Choose how far to split
Expand Contents in After Effects before splitting unfamiliar artwork. Think about which parts you want to animate together.
| Click on Explode | Pieces you get |
|---|---|
| Click | Top-level groups that contain paths. Loose paths directly under Contents stay together as one additional piece. |
| Shift-click | Groups reached by descending through nested groups until a group directly contains paths. |
| Alt-click | Individual paths, including rectangles, ellipses and stars. |
Hover Explode to preview the piece count. Hold Shift or Alt before clicking to see the count for that depth. The glyph and hint change with the modifier.
This example selection has three top-level pieces, five deep pieces and eight paths. Your count comes from your selected layers.
Separate nested groups
Suppose Artwork contains Face, which contains Eyes and Mouth. A normal click keeps Face together. If Face has no paths of its own, Shift-click descends into Eyes and Mouth.
Deep splitting stops when a group directly contains a path. If that group also has nested groups, those nested groups stay with it. Use Alt-click when you need every path separated. If you hold both modifiers, Alt wins.
Separate individual paths
Select the source layer and Alt-click Explode. Each path keeps the fills, strokes and shape operators along its group hierarchy. Ancestor group transforms remain in the piece too.
A single path in a group uses that group’s name. Multiple paths directly inside the same group receive numbered names, such as Face 1 and Face 2. Loose paths use the source layer’s name with numbering when needed.
Separating paths changes which paths a shared operator can act on together. Check artwork that relies on interactions between paths, such as Merge Paths, after splitting.
Split several layers at once
Select multiple shape layers and use the same click. Explode splits each eligible layer separately. A layer with fewer than two pieces at that depth stays untouched. Locked layers and non-shape layers are skipped.
The pieces keep their source’s stacking order, timing, label, parent, blend mode, motion blur and 3D switch. Shape properties, keyframes and expressions remain on the retained contents. Effects from the layer’s Effects group are omitted, with a count in the success message.
For a single Timeline layer containing the results, enable Precompose pieces in Settings before splitting. Each source gets its own precomp named <layer> pieces.