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# How to ease keyframes in After Effects and fine-tune them in the Graph Editor
- URL: https://aftereffectsclub.com/ease-in-after-effects/
- Published: 2026-11-01T14:25:17.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-06T09:18:23.000Z
- Description: Select Position keyframes and press F9 for default Easy Ease. Control the arrival and departure separately, then adjust speed and influence in the Graph Editor.
- Author: Ethan Brooks
- Tags: Animation and expressions

Select the two Position keyframes and press F9, or choose Animation > Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease. The default preset sets Speed to 0 and Influence to 33.33% on both sides of each selected keyframe, giving a slow departure and arrival on a simple two-keyframe move. For one side only, use Easy Ease Out on the first keyframe or Easy Ease In on the last.

I'd start with Easy Ease on both keys because it makes the change from constant speed clear before any handles need adjusting. [Adobe's speed controls](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/animate-in-after-effects/speed-between-keyframes/speed.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com) give the preset values and distinguish incoming from outgoing easing. The Graph Editor is the next step when the move needs a different distribution of speed.

## Two Position keyframes and the layer selected

Use one visible 2D layer in the open composition, with combined Position, no expression and two different Position values on a straight motion path. Set the two keys to Temporal Interpolation: Linear in Animation > Keyframe Interpolation for the starting comparison. For this straight-path example, set Spatial Interpolation to Linear too. A useful example lasts 24 frames at 24 fps, or one second; read the actual frame rate from the composition settings.

If the layer has no keyframes yet, put the current-time indicator on the start frame and press Alt + Shift + P on Windows or Option + P on macOS to add a Position keyframe. Move the indicator to the end frame, press the same keys again and change the Position value there. The same keys remove a keyframe when one already sits under the indicator, so press them once per frame.

Select the layer and press U to reveal its keyframed properties. Position should show two keyframes. [J and K](https://aftereffectsclub.com/after-effects-shortcuts/) jump to the previous or next visible time-ruler item, which can include markers and work-area boundaries as well as keyframes. Press Spacebar to preview the Linear move. Other numeric properties, such as Scale and Opacity, use the same easing commands, but their values, units and graphs differ.

## What ease in and ease out mean between two frames

After Effects works out the speed between two keyframes from three things: how much time separates them, how far apart their values are, and the interpolation at each keyframe. Adobe's own example uses Opacity: going from 75% to 20% changes faster than going from 30% to 20% over the same stretch of time.

Linear temporal interpolation keeps the rate uniform between the two keys. On a straight Position motion path, one dot marks each frame: even spacing means constant speed, while crowded dots mean slower travel. Default Easy Ease sets the relevant endpoint speed to 0, so the dots gather near the first and last keyframes. Custom Bezier easing can pass through a keyframe at a nonzero speed.

### The name follows the keyframe, not the move

Easy Ease In eases the speed coming into the selected keyframes, and Easy Ease Out eases the speed coming out of them. For a slide from keyframe 1 to keyframe 2, the slow start belongs to keyframe 1, which takes Easy Ease Out, and the slow arrival belongs to keyframe 2, which takes Easy Ease In. Easy Ease on both keyframes gives the move both.

Web tutorials can use the names from the opposite viewpoint. [CSS ease-in starts slowly](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Values/easing-function?ref=aftereffectsclub.com), while ease-out slows toward the end; CSS names the whole transition. After Effects names one side of a keyframe. Easy Ease Out on the first key gives the slow-start direction associated with CSS ease-in, and Easy Ease In on the last gives the slow-end direction associated with CSS ease-out. These are directional analogies, not identical preset curves.

## Apply Easy Ease to the selected keyframes

### Select the keyframes first

Every easing command acts on the selected keyframes. In layer bar mode, click one keyframe, then Shift-click the other or drag a marquee around both. Clicking Position selects all of that property's keyframes. Adobe describes the default unselected appearance as gray and the selected outline as blue; custom keyframe label colours can change that cue. In the Graph Editor, selected keyframes appear as solid yellow boxes and partly selected ones as hollow yellow boxes.

Ctrl + Alt + A on Windows or Command + Option + A on macOS selects every visible keyframe, which reaches further than you want when other layers are expanded too. Shift + F2 clears the selection if you catch more than you meant.

### Menu, keyframe menu, F9 or the Graph Editor buttons

1. With both keyframes selected, choose Animation > Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease. Easy Ease In and Easy Ease Out sit in the same submenu for one side only.
2. Or right-click a selected keyframe on Windows, or Control-click it on macOS, to open the keyframe menu and choose Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease there. The same menu carries Keyframe Interpolation and Keyframe Velocity.
3. Or press F9 for Easy Ease, Shift + F9 for Easy Ease In, and Ctrl + Shift + F9 on Windows or Command + Shift + F9 on macOS for Easy Ease Out. These are the defaults in [Adobe's keyboard shortcut list for After Effects](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/get-started/keyboard-shortcuts/keyboard-shortcuts-reference.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com); if you have remapped them, the menu routes still work.
4. In Graph Editor mode the three easing commands also have buttons at the bottom of the panel. Use the named menu commands if the icons are hard to distinguish.

![Graph Editor buttons for Easy Ease, Easy Ease In and Easy Ease Out, with labels for the side each affects](https://storage.ghost.io/c/93/1e/931ecadb-86fa-4092-9a2d-733ed6274523/content/images/2026/11/ease-in-after-effects-easy-ease-buttons-owner130-3c0a266b1edb.webp)

Easy Ease affects both sides of a selected keyframe; Easy Ease In affects the incoming side and Easy Ease Out the outgoing side. [Open the easing buttons at full size.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/93/1e/931ecadb-86fa-4092-9a2d-733ed6274523/content/images/2026/11/ease-in-after-effects-easy-ease-buttons-owner130-3c0a266b1edb.webp?ref=aftereffectsclub.com)

If a tutorial asks for Ease High or Ease Low, Adobe's [list of Keyframe Assistant commands](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/animate-in-after-effects/animation-keyframes/setting-selecting-deleting-keyframes.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com) shows no entry by either name; the easing commands it gives are Easy Ease, Easy Ease In and Easy Ease Out.

### When F9 does something else on a Mac

Adobe notes that on macOS the F9 to F12 shortcuts may clash with shortcuts the operating system uses, and on a Mac keyboard the top-row keys run the system features printed on them unless told otherwise. Hold Fn or the Globe key while you press F9\. To change that for good on macOS Ventura or later, follow [Apple's steps for using the top-row keys as standard function keys](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102439?ref=aftereffectsclub.com): choose Apple menu > System Settings > Keyboard, click Keyboard Shortcuts, select Function Keys and turn on "Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys". On a keyboard without an Fn key, Apple suggests trying to hold Control instead. The Animation menu route needs no function key at all.

### Check that the ease took

After F9, preview the move: this two-keyframe example should leave slowly, travel faster between the endpoints and settle at the last key. Select Position to inspect the crowded motion-path dots near both ends. The layer-bar keyframe icons also change shape; use Use Keyframe Icons in the Timeline panel menu if numbers are shown instead. In the value graph, the Info panel reports a selected keyframe's temporal interpolation. Selecting a motion-path keyframe reports spatial interpolation, so do not confuse the two.

If the whole move lasts too long, bring the last keyframe earlier: Alt + Left Arrow on Windows or Option + Left Arrow on macOS moves a selected keyframe one frame earlier. The Right Arrow versions move it later, and adding Shift changes the step to 10 frames. If the total duration is right but the move lingers too long near an endpoint, adjust influence instead.

## Speed graph or value graph in the Graph Editor

Click the Graph Editor button in the Timeline panel, or press Shift + F3 on either platform, to swap the layer bars for curves; the same button or keys bring the layer bars back. If the graph area looks empty, use the [Graph Editor controls](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/animate-in-after-effects/animation-basics/animation-basics.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com) along the bottom of the panel: open the Show Properties menu, choose Show Selected Properties, then click Fit All so the curve fills the view.

The Graph Editor draws the same keyframes in two ways. The value graph plots the property's value at each frame, and the speed graph plots how fast that value is changing. With Auto-Select Graph Type on, which is how the panel starts, After Effects picks for you: Opacity, a temporal-only property, opens in the value graph, while Position opens in the speed graph, since the shape of its path is spatial and the timing along that path is temporal. To switch by hand, open Graph Type and Options at the bottom of the panel and choose Edit Speed Graph or Edit Value Graph; Show Reference Graph keeps the other graph faintly behind the one you edit.

![Top of the Graph Type and Options menu with Edit Speed Graph selected and Auto-Select Graph Type off](https://storage.ghost.io/c/93/1e/931ecadb-86fa-4092-9a2d-733ed6274523/content/images/2026/11/ease-in-after-effects-graph-type-menu-owner130-f0241a2b26ba.webp)

Top of the Graph Type and Options menu. Edit Speed Graph is selected; choose Edit Value Graph to edit values instead. [Open the top of the graph-type menu at full size.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/93/1e/931ecadb-86fa-4092-9a2d-733ed6274523/content/images/2026/11/ease-in-after-effects-graph-type-menu-owner130-f0241a2b26ba.webp?ref=aftereffectsclub.com)

In the value graph each dimension gets its own colour: X red, Y green and, on a 3D layer, Z blue. The Separate Dimensions button at the bottom of the Graph Editor splits Position into X Position and Y Position, each with its own keyframes. Leave it off for this move, since separated dimensions each need their own ease and you would be keeping two sets of keyframes in step instead of one.

### Read the speed graph

In the speed graph, height is speed. A level line means constant speed; a higher line means faster motion. Between the two Linear Position keys in this example the line is level. After default Easy Ease on both keys, the speed starts at 0, rises between them and returns to 0 at the end. The peak depends on the distance and duration of the move.

The value graph plots the property's value instead. A Linear segment is straight. At a default Easy Ease keyframe, the curve has a horizontal tangent on the eased side because its speed there is 0\. That tangent does not mean the animation pauses for a stretch of frames.

## Drag the influence handles for a stronger ease

Easy Ease starts with 33.33% influence on each side. More influence carries the endpoint speed farther into the interval before the curve changes toward the neighbouring key. I'd adjust the incoming side for an arrival that needs to settle longer, then preview that change before touching the departure.

1. In the speed graph, select the keyframe. An interior keyframe can have an incoming handle on the left and an outgoing handle on the right. The first or last keyframe has only the side relevant to its neighbouring key.
2. Drag a handle away from the keyframe's centre for more influence, or toward it for less. The curve redraws as you drag. In the speed graph a handle only extends or retracts; rotating a handle is something the value graph allows.
3. To change both incoming and outgoing speed together, drag the keyframe with joined handles up or down. To keep a complete stop at a default Easy Ease endpoint, leave Speed at 0 and adjust influence horizontally.
4. Alt-drag a direction handle on Windows or Option-drag it on macOS to split the two sides. A split handle can move up or down to change only that side's speed. To join them again, Alt-drag or Option-drag the split handle vertically until it meets the other handle.
5. Press Spacebar after each change and watch the arrival or departure you just reshaped.

[Adobe's handle instructions](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/animate-in-after-effects/speed-between-keyframes/speed.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com) distinguish moving a joined keyframe from moving one split handle. In the speed graph, horizontal handle movement changes influence; vertical movement of the keyframe or a split handle changes speed. The value graph also lets direction handles rotate, so confirm the graph type before following these steps.

![Incoming and outgoing direction handles on either side of an interior keyframe, with a vertical Speed arrow and a horizontal Influence arrow.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/93/1e/931ecadb-86fa-4092-9a2d-733ed6274523/content/images/2026/11/ease-in-after-effects-figure3-handles-provenance-8a8ae76507673640.webp)

Move a joined keyframe up or down to change speed on both sides. Drag a handle horizontally to change influence. The first and last keyframes have only one relevant side. [Open the speed and influence handles at full size](https://storage.ghost.io/c/93/1e/931ecadb-86fa-4092-9a2d-733ed6274523/content/images/2026/11/ease-in-after-effects-figure3-handles-provenance-8a8ae76507673640.webp?ref=aftereffectsclub.com).

### Type the values in Keyframe Velocity

When a handle is hard to grab, type its settings instead. Show the speed graph, select the keyframe and choose Animation > Keyframe Velocity, or press Ctrl + Shift + K on Windows or Command + Shift + K on macOS. The dialog has Speed and Influence under Incoming Velocity and Outgoing Velocity, plus Continuous (Lock Outgoing and Incoming) to tie the two sides.

Adobe notes that the dialog's options and units change with the layer property and may differ for effects from plug-ins, so a Position speed and an Opacity speed are not on the same scale. Set Position in one pass and Scale or Opacity in another rather than selecting keyframes from several properties at once.

### A gradual stop or a peak

An interior keyframe, with neighbours on both sides, can form a U-shaped slowdown and acceleration: lower its speed and extend both handles. Raising that keyframe and bringing its handles inward creates a speed peak. Adobe describes these operations for Bezier or Continuous Bezier temporal interpolation, selectable in Keyframe Interpolation. This is a three-keyframe situation, separate from the single hill between two endpoints above. A speed peak changes how quickly the layer moves; a spatial bounce also needs a path or values that reverse direction.

## Copy an ease to other keyframes

Which route fits depends on where the other keyframes are and whether their ease is the default one or a shape you dragged.

- Keyframes you can select together, on one layer or several: select them all and press F9, or the Easy Ease In or Out keys. F9 repeats the default Speed 0 and Influence 33.33% settings. The resulting speed curves can still differ when distances, durations or neighbouring keys differ.
- To repeat custom endpoint settings, type the same Speed and Influence in Keyframe Velocity for the same property. Compare the resulting graph as well: equal settings alone do not make motion identical across different value changes or time spans.
- A whole animation onto another layer: select the keyframes and choose Edit > Copy, select the destination layer, put the current-time indicator where the move should start and choose Edit > Paste. The earliest keyframe lands at the current time and the others follow in order. To paste into a different property of the same type, such as Position into Anchor Point, select that property before pasting, one property at a time.

[Adobe's copy-and-paste instructions](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/animate-in-after-effects/animation-keyframes/editing-moving-copying-keyframes.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com) explain where the keys land and which property types accept them. After pasting, compare Keyframe Velocity settings and the speed graph if a custom ease must match. A hill only shows acceleration and slowdown; it does not prove every copied value is identical. Applying F9 again restores the default preset, replacing a custom ease.

For a single move judged by eye, shape its handles and preview the result. Across several layers, F9 gives a consistent set of default endpoint parameters in one selection. Matching the motion itself also means matching the relevant timing, value changes and neighbouring keys.

## Undo an ease or go back to Linear

Leave the stopwatch next to the property name alone while doing this: turning it off deletes every keyframe on that property, the whole move and not just its ease.

- Right after applying an ease, Ctrl + Z on Windows or Command + Z on macOS takes it back.
- Later on, select the keyframes and use the buttons at the bottom of the Graph Editor that convert them to Hold, Linear or Auto Bezier.
- In layer bar mode, Ctrl-click a keyframe on Windows or Command-click it on macOS: a Bezier, Continuous Bezier or Auto Bezier keyframe becomes Linear, and a Linear one becomes Auto Bezier.
- For every option at once, choose Animation > Keyframe Interpolation, or press Ctrl + Alt + K on Windows or Command + Option + K on macOS in layer bar mode. Its Temporal Interpolation menu sets Linear, Bezier, Continuous Bezier, Auto Bezier or Hold for the selected keyframes.

Check temporal interpolation in the value graph, using the Info panel and the names in [Adobe's interpolation reference](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/animate-in-after-effects/animation-keyframes/keyframe-interpolation.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com). Then preview the move to confirm the constant-speed segment is back. Leave the property's stopwatch on so the Position keys remain intact.