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How to use easing for smooth animation in After Effects

Easing makes motion feel natural by controlling how speed ramps in and out. Without it, animations feel robotic. With it, they feel alive.

Steps to use easing for smooth animation

Select your keyframes, then right-click and choose Keyframe Assistant → Easy Ease, or just press F9. That’s the quick fix for most animations.

Right-click menu in After Effects showing Easy Ease options for keyframes

Open the Graph Editor and pull the bezier handles on your keyframes for custom ease curves that match exactly what you want.

Graph Editor in After Effects showing eased keyframes on a curve

Preview your animation — it now flows like real-world motion instead of mechanical timing.

One more thing

Learn the shortcuts. F9 = Easy Ease, Shift+F9 = Ease In, Ctrl+Shift+F9 (Windows) / Command+Shift+F9 (Mac) = Ease Out. If you ever want to remove easing and go back to linear, Ctrl+Click (Windows) / Command+Click (Mac) on the keyframe.

Related how-tos

How to add keyframes in After Effects
How to use the graph editor in After Effects
How to fade in and fade out layers in After Effects

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