After Effects snapshot was very confusing to me at first, I thought a simple click on the camera button 
 would make a screen grab/ screenshot that I could paste and use in Photoshop but nope, Adobe made it work a different way. On this After Effects tutorial I will show exactly what a snapshot does, how to use it and also how to make a “real” screenshot from your AE composition.
So what is the difference between snapshot and screenshot in After Effects?
An After Effects snapshot is basically a copy of one frame that you can use as reference to compare with another frame in your composition. The snapshot image is stored in your computer memory but you can’t copy or paste the image/frame in After Effects or Photoshop.
In contrary a screenshot save a frame as a file that you can use with photoshop or even add in your After Effects project.
Just a reminder a snapshot in After Effects is only to use as reference to compare with another frame in the scene
Follow the steps below
– Drag the time indicator to the frame you need a snapshot
– Click on the Photo Camera icon  (Shortcut: Shift-F5) (You’ll hear the shutter sound)
After effects snapshot location below
– Drag again your time indicator somewhere else.
– Â Click on this icon 
 and release  (Shortcut: Hold F5 and release)
Bonus: You can save 4 snapshots in memory  just see below
Save snapshot 1 :Â Shift+F5
Preview snapshot 1 : Press F5
Save snapshot 2 :Â Shift+F6
Preview snapshot 1 : Press F6
Save Snapshot 3 :Â Shift+F7
Preview snapshot 3 : Press F7
Save Snapshot 4 :Â Shift+F8
Preview snapshot 4 : Press F8
Snapshot can take up a lot of your After Effects memory and slow it down so make sure you clear your snapshots when you are done.
The shortcuts:
Purge each snapshot, hold down Ctrl+Shift (Windows) or Command+Shift (Mac OS) and press F5, F6, F7, or F8
Purge all After Effects snapshots:Â Edit > Purge > Snapshot
Making a screenshot of your After Effects composition is fairly easy just follow the steps below
– Drag the time indicator to the frame you need
– Click Composition > Save Frame As > File… (CTRL+Alt+S)
– Change the output location in the render queue window
– Click Render
Difference Snap Shots: Compare different frames by taking a snapshot of a frame to store for later viewing. Use difference effect to compare frames easily.
The fastest way to make a screenshot in After Effects is to use this shortcut below, it will create a render queue on the frame you are currently on, just hit the render button. Done!
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 Ctrl+Alt+S |
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Command+Option+S |
There is a free plug in by Video Copilot that is called FX Console. It allows you to make a screenshot in one click in After Effects.
Simply go to the frame you want to screenshot and on FX console click save to PNG or JPG.
As seen above you can even copy the screenshot in your clipboard, which is super cool.
Thank you for this!!!
Thank you for this information.
thanks a lot
Use FX Console from Video Copilot for free. Best way to take screenshot, save image as png or jpeg, can directly paste copied image in other software. we can also compare images to check consistency.
Thank you Swapnil! I have included FX Console in this post. Best!
Thank you