What It Does
Layer Sitter replaces After Effects’ standard parenting workflow with a filterable list and quick controls. Instead of dragging pickwhips or scrolling through long layer lists, you can parent selected layers to existing ones by filtering for enabled, soloed, locked, shy, or labeled layers. The plugin also creates custom nulls with specific positions in both the composition and timeline, and preserves existing parent chains when you rework hierarchies.
Key Features
Quick Parents lets you store up to five commonly used parent layers per comp. Click a button to parent selected layers to any stored Quick Parent, or select it directly. Removing a Quick Parent from the list doesn’t break existing parenting chains.
Filterable layer list shows all potential parent layers with options to filter by status or label color. Layer Sitter automatically disables layers that can’t be used as parents, so you won’t accidentally create circular references.
Custom null creation generates new nulls with control over where they appear in the comp and timeline order. You can set the null’s position to match a specific layer, the comp center, or other preset locations.
Select Parent and Select Children buttons navigate up and down parent chains. Useful for complex rigs where you need to trace relationships or modify hierarchies.
Who It’s For
Character animators working with multi-layer rigs will find the filterable list and Quick Parents faster than pickwhipping through dozens of layers. Motion designers who build complex parent structures for title cards, lower thirds, or infographics can use the null creation and chain navigation to stay organized. Anyone managing comps with more than a few dozen layers benefits from the filtering and automation.
Pricing
$8 for a single-user license. A free trial is available to test the workflow before purchasing.