New solid, text, shape and adjustment layers are made from the toolbar, the Layers bar or the right-click New menu, not from this menu.
Items
| Item | Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| New Null Object | Adds a null at the comp centre. | |
| New Null at Selection Center | Adds a null at the centre of the selected layers. Needs a selection. | |
| Draw Over Clip | Adds a drawing layer over the selected clip, selects it and switches to the Brush tool. Needs exactly one selected layer. | |
| Link in Time to | Submenu listing the other layers. The selected layers follow the chosen layer along the timeline. None (stop following) removes the link. | |
| Make Asset | Turns the selection into one reusable asset in the Project panel. | |
| Convert to Background | Makes the selected layer fill the comp behind everything, like a background layer. | |
| Convert Back from Background | Undoes Convert to Background. | |
| Studio Setup | Adds a stage with a cyclorama, a light rig and a camera. | |
| Reflective Floor Setup | Adds the same rig and camera over a glossy floor instead of a cyclorama. | |
| Cameras ▸ New Camera | Adds a camera layer. | |
| Cameras ▸ New Camera Rig | Not available yet. | |
| Lights ▸ New Light | Adds a light. | |
| Lights ▸ New Spot Light | Adds a spot light. | |
| Lights ▸ New Softbox (200×200) | Adds an area light 200×200 in size. | |
| Lights ▸ New Kino (900×120) | Adds an area light 900×120 in size. | |
| 3D Primitives ▸ Cube, Sphere, Cylinder, Cone, Torus | Adds that solid. | |
| 3D Primitives ▸ Figure (6 ft) | Adds a 6 ft human figure for judging scale. | |
| 3D Primitives ▸ Plane, Cyclorama, Background | Adds that surface. | |
| New Particle System | Adds a particle system layer. Like a primitive, it switches a 2D comp to 3D. | |
| Scene Settings | Adds the scene settings for a 3D comp. Greyed out in 2D comps. | |
| Material ▸ Import Material… | Pick a folder of PBR textures; they are applied to the selected layer's material, matched by file name. | |
| New Lane | Turns the selected layers into a lane (a group whose members lay out in time instead of stacking). With nothing selected, adds an empty lane at the top. | |
| Toggle Lane | Turns the selected group header into a lane, or a lane back into a group. | |
| Lock / Unlock Layers | ⌘L (Ctrl+L) | Locks or unlocks the selected layers. |
| Guide Layer | Checkbox. Guide layers show in the viewer but never render. | |
| Bring to Front | ⌘⇧] (Ctrl+Shift+]) | Moves the selected layers to the top of the stack. |
| Bring Forward | ⌘] (Ctrl+]) | Moves them up one. |
| Send Backward | ⌘[ (Ctrl+[) | Moves them down one. |
| Send to Back | ⌘⇧[ (Ctrl+Shift+[) | Moves them to the bottom. |
| Combine Shapes ▸ Union, Subtract, Intersect, Exclude | Combines two or more selected shape layers into one new shape. The sources are kept but hidden. Subtract takes the upper shapes away from the bottom one. | |
| Merge Shape Layers | Merges two or more shape layers into the top-most one. Every shape stays live and keeps its own fill and stroke, as groups. | |
| Break into Layers | The reverse: one shape layer per top-level group. Needs exactly one selected layer. | |
| Convert to Paragraph Text | Turns selected point text into a paragraph text box. The text stays where it is. | |
| Convert to Point Text | Turns selected paragraph text into point text. | |
| Convert Shape to Path | Turns the selected shape element (a rectangle, ellipse and so on) into an editable path. | |
| Convert Text to Outlines | Makes a shape layer from the selected text layer's outlines (AE's Create Shapes from Text). |