Select the layers you want to arrange, then click Edit Mode, the sliders button at the right of Fling’s toolbar. A separate editor window opens. Watch the Fling pad for the placement preview as you change controls.
Set the shape and size
Choose a shape across the top. Its own controls come first. Open Transform to set its position and dimensions.
For a centered oval, choose Ring, set X and Y to the composition center, then unlink Height from Width. Enter different dimensions.
Use Start Angle to turn a ring's starting point. For shapes with an Angle control under Transform, use that to change their direction.
Use the shape controls to change its character. A grid can fill by Rows, Cols or Spiral. A ring can have up to five rings. A wave can be Sine, Triangle, Square or Sawtooth. Layout controls explains every option and default.
The shuffle button, Shuffle randomness, makes a new random arrangement wherever the current controls use randomness. The reset button restores only the current shape’s controls. Transform and Properties keep their values.
Turn layers along the shape
Open Properties and set Rotation to Follow. In rings and arcs, layers align with the curve’s tangent. On spirals and waves, they follow the curve where each layer sits. In Burst, they face outward from the center. Follow is unavailable for Slingshot.
Fixed gives every layer one angle. Random chooses an angle between Min and Max. Off leaves rotation alone.
Rotation is remembered as you edit, even before Apply. After closing the editor, pad drags use that saved Rotation too. Set it to Off when you want later drags to leave layers facing their current direction.
The pad previews positions and scale, using round dots. Check the artwork’s rotation in After Effects after applying. A zero-degree heading points along the layer’s local positive X direction, so artwork drawn facing another direction may need its own adjustment.
Scale sets an absolute uniform percentage, and Variance varies it per layer. A computed value of exactly 100% leaves that layer’s existing Scale unchanged. Pad drags always leave Scale alone. Jitter under Properties adds random position variation across the whole layout.
Apply and keep refining
Click Apply, or press Enter while focus is outside a text field. The layout is applied to the layers currently selected in the active composition. The editor stays open, so you can adjust and apply again. Its selection count refreshes while it is open.
After Apply, Fling chooses a new random seed for the next preview. Random layouts can therefore change after placement. Deterministic layouts stay the same.
Click Close or press Esc to leave Edit Mode. Closing discards the unapplied placement preview. It does not undo an earlier Apply or the saved Rotation choice. If keyframes are enabled in the main pad, Apply uses those animation options too.