and zoom in on a specific area of the comp panel, a specific time on the timeline, etc., then repeat step 2, but this time hold down ALT (Windows) or OPTION (Mac) whilst you scroll, and you’ll find that you are now zooming in and out to/from the exact point of the panel where your cursor is pointing

How to zoom in and out on the project timeline using the ‘mountain tool’ in Adobe After Effects

1. Open up the Adobe After Effects app on your device, and load a project you want to test your new zooming skills on
2. Below the timeline viewer, you’ll see what’s known as the ‘mountain tool’, or ‘mountain lever’. 
3. Simply click and drag the marker of the mountain tool to the right to zoom in on the timeline
4. To zoom out from the timeline, click and drag the mountain tool to the left

How to zoom in and out on the project timeline using keyboard shortcuts in Adobe After Effects

1. Open up the Adobe After Effects app on your device, and load a project you want to test your new zooming skills on
2. Now, to zoom in on your project’s timeline, simply tap the (+) PLUS key on your keyboard, as much as you need to zoom as far into the timeline as desired
3. To zoom back out from the timeline, simply tap the (-) MINUS key on your keyboard, again, as much or as little as you need to achieve the desired timeline zoom

How to zoom in and out on the composition panel using keyboard shortcuts in Adobe After Effects

1. Open up the Adobe After Effects app on your device, and load a project you want to test your new zooming skills on
2. Now, to zoom in on the composition panel of your project (AKA the preview window), simply tap the (,) COMMA key on your keyboard, as much as you need to zoom as far into the comp panel as desired
3. To zoom back out from the composition panel, simply tap the (.) PERIOD/FULL STOP key on your keyboard, again, as much or as little as you need to achieve the desired comp panel zoom

Note: To reset the zoom level of your composition panel, resizing it to fit the frame to the full size of the window, simply press SHIFT + (/) FORWARD SLASH together on your keyboard

And there you have it – several super simple methods to help you navigate the various zoom levels and options when editing your project in Adobe After Effects. Happy editing!

For any additional information, or unanswered queries please direct your attention to our FAQs below.

Frequently asked questions

What is Adobe After Effects?

After Effects is a visual effects and motion graphics software, which has – over time – become the industry standard in its field.

Produced and sold by Adobe – the corporate giant behind some of the world’s most popular and best known digital editing software packages, such as Photoshop, Stock, Premiere Pro, and Acrobat or Acrobat Reader (for the creation of, reading, and editing of PDFs) – After Effects is a pretty incredible piece of software.

Users of After Effects can effectively do just about anything they want, from creating unique film titles, introductions, and cinematic transitions, to removing objects from clips to be used elsewhere (AKA rotoscoping).

With After Effects, you can animate logos, characters, and even navigate and design in 3D space. The only thing? Because it is simply so much you can do, users of the software who are new to it can at first feel quite overwhelmed.

Why would I want to zoom in and out in Adobe After Effects?

Being able to zoom in and out of your projects whilst you edit in After Effects allows you to be much more specific about what you’re editing and the effects it’s going to have on the final product.

In other words, you’re here because you want to know how to zoom in on your timeline, or on a specific part of the shot in frame, in order to better and more accurately edit it. 

Can I revert any zooming I’ve done in Adobe After Effects?

Sure! Once you’ve played around, zooming in and out of your project in Adobe After Effects, returning to the standard zoom level is no problem at all.

To reset the zoom level of your composition panel, resizing it to fit the frame to the full size of the window, simply press SHIFT + (/) FORWARD SLASH together on your keyboard.