Geo Ops

Geo Ops (also called Shape Ops or Geometry Operators) are a live, non-destructive stack of operators on a layer. The layer's geometry flows through the stack from top to bottom every frame, so nothing is baked until you ask for it. If you know Cinema 4D's MoGraph, think cloners, effectors, fields and deformers. If you come from After Effects, think shape-layer Repeater, Trim Paths and Wiggle Transform, but stackable and with falloffs.

Where they live

• Shape layers: the Geometry Operators section in Properties. It is always shown on a shape layer, even when empty.
• Text layers: the same section. The glyphs are the clones, after any text animators.
• Group layers: the same section. The group's member layers are the clones.

Adding an operator

• Geo Ops menu in the menu bar: four flyouts, Generators, Effectors, Dynamics and Deformers. Choose an entry to add it to the selected layers.
• The add picker in Properties (titled Add Geometry Operator), searchable and split into the same four sections.
• The command palette: every operator is listed under Geometry · Generators / Effectors / Dynamics / Deformers.
• Effects ▸ Distort lists the deformers too. On a shape layer they become a Geo Op. On pixel layers, Bend, Twist, Taper, Bulge and Squash & Stretch are added as raster effects with the same parameters.

The four families

Working with the stack

• Order matters. Rotate then Cloner marches copies out from a rotated shape; Cloner then rotate spins the whole row. Noise Displace after a Cloner wobbles each copy on its own; before it, every copy is identical.
• Each row has an enable dot, a drag grip (⠿) to reorder, a twirl to collapse it, ↑ / ↓ to move it, ↺ to reset it to defaults and × to remove it.
• Double-click a row's name to rename it. A second operator of the same kind is numbered automatically ("Bend 2").
• Every number has a stopwatch and can be keyframed.
• The enable dot on the section header turns the whole stack off; the operators and their keyframes stay.
• Right-click a row or the section for Copy Operator, Rename Operator, Reset Operator, Copy Operators, Paste Operators, Reset All Operators, Bake to Shapes, Bake to Layers and Delete Operator.
• Bake to Shapes replaces the layer's shape contents with the stack's result at the playhead. Bake to Layers makes each group or copy its own shape layer above this one and hides the original. Neither is offered on a group layer.
• Preset menu: apply a built-in stack (Spirograph, Breakdown Dots, Rainbow Rings) or a saved one, or Save current stack…. Applying a preset replaces the stack and is undoable. Saved presets are stored on this machine.
• Looks menu (shape layers): restyle every shape's fill and stroke in one step, put back the Original, or Save look… from the selected shape.

Shortcut

Pages in this section

Start with Falloffs, which almost every effector and deformer shares, then look up the operator you need.

• Attract / RepelPulls clones toward a target point, or pushes them away with a negative strength.
• BendBends the shape around an arc, like a bar curling into a smile.
• BooleanMerges everything above it into one shape with union, subtract, intersect or exclude.
• BulgeSwells the shape outward from a centre, or pinches it with a negative amount.
• ClonerMakes a row of copies of the layer's shapes, each stepped by an offset, rotation and scale.
• ColorShifts the hue, saturation and lightness of clones, with a hue step per copy.
• DelayCascades animation down the clones so each one moves a little after the one before.
• DynamicsTurns every clone into a rigid body that falls, collides and bounces in the comp's physics world.
• Dynamics WorldThe comp-wide physics settings: gravity, drag, walls, forces, joints and baking.
• FalloffThe shared falloff block that decides where, and how strongly, an effector or deformer acts.
• FollowMakes clones trail a leader layer, with lag, randomness and optional spring.
• FractureSplits one shape into a clone per separate outline, so per-clone operators move each piece on its own.
• GridLays copies of the layer's shapes out in columns and rows.
• HoneycombLays copies of the layer's shapes out in a staggered honeycomb grid.
• ImageDrives each clone's scale, position and opacity from the pixel of another layer under it.
• InheritanceMoves each clone toward the matching clone of another shape or text layer.
• Make Chain from PathBuilds a hanging chain of linked rigid bodies along a shape layer's path.
• Make Rigid BodyMakes a whole layer a physics body that falls, collides, is keyframed, or hangs as cloth.
• Noise DisplaceWobbles the shape's points with smooth noise, optionally animated.
• OrbitSpins clones around a centre point over time.
• Path DeformBends the shape to run along a rail path, a mask or another shape layer's path.
• PieCuts a wedge out of the shape, keeping only the part between two angles.
• PlainPushes, rotates, scales and fades clones by the strength of its falloff alone.
• PlexusDraws lines between clones that are close to each other.
• Push ApartMoves overlapping clones apart until they no longer crowd each other.
• RadialArranges copies of the layer's shapes evenly around a circle or arc.
• Random TransformGives every clone its own random wobble in position, rotation and scale, optionally animated.
• Round CornersRounds the sharp corners of the shape's paths.
• Scatter on PathPlaces copies of the layer's other shapes along one of its paths.
• Shape Ops on GroupsShape Repeater, Grid, Trim Paths and Transform added to a single shape group inside a layer's Contents.
• SkewSlants the shape along an axis around an anchor point.
• SmoothRounds off a path's corners and can thin out its points.
• Soft BodyMakes every contour squash and wobble like jelly, or hang like rope, in the comp's physics world.
• SoundDrives clones from the level of an audio or video layer, as a spectrum or a single meter.
• Squash & StretchStretches the shape along an axis while keeping its volume, optionally from its own speed.
• Stamp on PointsPlaces a marker or another shape layer on every vertex of the layer's paths.
• StepOffsets each clone a little more than the one before, in position, rotation, scale and opacity.
• TaperNarrows the shape toward one end, turning a bar into a wedge.
• TargetTurns every clone to point at a target, or at the next clone to make a chain.
• TracerDraws a ribbon behind each clone through where it has been.
• TransformMoves, rotates and scales every clone (or the whole shape) by a set amount, optionally only inside a falloff.
• Trim PathsShows only part of each path, between Start and End, to draw strokes on and off.
• TwistTwists the shape around a centre, more toward the middle, and can keep winding over time.
• VisibilityHides clones where the falloff strength is below a threshold.