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Hani ElTiby
Inspiring
February 14, 2025
Answered

Child layer position isn't relative to it's parent anchor point anymore. Any one knows why?

  • February 14, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 625 views

What I was used to is if one layer is linked to another, the position value of the child becomes relevant to its parent anchor point position. So if the child's anchor point is perfectly aligned to its parent's anchor point, its position would be [0,0].

Lately I noticed it's not the case anymore. instead the child position is calculated from the top left corner of the parent layer.

I recently moved from Ae 23 to 24.6.4 (build 3)

Am I missing some updates? Anyone know why this is happening?

I can't find a reason for this behavior. The old way was definitely right.

    Correct answer JohnColombo17100380

    @Hani ElTiby In the case you've described you've described (specifically for sourced layers), the expected behavior is that the child sourced layer should go to [0,0] on the parent sourced layer, which is the top-left corner.

     

    (Sourced layers are those that have a source in the Project panel.)

     

    For non-sourced layers (Shapes, Text, etc), the expected behavior is that the child is centered on the parent layer.

     

    Cheers,

    - John, After Effects Engineering Team 

    2 replies

    JohnColombo17100380
    Community Manager
    JohnColombo17100380Community ManagerCorrect answer
    Community Manager
    February 15, 2025

    @Hani ElTiby In the case you've described you've described (specifically for sourced layers), the expected behavior is that the child sourced layer should go to [0,0] on the parent sourced layer, which is the top-left corner.

     

    (Sourced layers are those that have a source in the Project panel.)

     

    For non-sourced layers (Shapes, Text, etc), the expected behavior is that the child is centered on the parent layer.

     

    Cheers,

    - John, After Effects Engineering Team 

    H
    Hani ElTibyAuthor
    Inspiring
    February 15, 2025

    Thanks @JohnColombo17100380 and @Dan Ebberts 
    Maybe I got confused, I usualy need this behavior when adding Zero transform parent to a layer, most of the time it's a null, which works perfectly because its anchor point is in the top left corner already. Or maybe because I use 3D softwares which all reference the parent's anchor/pivot point not the object content.
    Thanks for your time.

      JohnColombo17100380
      Community Manager
      JohnColombo17100380Community Manager
      Community Manager
      February 14, 2025

      Hi @Hani ElTiby,

      Could you share a project that behaves differently in AE 2023 than in 2024? There haven't been any changes to the coordinate systems of layer parenting during this time. What you might be seeing is a difference in the coordinate systems of sourced layers (Solids, footage, stills, etc) and non-sources layers (Shapes, Text, Cameras, etc). Looking at a project would be the best way to determine the descrepancy you're seeing.

       

      Cheers,

      - John, After Effects Engineering Team 

      H
      Hani ElTibyAuthor
      Inspiring
      February 15, 2025

      Thanks @JohnColombo17100380 for the reply,
      I don't have 2023 installed anymore, so I can't reproduce the behavior I'm expecting.
      And it's hard to remember a specific project that has it. I'll try to ask my friends if someone still has 2023 installed.
      But until then, let me ask you a question. if a child is linked to a sourced layer (except for nulls) and its position value is set to [0,0] what is the normal behavior? should it go to the parent's anchor point or its top left corner? 

      Dan Ebberts
      Community Expert
      Dan EbbertsCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 15, 2025

      I think it's always been upper left corner for layers with sources (solid, video, still, null) and anchor point for layers without sources (text, shape)

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