Open Paraplex

Motion and echo

A motion preset adds the touches an animator would draw by hand: a pill that stretches as it races and squashes as it stops, a card that leans into a turn, a bounce as it lands. Paraplex works them out from how the layer moves, so there's nothing extra to keyframe. An echo trails fading copies of the layer behind it, like a smear of motion.

The same orange pill sliding to a stop four times: with no motion preset, with Squash & stretch, with Lean and with Bounce on arrival

Where to find it: the Motion and Echo sections, with a layer selected.

Add a motion preset

  1. Animate the layer's position, such as a slide in. See Animation basics.
  2. In the Motion section, pick a preset.
The Motion section: Squash & stretch chosen, with Amount and Settle and a line describing the preset
PresetWhat it does
Squash & stretchStretches along the way it's traveling, by how fast it goes, and squashes when it stops. A sliding pill lengthens, lands fat, and settles.
Follow-throughLags behind its own move and settles a moment after it arrives
AnticipationPulls back a little before a move begins, the way a jump starts with a crouch
LeanTilts into the direction it's traveling, most when it's fastest
Bounce on arrivalA springy bounce when it stops, along the way it came, as big as the speed it arrived with

Amount sets how strong the effect is. Settle sets how quickly it calms down. Both have a ◆, so you can turn the effect up for one move and down for another.

The preset is worked out from the layer's position keyframes. Change the move, and the stretch or the bounce changes with it. A layer whose position isn't keyframed shows nothing.

Tip

Motion presets look best on fast moves with a hard stop, such as an Expo out slide. On a slow, even drift they barely show. See Easing and springs.

Add an echo

An echo draws copies of the layer from a moment ago trailing behind it: a number sliding in with its last few values ghosted, a word arriving with a smear of itself.

A white card sliding to the right, five fading copies of it trailing behind
  1. Select an animated layer.
  2. In the Echo section, set Copies above 0.
The Echo section: Copies 5, Every (s) 0.05 and Decay 0.6
SettingWhat it does
CopiesHow many copies trail behind, up to 8. 0 turns the echo off.
Every (s)How far apart in time the copies are. Small values make a smooth smear, larger ones a row of separate ghosts.
DecayHow much fainter each copy is than the one in front, as a share of its opacity

Each copy is the layer exactly as it was that much earlier, its keyframes, text animation and counter included. Scrubbing and the export show the same trail as playback.

See what's moving a layer

Both show in the layer's Animations section with everything else that moves it. See Rigs and formations.