Fling arranges selected After Effects layers into lines, grids, rings, bursts, arcs, spirals and waves, or scatters them with a slingshot drag. It saves you from placing each layer by hand.
The rectangle in the pad represents your composition. Choose a layout, drag in the pad and watch the dots preview where your layers will land. Release to place them.
Fling is a free tool in the Motion Dock. It works on the unlocked layers you select in the active composition.
Place a layout in one drag
Choose Ring for a simple first result. Press near the middle of the pad and drag outward. Your press sets the center, and the drag sets the radius. Release to arrange the layers around the circle.
The preview uses one dot per selected, unlocked layer. It shows target positions in the pad. The actual artwork stays in After Effects.
Make your first layout starts from an open dock and takes you through adding Fling and placing a ring.
Refine the shape
Open Edit Mode when you want an exact size, a particular number of grid columns, several rings or a different wave shape. Its separate window sends a preview to the pad. Apply places the layout on the layers currently selected in After Effects.
Properties in that window can also change Scale and Rotation. Follow turns layers along a curve, or outward in a burst. The Rotation choice carries over to later pad drags.
Move from one layout to another
Enable keyframes, place a layout, move the playhead and place another. Fling writes ordinary After Effects keyframes. Stagger lets each layer wait its turn while keeping the moves the same length.
Use Fling for repeated artwork, particle arrangements, icon grids or transitions between shapes. For the clearest match to the pad, start with unparented layers. Fling lays out layer anchor positions and preserves each 3D layer’s Z position.