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Your first win with Altar.

Reverse a set of keyframes with one click in Altar, check the result in the timeline, and undo it. No setup, no AI, about two minutes.

You will take a finished animation, play it backwards with one click, and undo it. That is the loop for most Altar Buttons: select, click, check, undo.

Before you start

You need After Effects open with Altar installed, and a comp with a layer that has a few keyframes. A simple Position or Opacity animation is plenty.

Open the panel from Window → Extensions → Altar. Altar ships 42 built-in Tools, so the Canvas can look busy at first. You only need one Group today.

Reverse your keyframes

  1. Select the keyframes

    In the timeline, select the keyframes you want to flip. Drag a box around them or click the first and shift-click the last.

  2. Open the Keyframes Group

    On a fresh install the Keyframes Group is folded. Click its header to open it. It is a set of small square Buttons. Hover them until the card says Reverse Keyframes.

  3. Click Reverse Keyframes

    The first selected keyframe swaps places with the last, and the values and easing move with them. A message says how many keyframes were reversed.

  4. Check the timeline, then undo

    Scrub the comp. Your animation now plays backwards. Press Cmd/Ctrl+Z and it is back as it was. Reverse Keyframes is one undo step.

If nothing happened

  • “Select some keyframes.” - the Tool needs selected keyframes, not just a selected layer. Select them in the timeline and click again.
  • “Select a composition.” - click into the comp or timeline you want to change.
  • Cannot find the Button - hover the cells in the Keyframes Group. If you have rearranged your Canvas, use Command search to find it by name.

What you just learned

Most Tools act on what you have selected in the active comp. A Button runs on a click, and a Widget gives you controls first. Keyframe and layout Tools that change your comp make an undo step, while Selection Tools only change what is selected, and After Effects cannot undo a selection.

Next steps

Altar ready