Start with Motion Dock open in After Effects. If you have not installed it yet, follow Install Motion Dock.
Choose a starter
On an empty layout, click one of the cards under Choose a starter. Organizer is a useful place to begin if you want to try a simple layer task.
| Starter | What it puts within reach |
|---|---|
| Animator | Springy, Keymaster and Snippy, plus Clickety, Odo and BPM. |
| Organizer | Renamer, Lineup, Nanny, Copycat and Accordion, plus Dispatch, Yoink and Tidy. |
| Designer | Petals, Butthead and Explode, plus Fits and Spellbound. |
| Essentials | A longer arrangement of the 20 Essentials, grouped into Motion, Text, Layers, Shapes and Deliver. Scroll to reach the lower sections. |
Try a tool
For a first result with Organizer, open a composition and select two unlocked layers with no parents. In Nanny, click Adopt without holding any modifier keys. A new null appears, and both layers become its children without moving.
Move the null to move both layers together. Nanny’s first parenting guide covers the result and how to undo it. If it reports No active composition, activate the composition and retry. If it asks for layers, select the two layers again.
The starter is already usable. You do not need to enter layout mode to use its tools.
Make one change
- Click Edit layout, the grid button in the dock’s top bar.
- Click a tool to select it, then drag it to another position on the grid. Drag an edge or corner to resize it.
- Click Exit layout mode when you are done.
The tools now respond to their usual controls again, in your new arrangement. Layout changes save as you make them.
If a tool does not respond, check that you have left layout mode. While editing, clicking a tool selects its slot so you can arrange it.