What It Does
rd: Kinda Sorta adds a dockable panel to After Effects that sorts layers based on specific criteria. You can organize layers by name, in/out points, position, opacity, distance from a point, or other properties. When sorting selected layers only, the script moves them to the top of the composition.
The script handles edge cases that other sorting methods miss. Unnamed layers (those with names in brackets) sort separately before renamed layers. For negatively stretched layers, the in and out points are identified by their positions in comp time, with out times treated as in points and vice versa.
Key Features
Layer name sorting. Sort alphabetically, with unnamed layers in brackets appearing first.
Position and spatial sorting. Organize layers by their position values or distance from a specific point in the composition.
Timing controls. Sort by in points, out points, or layer duration.
Property-based sorting. Arrange layers by opacity or other layer properties.
Selected or all layers. Work with only selected layers (moving them to the top) or process the entire composition at once.
Dockable panel. Install in the ScriptUI Panels folder to access from the Window menu in After Effects CS5 or later.
Who It’s For
Useful for motion designers managing complex compositions with many layers. If you frequently reorganize layers by specific attributes or need to batch-process layer order based on timing or position, this script eliminates manual dragging. The script was featured in the Aetuts+ Cinematic Opening Title Redux tutorial.
Pricing
Free as part of the rd: scripts collection. The developer encourages users to make a donation to a charity of their choice.