Parenter

Quickly reposition layers without affecting their animation!

No more trying to move layers with position keyframes. With Parenter, you just select the layers you want to move, click a button, and reposition them all together however you like!

Usage

Main Workflow

1. Select the layers you want to move.
2. Click the "Create Parenter" icon to group them under a new null layer. By default, it's created at the center of your selection.
3. Reposition the "Parenter" null to move all child layers together.
4. To move the Parenter without affecting the children, select it and click the "Toggle" icon. Click again to re-enable the connection.
5. Once you're done, click the "Remove" icon to delete the Parenter and restore the layers' original parents.

Adding Children to an Existing Parenter

1. Select the new layers you want to add.
2. Last, select the existing Parenter layer you want to add them to.
3. Click the "Create Parenter" icon. A dialog will appear to confirm the action.

Shortcuts & Modifiers

• Create Button:
  • Ctrl/Cmd + Click: Creates the Parenter at the position of the last selected layer.
  • Shift + Click: Creates the Parenter at the center of the composition.
  • Alt/Option + Click: Links the opacity of the affected children to the Parenter.
  • Right Click: Creates a 3D Parenter null (can be combined with other shortcuts).
• Remove Button:
  • Alt/Option + Click: Also restores the transformations (position, scale, rotation) applied by the Parenter.

With Parenter, you can also:

• Copy/Paste a parent to multiple layers at once.
• Clear parents from selected layers.

KBar Support

Parenter has full KBar support. You can add any function as a KBar button by running the script file with an argument. All functions, including Copy, Paste, and Clear, are supported. Key arguments include:

• Create / CreateLast / CreateComp (and their 3D versions)
• Remove / RemoveAndUndo
• Copy / CopyParent / Paste / Clear
• Launch (to open the UI panel)

Compatibility

• After Effects 22.0 (October 2021) and newer.

Notes

• The new parametric 3D shapes of AE 2026 aren't supported.