FS AE ProXimity

Distance-Reactive Animation in After Effects with No Keyframes

By Maxwell Ridgeway· 6 min read· March 2026

What Even Is Proximity Animation?

Imagine a grid of dots. When you move your cursor near them, they spread apart, glow brighter, or scale up — and snap back when you move away. You've seen this on high-end websites and motion design reels. It's mesmerizing.

In After Effects, building this from scratch means expressions, controllers, linking parameters, testing, debugging — advanced, time-consuming work even for experienced designers. ProXimity is that entire system, pre-built and ready to apply.

How ProXimity Works

●

Layers react to the controller's proximity — scale, opacity, position, rotation

Features

🎯

Controller-Driven

One null object controls everything. Move it and watch your layers respond in real time.

📈

Multi-Parameter

React with scale, opacity, position offset, rotation, or any combination. Stack for complex responses.

🎛

Range Controls

Set the distance at which layers start and stop reacting. Tight for snappy, wide for ambient.

📁

Any Layer Type

Shapes, text, footage, solids, precomps — apply to anything in your comp.

💨

Easing & Falloff

Smooth acceleration and deceleration as layers enter and exit the influence range.

💻

Zero Keyframes

Pure expression-driven motion. Animate the controller, and you've animated the whole scene.

What You Can Build

Interactive-feel UI animations for app demos and product showcases
Magnetic particle fields where elements cluster around a moving point
Depth simulations where foreground reacts more strongly than background
Title animations where letters react to a cursor-like controller
Ambient motion loops with subtle, atmospheric responsiveness

The Nerd Bit: Proximity animation in raw AE requires toComp(), length(), and linear() expressions linked to every layer individually. ProXimity does all of that under the hood, packaged into a clean panel with sliders.

Get Every Tool for $20/month

ProXimity + every other Filmit plugin, all updates included.

Download Filmit Studio →

Frequently asked questions

It is when layers react to a controller's distance, scaling, glowing, or moving as it gets near and snapping back as it moves away, like the effects on high-end motion reels.

No. ProXimity is the entire system pre-built. You apply it and your layers react to the controller's proximity without writing or debugging expressions.

Scale, opacity, position, and rotation can all respond to proximity.

It is included with the Filmit Studio subscription, which unlocks every Filmit plugin for $20 per month.

after effectsproximityexpressionsmotion designanimation

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