Introduction

Move Anchor Point Version 3 allows you to quickly change the anchor point of a layer or group of layers without affecting any of its other properties, even if the layer has keyframes. Move Anchor Point has been redesigned from the ground up in version 3 in order to give much more preceise control over how and where you can quickly move anchor points. You can now move anchor points based on the selected objects individually as well as the selection as a whole. You can also choose to base movements on the composition coordinates.

Installing

Move Anchor Point Version 3 is a Script UI panel, and so it must be installed into the Script UI folder for your version of After Effects.

  1. Locate the Move Anchor Point 3.jsxbin file within the ZIP file you downloaded.
  2. Copy this file into the 'Script UI Panels' folder for your version of After Effects.
    • On a Windows Computer: C:/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe After Effects YOUR VERSION/Support Files/Scripts/ScriptUI Panels
    • On a Mac: ~/Applications/Adobe After Effects YOUR VERSION/Scripts/ScriptUI Panels
    It is important that you install the script into the 'Script UI Panels' folder and not just teh Scripts folder for the functionality to work properly.
  3. Now start After Effects. If the installation has worked correctly, you will see 'Move Anchor Point 3.jsxbin' at the bottom of the 'Window' menu.

You can also choose to run the script by going to 'File > Scripts > Run Script File...' within After Effects rather then installing it. However, if you run it this way, the panel can't be docked.

Using Move Anchor Point

Move Anchor Point Interface Guide

Move Presets

At the top left of the 'Move Anchor Point' panel, you will see a grid of nine boxes. These are the 'Move Presets'. Each button corresponds to a point to where the anchor point can be moved. Movements are different depending on what mode is active. ('Modes' are explained in the next section).

Modes

Move Anchor Point 3 has three different modes that affect how anchor points are moved. The choices are 'Object', 'Selection' and 'Composition' which can be chosen from the menu at the top right of the 'Move Anchor Point' panel.

Object

In this mode, all layers in your selection are calculated individually. So if you have 10 layers selected and you select the top left 'Move Preset' each layer's anchor point will be moved to its own top-left corner.

Selection

In this mode, all the layers in your selection are combined and any movements will be made on the average of all the layers combined.

Composition

In this mode, the movements are all based on the composition size and are not affected by your selection or any of the layer properties.

Z-Space Presets

The Z-Space presets will only be active in the 'Selection' mode and only have an effect on the anchor point if some or all of the layers in the selection are moved in 3D space. The three presets are 'Back', 'Middle' and 'Front' represented by groupds of three vertical bars. These presets can be used in combination with the 'Move Presets' to affect where in z-space the anchor points are aligned to.

Include / Ignore Masks

This option allows you to choose whether or not masks have an impact on where anchor points are moved. If masks are included, anchor points moves will be calculated after masks. If masks are ignored, the calcualtions will happen before masks are applied.

Custom Move

This area allows you to enter specific values for how anchor points are moved. The selected mode does apply to 'Custom Moves'. The three text boxes correspond to the X, Y and Z axies. Following these three boxes are 2 choices for value types. You can either choose 'px' to move anchor points to a certain pixel position, or '%' to move anchor points based on percent values. All values are relative to the upper left corner of the object, selection or composition depending on which mode is active.

To do a custom move, simply enter your desired values, choose the value type and click 'Custom Move'. You can enter number values as well as fractions and simple math if needed.

Match

This button allows you to match a layer's anchor point or group of layers to any other layer. To use this, select all the layers you would like to affect, then select the layer you would like to match to. Then click the 'Match' button.

Help

The '?' button will bring up this guide.

Questions / Comments

If you have any question, issues or suggestions for improving Move Anchor Point, please leave a comment on the BatchFrame Blog or send an email using the contact form or by emailing contact@batchframe.com.

Disclaimer

This script is provided AS IS without and guatantees or warranty. Although the author has attempted to find and correct any issues in the script, Jesse Toula and Batch Frame are not responsible for damages or losses of any kind from the use of this script. Jesse Toula and Batch Frame are under no obligation to provide any support, service, corrections or upgrades to the script.