Delay offsets animation down the clone list. It delays the keyframed shapes and operators above it, and optionally the layer's own transform keys and its parents'.
How to use it
- Animate the shape, an operator above Delay, or the layer itself.
- Put Delay below a Cloner, Grid or Radial (or on a text layer): Geo Ops ▸ Effectors ▸ Delay.
- Choose a Mode and set its amount.
If Delay is on a shape layer with no generator above it, the row warns "Nothing to cascade yet"; drag it below a Cloner, Grid or Radial.
Parameters
| Name | What it does | Default/range |
|---|---|---|
| Mode | Time: each clone a fixed time behind the last. Blend: every clone eases after its motion. Spring: every clone chases it on a spring, overshooting and settling. | Time |
| Delay | (Time) Time between one clone and the next. | 0.1 s |
| Count | (Time) What each step counts: Clones, or a text layer's Characters, Words or Lines. | Clones |
| Random | (Time) Varies each clone's delay. | 0, 0–1 |
| Seed | (Time) Which random pattern. | random at add time |
| Blend | (Blend) How long the easing lags. | 0.2 s |
| Stiffness | (Spring) How tightly clones chase. | 120 |
| Damping | (Spring) How quickly they settle. | 0.3, min 0 |
| Delay the layer's own motion | Keys on this layer's Position, Rotation and Scale cascade too, so moving the layer makes the clones trail behind it. | On |
| Falloff | Where it acts. See Falloff. | off (everywhere) |