Create and place null parents

Create one null for the group

Select the layers in the active composition and click Adopt. By default, the null goes at their Bounds center at the playhead. This uses the layers’ source rectangles transformed into world space. It is not a measurement of every visible effect or masked pixel.

For a center based on anchor points instead, change Null Placement to Anchor average in Settings. That averages the adopted layers’ world-space anchors. Null layers use their anchors even with Bounds center. Cameras and lights use their origins.

With no selection, you see Select layers to adopt. Locked layers are skipped. If every selected layer is locked, unlock the layers you want to adopt and try again.

Give each layer its own null

Hold Shift and click Adopt. Each unlocked selected layer gets its own null at its anchor, regardless of Null Placement. The layer becomes that null’s child, and its new null takes the layer’s previous parent.

For example, a layer named Title gets a null named Title Nanny with the default settings. All the new nulls become selected. This is useful when individual layers need separate rotation or motion controls.

Place the shared null at one layer

Select the layer whose anchor you want to use first, then add the other layers to the selection. Hold Alt and click Adopt. On macOS, use Option. The shared null goes at the anchor of the first unlocked layer in the selection order.

This overrides Null Placement for this click. Holding Shift and Alt together creates a null per layer, because Shift takes precedence.

The hover preview changes from one shared hub to separate hubs with Shift, or moves the shared hub to one side with Alt.

Keep an existing branch together

Shared Adopt works on selected layers that have no selected ancestor. A selected child remains under its selected ancestor, so the branch stays intact. The null’s placement, timing, and adopted count use those top layers of the selected branches.

For example, select Arm and its child Hand. Adopt inserts a null above Arm; Hand remains a child of Arm. The count is 1 adopted.

If those top layers all share a parent, the new null becomes a child of that parent. If their parents differ, the new null has no parent and becomes their shared parent instead.

Avoid including a locked ancestor in the selection for shared Adopt. It can prevent adoption of its unlocked descendants. Troubleshooting explains the workaround.

What the new null keeps

The name and label settings apply when a null is created. Nanny places nulls at the current time; it does not add animation to them.