Please bring back the self-contained behavior of the old CC Composite

[yukio16918776]

The current CC Composite (v2.0) requires manually specifying a “Top Layer”, but I’d like to request the option to use the previous version (v1.10)’s behavior, where the effect automatically composites the layer’s own original image.

The old version worked fully self-contained, which made it much more practical for effect presets, templating, and layer duplication workflows.

While the new version is more flexible, needing to reassign the Top Layer every time is a real bottleneck for reusability and efficiency.

If possible, please consider:
- Keeping or making the legacy CC Composite behavior selectable
- Or allowing expressions like `thisLayer` in the Top Layer selector

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[Amos33168197vtfq]

YES PLEASE.  This issue has been driving me batty ever since the change.  It's so frustrating.

[TheMatia]

Apart from changing each CC Composite top layer individually, has anyone found a workaround?

[yukio16918776]

I personally use a workaround for this. I launch an older version of After Effects, apply the legacy CC Composite to any layer, and save it as an animation preset. This lets me use the old CC Composite in the latest version of After Effects. That said, I am not sure how long this method will continue to work.

[TheMatia]

Oh, that's a great idea for a workaround, thanks @yukio16918776 I'll give it a go.

[yukio16918776]

In my environment, this method works. You can see that the top one is the new CC Composite and the bottom one is the old version. Don’t mind that part of the UI is in Japanese—I’m Japanese and had ChatGPT help me with the translation. Haha.

[TheMatia]

Very helpful, thank you for this.

[TheMatia]

Sadly, I don't think I can install an old enough version for it!

[yukio16918776]

If you have any project files that used the legacy CC Composite, opening them in the current version of After Effects should bring up the old CC Composite as well. If you don’t have any, then unfortunately you might just have to hope for an official fix.

[Kyle Hamrick]

It would've been nice to have retained a "Legacy" version of CC Composite for this exact purpose. It sounds like one technically exists, but isn't directly accessible.