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media kat
Known Participant
May 8, 2026 2:27 PM UTC
Question

Scaling two items as a group?

I have an image and a video that I positioned on the comp after scaling both down so they are positioned how I want them.  I now want to scale both items down so they are real small so I can keyframe them both scaling up together. I will use parenting to get them both to scale up together How do I scale both of them in proportion to a small size? Is there a way to group them both to do this? They are not yet keyframed

 

Thanks
 

 

    2 replies

    Nishu Kushwaha
    Community Manager
    Nishu KushwahaCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    May 8, 2026 3:17 PM UTC

    Thanks for your question! If you want to scale two or more items together as a group, the easiest and most common workflow in After Effects is to use a Null Object as a controller.

    Create a Null Object (Layer > New > Null Object), then parent both layers to that null using the Parent & Link pick whip. After that, when you scale the null, all child layers will scale together while keeping their relative spacing/layout intact.

    A quick tip: if you want them to scale from a specific point, position the Null's anchor point there before parenting.

    Let me know how it goes.


    Thanks,

    Nishu

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      media katAuthor
      Known Participant
      May 8, 2026 4:23 PM UTC

      After using the Null Object to scale both layers together, do I now keyframe one of the images and then use it to parent with the other layer the same way that I would have done before using the Null Object? OR do I keyframe just the Null Object since they are “grouped”? I have not worked with Null Objects yet and I am not yet in front of my computer to try this.

      Thanks!

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