How Do You Reverse Paste Keyframes in After Effects?

Reverse pasting keyframes in After Effects allows you to paste a copied sequence of keyframes onto your timeline in the opposite order from which they were copied. This is a quick way to create symmetrical or reversed animations.

Here's how to do it:

Steps to Reverse Paste Keyframes

Performing a reverse paste involves first copying the keyframes you want to reverse and then using a specific keyboard shortcut when pasting.

1. Copy Keyframes: Select the layer property containing the keyframes you wish to copy. Select the keyframes themselves by clicking on them, or dragging a selection box around them in the timeline. Copy them using the standard copy command:

   • macOS: Command + C
   • Windows: Ctrl + C

2. Position the Current Time Indicator (CTI): Move the CTI (the blue vertical line in your timeline) to the point where you want the reversed sequence to start. Specifically, place the CTI where you want the last keyframe of your copied sequence to appear as the first keyframe of your pasted and reversed sequence.

3. Reverse Paste: With the CTI in position and the keyframes copied, use the following keyboard shortcut to paste them in reverse order:

   Operating System	Shortcut
   macOS	Command + Shift + V
   Windows	Ctrl + Shift + V

   (Reference: This shortcut is confirmed as the method to reverse paste keyframes.)

Using this shortcut will insert the copied keyframes starting at the CTI, but with their timing reversed. The keyframe that was originally the last in the copied set will now be the first at the CTI, the second-to-last will be the second, and so on.

This technique is highly useful for creating looping animations or mirroring motion paths efficiently without manually rearranging keyframes.