🔮
Interactive Infographics
Data points react as a cursor or element passes by, creating engaging animated charts and dashboards.
After Effects Extension
Proximity
Automatically animate layers based on proximity to a controller. Create reactive, distance-based animations without a single keyframe.
Ae
Get It in the Studio Included with your Filmit Studio subscription
Proximity v2.0
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Apply to Selected
The Problem
Reactive animation shouldn't take hours.
If you've ever tried to make layers react to movement, you know the pain.
⏱
Keyframing Every Layer
Want 20 layers to scale up as a shape passes by? That's 20 layers of keyframes, each timed and eased manually. Change one thing and redo them all.
✓ Proximity: Zero keyframes, automatic animation
📈
Complex Expressions
Writing distance-based expressions from scratch is error-prone and hard to maintain. One typo and your entire comp breaks with cryptic red errors.
✓ Proximity: One click, expressions auto-generated
🕐
Inconsistent Timing
Keeping animation timing consistent across dozens of layers is nearly impossible. Some layers feel too fast, others lag behind, and the whole thing feels off.
✓ Proximity: Unified falloff curves for perfect sync
Features
One controller. Infinite reactions.
Proximity turns a simple null into a powerful animation engine.
Distance-Based Animation
Layers automatically animate based on their distance from the controller. Closer means more effect, farther means less. Physics-like behavior, zero code.
No Keyframes Needed
Move the controller and watch layers react in real time. No keyframes to set, no timing to adjust. Just drag and animate.
Multiple Properties
Control scale, opacity, rotation, and position simultaneously. Each property has its own strength slider for fine-tuned reactive behavior.
Custom Falloff Curves
Choose from linear, ease-in, ease-out, or exponential falloff. Control exactly how the animation ramps up and fades out with distance.
Multi-Controller Support
Use multiple controllers with overlapping influence zones. Layers respond to the nearest controller, creating complex interactive compositions.
Real-Time Preview
See the proximity effect live as you move controllers through the comp. No need to RAM preview or render to check your animation.
Deep Dive
See how it works.
Everything Proximity does under the hood.
Falloff Curves
Shape the reaction with custom curves.
Linear falloff gives even distribution. Exponential creates dramatic snap-on effects. Ease curves produce organic, natural-feeling reactions. Pick the curve that matches your creative vision.
- Linear, ease-in, ease-out, exponential
- Visual curve editor in the panel
- Real-time preview as you adjust
- Save presets for consistent behavior
Falloff Preview
Properties
Animate any property based on distance.
Scale, opacity, rotation, and position can all respond to proximity independently. Stack them for complex reactive behavior or use one at a time for subtle effects.
- Independent strength per property
- Min/max value clamping
- Positive or negative influence
- Per-layer property overrides
Property Control
Scale0%
Opacity0%
Rotation0%
Position0%
Multi-Controller
Multiple zones, one unified system.
Create compositions with multiple influence zones that overlap and blend. Each controller can have its own radius, strength, and property set. Layers respond to whichever controller is nearest.
- Unlimited controllers per comp
- Independent settings per controller
- Overlapping zones blend smoothly
- Color-coded for visual clarity
Multi-Controller
Use Cases
Built for creative motion design.
From subtle UI reactions to explosive particle-like effects.
🎬
Title Reveals
Letters scale and fade in as a controller sweeps across them. Create organic text reveal animations in seconds.
✨
Particle-Like Effects
Scatter shape layers across the comp and watch them pulse, scale, and rotate as the controller passes through.
Setup
Reactive animation in four steps.
From install to animation in under two minutes.
1
Install via Studio
Download the Filmit Studio and install Proximity with one click. It appears in your AE Extensions menu.
2
Add a Controller
Create a null layer or use any layer as your proximity controller. Set the radius and falloff.
3
Select Layers
Select the layers you want to react. Choose which properties to animate and set the strength.
4
Animate
Move the controller across the timeline. All selected layers react automatically. No keyframes needed.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Proximity applies optimized expressions to the selected layers. You never need to write or edit them yourself. The panel handles everything. The expressions are lightweight and performant, with no noticeable impact on playback speed.
Proximity is optimized for real-time performance. Even with dozens of layers reacting to multiple controllers, you should see smooth playback in most projects. For very large compositions, you can limit which properties are animated to reduce overhead.
Any layer with a position property can serve as a controller: null objects, shape layers, solids, even text layers. Null objects are recommended for the cleanest workflow, but the choice is yours.
Currently, Proximity supports scale, opacity, rotation, and position offset. Each property has its own strength and direction controls, and you can animate any combination simultaneously.
Yes. Proximity is included with your Filmit Studio subscription at no extra cost. Download Filmit Studio, install Proximity from the tools list, and start animating. All updates are automatic.