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After Effects
AnimateParallax
Create parallax effect intuitively in After Effects. Visually manipulate Z-space to easily achieve realistic depth.
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EULAEND USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
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What's AnimateParallax?
Insipired by Adobe Animate's Layer Depth feature. AnimateParallax gives After Effects an intuitive visual interface to create and manage parallax effects.
You no longer need to write complex expressions each layers or manually keyframe multiple layers. Simply adjust the Z-position of your layers visually, hit Apply, and you're done!
AnimateParallax Features
Intuitively adjust Z-position with visual sliders for precise depth control.
Placement Support
Randomization
Even Distribution
AnimateParallax Help
Version 1.3.0 • Developed by TarouTools
This tool allows you to visually adjust Z positions and apply expressions to create parallax effects based on the current appearance.
Basic Operations
- Adjust Z Position: Drag the layer's numeric value or drag markers in the visual view
- Fine Adjustment: Hold Shift while dragging for more precise control
- Direct Input: Double-click the value to type it directly
- Select Layer in Composition: Right-click on a layer name to select it in the After Effects composition
Z Range Settings
- Near Value: The forward limit (smaller value)
- Far Value: The backward limit (larger value)
- Note: Far value must be greater than Near value, and Near value must be greater than camera Z position
Button Controls
- Refresh Button: Reload layer information from selected layers in composition
- Distribute Button: Distribute selected layers evenly across the Z range (Hold Shift to reverse distribution order)
- Random Button: Randomly distribute selected layers within Z range
- Apply Button: Apply set positions and add parallax expressions
- Apply Button (Ctrl+Click / Cmd+Click): Apply Z positions only without expressions - Sets only the Z position without adding parallax expressions or scale adjustments (Windows: Ctrl+Click, macOS: Cmd+Click)
- Bake Button: Bake existing parallax expressions to keyframes (simplifies to first and last keyframe)
- Reset Button: Return selected layers to original Z positions
Layer Selection
- Layer Selection: Select layers in your After Effects composition before using the Refresh button
- Right-click: Right-click on a layer name to select it in the After Effects composition
Important Notes
- Layer Selection Issues: If you add or delete layers in the composition after registration, layer selection may become inaccurate. Please re-register the layers using the Refresh button.
- Working with Camera Animation: It is recommended to keep AnimateParallax expressions on layers while animating the camera. This ensures the parallax effect works correctly as the camera moves.
- Regarding the Bake Function: Baking removes the expressions and may change how layers appear the next time you use this tool. Unless you specifically need to remove the expressions (like for render optimization), it's generally not recommended to use Bake.
- Z Position Only Mode: Use Ctrl+click (Windows) or Cmd+click (macOS) on Apply button when you only want to set Z positions without adding parallax expressions. This is useful for manual depth arrangement without automatic scaling effects.
- Initial Setup: For best results when first using the tool, set all layer Z values to 0. Non-zero values may cause positioning offsets that require manual adjustment.
- Handling Keyframed Layers: If your layers have keyframes, parent them to null objects and load those null objects into the tool instead. This preserves your animation while allowing parallax control.
- Collapse Transformations Usage: When using pre-compositions with Collapse Transformations enabled, all layers inside the pre-composition must be set to 3D layers. Otherwise, Z-position information will not be properly transmitted to the main composition, causing position misalignment. To fix this: 1) Open the pre-composition, 2) Enable the 3D layer toggle for all layers that will use AnimateParallax, 3) Ensure the pre-composition layer itself is also set to 3D in the main composition.
Discussions
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Version History
1.3.0 -
Jul 15, 2025
-Ctrl+Click Apply now sets Z positions only without adding expressions or scale adjustments.
###Usage
・Apply: Parallax effects with expressions (unchanged)
・Ctrl+Apply: Z position only, no expressions
1.2.0 -
Jun 22, 2025
-Added support for selecting and editing multiple layers at once.
・Note: This applies to manual Z-value adjustments . Buttons like Distribute, Random, Apply and Bake will continue to affect all loaded layers, regardless of the selection.
-Enabled layer list scrolling with the mouse wheel over the depth view panel.
［Fixes］
-Resolved a stability issue that could occur when closing After Effects while the panel was open.
-Updated the help.
1.1.0 -
Jun 13, 2025
-Added support for layers with separated transform dimensions
[Fixes]
-Fixed an issue where the scroll bar would reset after manual numerical input
-Fixed an issue where the scroll bar would reset when pressing the expression deletion button
-Fixed UI refresh when changing window size
-Set the font for numbers to a fixed-width font
[Other]
-Updated help
1.0.1 -
Jun 9, 2025
1.0.0 -
May 31, 2025
Compatibility
After Effects
2025, 2024, 2023, 2022