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After Effects
- New
Faux Lock
Faux Lock makes layers click-through in the After Effects Comp viewport while they stay fully selectable and editable in the Timeline. Stop fighting adjustment layers, guides, and mattes that swallow your clicks, lock them where they get in your way and keep editing them where you actually work.
Faux Lock
Stop fighting adjustment layers, guides, and mattes that swallow your clicks.
Lock them in the viewport, keep editing them in the Timeline. Faux Lock marks layers as click-through in the Composition viewer without turning them into untouchable Timeline objects.
Native real-time engine, not an ExtendScript workaround.
Mac and Windows, After Effects 2024 and newer.
Faux Lock makes layers click-through by toggling After Effects' built-in layer Lock as you click in and out of the Composition viewer. After Effects records every lock/unlock switch, so you may see a small "Faux Lock" entry in your Undo History. This is expected After Effects behavior for any plugin that touches the lock, not a project or plugin error. Faux Lock groups each switch into a single Undo entry to keep it as small as possible.
Selection click-through for Adobe After Effects.
The classic problem is a full-comp adjustment layer that intercepts every click in the canvas when you are trying to pick the layers beneath it.
Native Cmd/Ctrl+L locks a layer everywhere. Faux Lock splits the surfaces: locked where it gets in your way, free where you actually edit.
Mark the layers that should stop catching viewport clicks.
Add full-comp adjustment layers, guides, mattes, controls, or any top layer that gets in the way. Faux Lock keeps them visible and editable without letting them intercept canvas selection.
Free it in the Timeline, lock it again in the viewport.
Faux Lock follows your editing surface. Timeline selection temporarily releases a target so you can transform it, while viewport interaction restores click-through behavior.
Keep working while comps and target lists change.
The panel tracks target state as compositions update, so the lock list stays useful during normal After Effects iteration.
Readable target states at a glance.
A compact technical interface uses clear state color so locked, released, and active targets remain easy to scan in production work.
Precise control without the usual lock tradeoff.
Install Faux Lock
Install Faux Lock with the free aescripts + aeplugins manager app. It handles the panel, the native engine, licensing, updates, and trial activation in one flow.
- Open the aescripts + aeplugins manager app.
- Search for Faux Lock and install it.
- Restart After Effects.
- Open the panel from Window > Extensions > Faux Lock.
Requirements: After Effects 2024 (24.0) or newer, macOS 11+ or Windows 10+.
How it works
- Open the panel from Window > Extensions > Faux Lock.
- Select one or more layers and click + Add to make them targets.
- With Faux Lock enabled, targets become click-through in the Comp viewport.
- Select a target in the Timeline to temporarily free it for editing.
- Click back in the viewport to re-lock it, or turn Faux Lock off to release everything.
Why do I see a "Faux Lock" entry in my Undo History?
Faux Lock makes layers click-through by toggling After Effects' built-in layer Lock as you click in and out of the Composition viewer. After Effects records every lock/unlock as an Undo step. This is how After Effects works for any plugin that touches the lock, not a Faux Lock bug.
Faux Lock groups each switch into a single Undo entry to keep this as small as possible. This is expected behaviour.
Is this the same as locking a layer with Cmd/Ctrl+L?
No. The native lock makes a layer untouchable everywhere, including the Timeline. Faux Lock only blocks selection in the Comp viewport. The layer stays fully editable in the Timeline.
Does it work on both Mac and Windows?
Yes. Faux Lock supports macOS 11+ on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, Windows 10+, and After Effects 2024 or newer.
Does it collect any data?
No. Faux Lock collects no analytics or personal data, does not read project files or layer content, and makes no network connections of its own. Licensing and updates are handled by the aescripts manager.
Keep the layer.
Lose the click trap.
Discussions
Want to talk about it?
Head over to r/aescripts to chat with fellow users about this product.
Need Support?
Please open a support ticket to be connected directly with the author of this product
Version History
1.0.1 -
Jul 5, 2026
- Quick on/off toggle in the main panel. Enable or disable Faux Lock without opening Settings. Your targets stay in the list; disabled rows are dimmed so you can tell at a glance that Faux Lock is paused.
- Timeline selection highlight. When you select a layer in the After Effects timeline, the matching row in the panel is highlighted, so it is easy to see which target you are looking at.
Improved
- Two new options in Settings > General let you turn either of the above features off if you prefer.
- Updated the aescripts licensing framework to the latest version.
Note: this is a panel-only update. The core engine is unchanged.
1.0.0 -
Jun 29, 2026
- Make target layers click-through in the Composition viewport while they stay fully selectable and editable in the Timeline.
- Native real-time engine with live cursor hit-testing (macOS universal + Windows).
- Automatic, click-driven switching: select a target in the Timeline to free it, click the viewport to re-lock.
- Multi-target panel: add, lock, hide, select, or remove many layers at once.
- Compatible with After Effects 2024 and newer.
Compatibility
After Effects
2026, 2025, 2024
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