Enter Edit layout, select Explode, and click Module settings in the top bar. You can also double-click its slot in layout mode or right-click it and choose Module settings. Settings save as you change them and apply to later actions.
Start with the defaults to keep source layers available and give each result its own anchor. Turn on Precompose pieces when you want the exploded pieces collected inside a new composition.
| Setting | Default | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Center anchors | On | Centers each exploded piece’s anchor, or the merged layer’s anchor, on its bounds at the playhead. Adjusts Position to keep it in place when centering is supported. |
| Original layer | Hide it (shy and off) | Keeps processed sources with visibility off and Shy on. Delete it removes them. Cmd/Ctrl-click reverses this choice once. |
| Precompose pieces | Off | Explode creates one precomp per processed source, named <layer> pieces. The new precomp layer is selected instead of its pieces. Merge ignores this setting. |
When anchors stay unchanged
Centering is skipped when the result has keyframes or an enabled expression on Anchor Point, Scale or Rotation. For 3D pieces, X Rotation, Y Rotation and Orientation also prevent centering when animated. Empty bounds or a failed 3D position calculation can also leave the anchor unchanged. There is no separate warning for this.
Position keyframes alone do not prevent centering. The same compensation is applied to their values, including separated dimensions. Existing expressions are not rewritten, so inspect expression-driven artwork afterward.
What happens to originals and children
With Hide it (shy and off), After Effects’ master Hide Shy Layers switch determines whether the source row remains visible in the Timeline. To recover a hidden source, reveal shy layers and turn its visibility back on. Turn the result’s visibility off to avoid drawing both versions.
With Delete it, children of a removed source are reparented to that source’s parent. Locked children are temporarily unlocked and then relocked. To restore the original hierarchy, undo the action.