What It Does
Drop and Slide is a script by Gary Reisman that automates the creation of dropdown menu controls in After Effects. Normally, building a dropdown to switch between layers or drive source text requires writing expressions by hand and setting up null objects manually. Drop and Slide handles all of that in a few clicks, creating a control null with a configured dropdown and the necessary expressions already attached.
It covers three main use cases: switching layer visibility or transforms, selecting frames via time remapping, and changing source text content from a dropdown list.
Key Features
Drop Select Layers. Select any group of layers and the script creates a dropdown menu on a null control layer, using those layer names as the menu items. The dropdown can control Opacity, Position, Scale, or Rotation, individually or all at once. Useful for presentation-style compositions where you need to reveal one element at a time.
Drop Select Time Remap Frame Selection. Provide a custom list and the script sets up a dropdown to select specific frames from a time-remapped layer. Includes an optional opacity expression that fades the layer between selections.
Drop Select Source Text. Creates a text layer whose content is driven by a dropdown menu, pulling from selected layer names or a custom list. Updating the list later is as simple as editing the expression. In After Effects 2026 and later, a basic mode option also lets you change text direction from the dropdown itself.
Dropdown Offset Slider. The advanced mode adds a slider that lets you dynamically slide between selections, rather than jumping to discrete items. Controls for spread, curve, bias, and looping give you fine-grained control over how selections transition, which opens up animated possibilities beyond simple switching.
The script is particularly handy when building MOGRTs, where clean dropdown controls are a standard requirement for template end-users.
Who It’s For
Motion designers who build templates, especially MOGRTs for broadcast or client delivery, will get the most out of this. It’s also useful for anyone managing multi-state compositions where layers need to be toggled cleanly, or for creating animated text displays driven by a single control.
Pricing
Drop and Slide is available on aescripts.com with a pay-what-you-want pricing model. A free trial is available for download before purchasing. A floating server license option is also offered for studio use.
