Scaling up without ruining up position

[Bob Root]

If I understand your question correctly, it’s a pretty simple task.

Parent the layers you would like to scale up to a null object and use the null object’s scale to resize.

Hope this helps.

-Bob

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

Or if you need to scale up the entire composition use the script that comes with AE.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Walter Soyka]

[Henning Tveito] “I’m wondering how I can scale up several objects without messing up each layer’s position? there must be an easier way than having to replace the position of each layer? If I select all my layers and scale them up – the layers will move on top of each other, messing up the position. I ahve quite a few layers, so re-positioning them is almost more work than doing everything all over again.”

You got two good suggestions on how to accomplish what you’re looking to do; I’ll explain why the process above is giving you those results.

Scaling (and positioning, for that matter) works around a layer’s anchor point. If the anchor point is in the middle of a layer and you scale it up, you’ll see the middle point remain as is, and you’ll see the layer grow out in all directions. If you set a layer’s anchor point to the upper right hand corner and scale it up, you’ll see the upper right corner stay in place, and the image will grow down and to the left.

When you select multiple layers and scale them together, each layer is scaling individually about its own anchor point. When you parent all those layers to a null and scale the null, you are effectively scaling all the layers together about the null’s anchor point.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
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