Bring Layers In
Select layers in your comp, then click New or a starter in the Sploosh panel. The selected layers come into the lab as obstacles. The Bring selected layers toggle at the top of the panel turns this on and off.
Already in the lab? Open Layers at the top of the window. It lists every layer in the comp the liquid could react to. Use the add button to make the layers selected in After Effects obstacles too.
Sploosh reads each layer’s shape from how it renders, so text, shape layers, footage and precomps all work. Lights and cameras are left out.
Pick a Role
Each layer gets one role:
| Role | What the liquid does |
|---|---|
| Ignore | Doesn’t know the layer is there. |
| Obstacle | Flows around the layer. |
| Container | Stays inside the layer’s shape. |
| Fill | The layer itself melts into liquid at the chosen moment. |
| Drain | Disappears inside the layer. |
Moving Layers
Tick Follows its animation on a layer that moves. Sploosh captures it on every frame, so a moving layer carries, tips and pours whatever it holds. An animated cup can pour into a glass, and a glass that swirls swirls the liquid in it.
Leave it off for layers that stand still. Capturing every frame takes longer.
Fills That Melt
A Fill layer turns into liquid. Click the layer to pick which liquid it becomes and when:
- Melts at is the moment the layer starts turning into liquid.
- Melts over is how long the melt takes to sweep across the layer. 0 melts it all at once.
- From top melts the top first and runs it down over the rest. From bottom melts the bottom first so it drips away.
When baked, a feathered mask hides the part of the layer that has already melted, so the layer and its liquid hand over cleanly.
After Editing Layers in After Effects
If you change a layer in After Effects while the lab is open, use the refresh button in Layers to read the comp again and recapture every layer.
Your own layers need the lab to be opened from After Effects. They can’t be added while the lab runs on its own.