The Library panel is a grid of thumbnails for things you apply to a scene or a layer. Open it from Window ▸ Library or with ⌘⇧L (Ctrl+Shift+L). The After Effects keymap preset has no shortcut for it, because ⌘⇧L is Unlock All Layers there.
Tabs
| Tab | What it holds | What applying does |
|---|
| Materials | Built-in 3D materials and your saved ones. | Apply to the selection. |
| HDRI | Environments (image-based lighting). | Apply to the composition. |
| Textures | Texture images. | Apply to the selection. |
| Objects | 3D objects. | Add to the composition. |
| Light Rigs | Lighting setups. | Apply to the composition. |
| Particles | Particle presets. | Apply to the selected particle system, or add as a new layer. |
| Sprites | Sprite images. | Apply to the composition. |
| Motion | Transform animations with their easing, saved relative to the layer. | Apply to the selected layers. |
| Text | Text animator presets. | Apply to the selected text layer; with none selected, make a new text layer. |
In a narrow panel the tabs use short names (Mat, HDRI, Tex, Obj, Rig, Ptc, Spr, Mot, Txt).
Using it
- Pick a tab.
- Narrow the grid with Search the library… or the category menu (★ Favorites, All, and the tab's categories).
- Double-click a tile to apply it, or drag the tile out of the panel to drop it.
- Click a tile's star to add it to Favorites. Favorites survive a restart.
| Item | What it does |
|---|
| Apply… / Add to Composition / New Text Layer | The tab's apply action (see the table above). |
| Apply to Selected Text Layers | Text tab only. |
| Add to Favorites / Remove from Favorites | Toggle the star. |
| Rename… | Your own presets only. |
| Reveal in Finder (File Explorer on Windows) | Your own presets only. |
| Delete… | Your own presets only. |
| Button | What it does |
|---|
| Save | Save as a preset in your library. What it saves depends on the open tab — for example the selected layer's material on Materials, the composition's environment on HDRI. |
| Reveal | Reveal the library folder on disk. |
| Rescan | Rescan the library and bake any missing thumbnails. |
Tips
- Save transform animations into the Motion tab from the timeline's keyframe right-click menu (Save Motion to Library).
- Thumbnails are made in the background; until one is ready the tile shows a tinted placeholder.