Take control of your shape layers!
Take control of your shape layers with Explode Shape Layers, a handy script for After Effects. Explode Shape Layers lets users explode and merge layers for more control, remove artboard artifacts easily, convert Illustrator layers into shape layers, and more.
Explode shape layers
Do you deal with a lot of shape layers, or shape layers from Adobe Illustrator? Explode will take a shape layer and split each shape out into its own individual layer, for finer control & easier access. Alternatively, you can Merge multiple shape layers together into a new layer!
Tired of having to right-click your .ai layer to make it into a shape layer? Use Convert!
If any of your Illustrator layers have non-100% opacity or go outside of the frame, you’ve probably noticed that converting brings in an empty artboard artifact that gets in the way. No more! Remove it with Remove Artboard.
Now, your new shape layers probably have a ton of strokes and fills that need adjusting– that’s what Select Fills and Select Strokes are for. One-click buttons to select all fills or all strokes in your comp, or hold shift to find any fills or strokes with the same colour as the selected.
Description
Headless Version
Standard users should only be concerned with installing the file main to their ScriptUI folder, which will give you a dockable panel. However, if you use something like ft-toolbar2 or The Commander, you may want to be able to run the script directly without the real estate that yet another panel provides.
Running the jsxbin file directly will execute either Explode or Merge only, without any UI panel popup. By holding down certain modifier keys while launching the script, you can alter functionality as such:
- Alt/Option – Merge selected shape layers together (vs explode)
- Shift – Delete source layer(s)
- Ctrl/Cmd – Use selected shape groups instead of (default) all
Combine any of the above to mix effects.
System Requirements
After Effects 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, CC 2019, CC 2018, CC 2017, CC 2015.3, CC 2015, CC 2014, CC, CS6, CS5.5, CS5
Change Log
3.5.3 – Jul 19, 2021
• Error message when trying to EXPLODE not enough items
• EXPLODE now works with nested shape groups
3.5.1 – Feb 5, 2020
• CONVERT inheriting traits from first layer in the comp
3.5.0 – Jan 10, 2020
• Headless buttons
• CONVERT for AE text layers to shape layers
• Warning when EXPLODING too many items
• Option to toggle whether CONVERT should also REMOVE ARTBOARD
• Option to toggle whether EXPLODE should explode top-level fills/strokes/etc
• kbar argument support for main toolbar file
• Improved error loggingChanged
• Removed the confusing “Use All” switch!
• MERGE will set new layer’s in/out points to source in/out points
• REMOVE ARTBOARD can now delete empty shape groups
• Modifiers now work with toolbar
• CONVERT will now copy layer settings from the source layer
• Improved progress bar behavior
• Updated and improved button icons
• Updated licensing
• Tweaked Options panelFixed
• Various bugs when centering anchor points
3.4.8 – Oct 22, 2019
3.4.7 – Mar 20, 2019
– Fix bug with ‘remove artboards’ failing in some cases
3.4.6 – Mar 13, 2019
3.4.5 – Nov 3, 2018
– Fix inverted behaviour with SELECT FILL/STROKES
– Fix crash when merging properties with non-linear keys using very small eases
– Fix crash with MERGE failing on more properties
3.4.4 – Jan 29, 2018
3.4.3 – Mar 11, 2017
3.4.2 – Jan 19, 2017
3.4.1 – Dec 14, 2016
– MERGE preserves layer in/out points
3.4.0 – Dec 13, 2016
– REMOVE ARTBOARDS expanded to remove more artboards! Yay!
– CENTER ANCHOR POINT now works with 3d position/anchor/scale – no rotation yet!
– Fixes bug with CONVERT not centering anchor points
– Fixes bug with CONVERT failing on non-.ai file types (like .pdf and .eps)
– Fixes bug with CONVERT failing on AE14.0+ (CC17+)
– Fixes bug with EXPLODE and MERGE failing if ‘Contents’ is highlighted
– Fixes bug with MERGE failing if gradient properties exist on layer
– Better error handling
– Plenty of code optimizations
3.4.0 – Dec 11, 2016
– REMOVE ARTBOARDS expanded to remove more artboards! Yay!
– CENTER ANCHOR POINT now works with 3d position/anchor/scale – no rotation yet!
– Fixes bug with CONVERT not centering anchor points
– Fixes bug with CONVERT failing on non-.ai file types (like .pdf and .eps)
– Fixes bug with CONVERT failing on AE14.0+ (CC17+)
– Fixes bug with EXPLODE and MERGE failing if ‘Contents’ is highlighted
– Fixes bug with MERGE failing if gradient properties exist on layer
– Better error handling
– Plenty of code optimizations
3.3.1 – Aug 4, 2015
3.3.0 – Aug 5, 2015
internal change to how settings are saved;
improved progress bars;
fixed position-offset bug with exploding a rotated layer;
exploding a layer with separated dimensions no longer crashes ESL;
improved ‘convert’ experience
3.2.1 – Jun 18, 2015
3.2 – Apr 24, 2015
Select fill/stroke behavior changed; only looks at current layer by default; hold shift to look at the whole comp, and/or hold alt to select same fill/stroke.
Convert now respects anchor points & auto-removes artboards.
Merged layers inherit parent switches. Hold shift when removing artboards to remove empty groups.
Removed count alerts. Several bug fixes & improvements.
3.1 – Mar 11, 2015
Convert layers removes ‘Outlines’ text, moves new layer above original and now respects ‘delete source’
Added ‘Select Same’ functionality for fills & strokes, based on colour
Can now toggle count alerts and appending the layer name to exploded shapes when exploding
Fixed bug with script failing when exploding a position-animated layer
'%3e%3cg id='Final-Copy-2_2_' transform='translate(1275.000000, 200.000000)'%3e%3cpath class='st0' d='M7.4,12.8h6.8l3.1-11.6H7.4C4.2,1.2,1.6,3.8,1.6,7S4.2,12.8,7.4,12.8z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3cg id='final---dec.11-2020'%3e%3cg id='_x30_208-our-toggle' transform='translate(-1275.000000, -200.000000)'%3e%3cg id='Final-Copy-2' transform='translate(1275.000000, 200.000000)'%3e%3cpath class='st1' d='M22.6,0H7.4c-3.9,0-7,3.1-7,7s3.1,7,7,7h15.2c3.9,0,7-3.1,7-7S26.4,0,22.6,0z M1.6,7c0-3.2,2.6-5.8,5.8-5.8 h9.9l-3.1,11.6H7.4C4.2,12.8,1.6,10.2,1.6,7z'/%3e%3cpath id='x' class='st2' d='M24.6,4c0.2,0.2,0.2,0.6,0,0.8l0,0L22.5,7l2.2,2.2c0.2,0.2,0.2,0.6,0,0.8c-0.2,0.2-0.6,0.2-0.8,0 l0,0l-2.2-2.2L19.5,10c-0.2,0.2-0.6,0.2-0.8,0c-0.2-0.2-0.2-0.6,0-0.8l0,0L20.8,7l-2.2-2.2c-0.2-0.2-0.2-0.6,0-0.8 c0.2-0.2,0.6-0.2,0.8,0l0,0l2.2,2.2L23.8,4C24,3.8,24.4,3.8,24.6,4z'/%3e%3cpath id='y' class='st3' d='M12.7,4.1c0.2,0.2,0.3,0.6,0.1,0.8l0,0L8.6,9.8C8.5,9.9,8.4,10,8.3,10c-0.2,0.1-0.5,0.1-0.7-0.1l0,0 L5.4,7.7c-0.2-0.2-0.2-0.6,0-0.8c0.2-0.2,0.6-0.2,0.8,0l0,0L8,8.6l3.8-4.5C12,3.9,12.4,3.9,12.7,4.1z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e)
Your Privacy Choices Notice at Collection