Duplicate layers BELOW the original?

[Brendon Murphy]

Not to my knowledge, but you can quickly select the lower duplicate by using “Command+down arrow”

Brendon Murphy
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Creative/Post
http://www.brendonmurphy.net

[Brendon Murphy]

And probably “WindowsButton+down arrow” on a PC

Brendon Murphy
________________
Creative/Post
http://www.brendonmurphy.net

[David Cabestany]

Thanks, however that’s not going to work for my purposes, I’m trying to duplicate layers and depending on their position on the stack I either write index+1 or -1. If I don’t create the layer in the correct order beforehand the expression returns an error.

[Philip Bowser]

This isn’t applicable if there is only one layer in the comp. But if there are multiple, then copying and pasting could be used instead of duplicating. AE will paste a layer directly above the current layer that is selected. So you could copy one layer (for instance lets say it’s layer 4) and select the layer below that (layer 5) and then paste and it will make a copy above layer 5/beneath layer 4.

But perhaps you are trying to duplicate a layer a few hundred layers. It’s way easier to press Command D a bunch of times than copying, selecting the layer below, and pasting.. There’s a situation I’ve been in where I needed to duplicate a very large number of layers with expressions applied to them that reference an index above/below. But then I realized that I needed to invert the order they were arranged in. The easiest way to do this is to select the layers in the comp from the bottom to the top, copy, delete them all, then paste, and AE will paste them from top to bottom the order that you selected them in. This is a pretty neat feature in After Effects that I’ve used a lot to save myself time re-organizing layers. What ever order you select layers in is the order that they’ll be pasted from top to bottom.

It may help to turn off your expression before duplicating so you don’t get any annoying errors.

Hope any of this helps!

Philip. Bowser

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

It is likely that your Expression needs fixing. Either post the Expression here or at the COW’s AE Expressions Forum to seek a solution.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Natalie Wilkinson]

I am having a similar problem *i think* and need help! I am working with the audio spectrum on one layer, and I decide I want two audio spectrums in this comp so I copy and paste. This seems to work fine until I preview the comp and realize the second audio spectrum will not play. Can anyone help?