Layers and properties

Layer types

Every layer in a composition has a type, which decides what it draws and which properties it has. Most are added from one menu; pictures, video, sound and 3D models come in as files.

Add a layer

Select New layer at the bottom of the Project panel.
Choose a type. The layer is added to the open composition, at the top of the stack, and selected.
Edit it in Properties and the Timeline.

The New layer menu open over the Project panel: Text, Solid, Rectangle Shape, 3D Primitive, Skeleton, Null, Adjustment, Camera and Light, then another composition under Precompositions. — Opens the menu.
Layers made from nothing: type them, draw them, light them.
Bones to rig artwork with.
Other compositions, to nest in this one.

Files you import become layers in the open composition (see Importing⁠ (opens in a new tab)), and the + beside a file in the Project panel adds another layer that shows it. The Text tool (T) and the Rectangle tool (Q) on the toolbar also make layers, by clicking or dragging in the Viewer.

Every layer type

The 14 layer types, as the Timeline names them.
Layer	What it is for	How to add it
Image	A still picture, such as a drawing or a photo. Separated artwork arrives as image layers.	Import the file.
Video	Moving footage. Its frames play in time with the composition, and it can be trimmed, stretched, reversed or frozen.	Import the file.
Audio	Sound, drawn as a waveform in the Timeline.	Import the file.
Text	Editable type, with character and paragraph styles and text animators.	New layer → Text, or click in the Viewer with the Text tool (T).
Shape	Vector shapes made of paths, with fills, strokes and path operations such as Trim Paths and Repeater.	New layer → Rectangle Shape, or drag in the Viewer with the Rectangle tool (Q).
3D primitive	A box, sphere or cylinder in 3D space, lit by the composition’s lights.	New layer → 3D Primitive.
Solid	A rectangle of one colour, the size of the composition: a background, or something to hold an effect or a mask.	New layer → Solid.
Null	An invisible layer with a transform. Parent other layers to it to move them together.	New layer → Null.
Composition	Another composition placed in this one, showing its frames.	New layer → Precompositions, or pre-compose⁠ (opens in a new tab) layers.
Adjustment	Applies its effects to everything below it instead of to a picture of its own.	New layer → Adjustment.
Camera	A point of view on the composition’s 3D layers, with one node or two.	New layer → Camera.
Light	Lights 3D layers: parallel, spot, point or ambient, or an environment lit from an HDRI picture.	New layer → Light. An HDRI file you import becomes an environment light.
Skeleton	Bones that bend the layers bound to them, posed with FK and IK.	New layer → Skeleton; see Rigging⁠ (opens in a new tab).
3D model	A 3D model from a glTF, GLB or OBJ file.	Import the file.

Good to know

The Timeline’s name column can show each layer’s source instead of its name: select Show source names, the arrows in its heading.
A layer that another layer, a behavior or a composition still needs cannot be deleted until nothing uses it.