In the context of Adobe After Effects, what does keyframing primarily control?

Keyframing is a fundamental technique in Adobe After Effects that primarily controls animation timing and movement.

When you create keyframes, you are setting specific values at particular moments in time, allowing After Effects to interpolate the values in between those keyframes. This means that you can change properties such as position, scale, rotation, and opacity over the course of a composition. For instance, by adjusting the position of an object at one keyframe and then moving it to a different position at another keyframe, After Effects can create a smooth movement between those points over time. This allows for the precise timing of animations, enabling animators to create dynamic and engaging visual sequences that can convey action and storytelling effectively.

While layer effects and styles, audio sync, and file import/export options are important aspects of working in After Effects, they do not directly relate to how animations are created and managed through timing and movement. Thus, the focus of keyframing is specifically on the manipulation of animated properties over time.