There is a new monkey in town, and this one does layers. If you recall how TypeMonkey took the pain out of creating kinetic type animations in After Effects, Ebberts and Zucker’s new LayerMonkey for After Effects is set to do the same for animating compositional layers.
LayerMonkey is a versatile script for After Effects that arranges and animates your comp’s layers in time and space
LayerMonkey can create randomized and complex kinetic layouts using layers in your comp based on parameters entered into the control panel and Works with stills, video, pre-comps, shapes, solids, text, eps and pretty much any other type of layer AE accepts.
The author’s note that LayerMonkey is in fact similar to TypeMonkey, although LayerMonkey does need a bit more setup than TypeMonkey. The predominant difference between the two is that TypeMonkey is built to be a type generator, and although LayerMonkey can give you similar results with text, those layers need to be prepared manually.
So whats the difference? The main difference is that TypeMonkey is custom built as a kinetic type generator. It’s a workhorse. All you need to do is enter your text into the text box and click build. It also allows you to switch between multiple layouts with a few simple key commands.
The question remains, if they are similar which is better? Neither- they’re different. LayerMonkey is more flexible but requires more setup and TypeMonkey is fast and easy but more limited. You just need to pick the right simian for the job.
LayerMonkey has a special intro price until Dec 16, 2013, to learn more about LayerMonkey for After Effects, check aescripts + aeplugins here.
thekinginyellow
i tried to use it about a month ago and got so frustrated because i started to adjust things to fit my needs as far as scaling and whatnot and the whole rig just fell apart repeatedly. i ended up losing about half a days work due to fiddling with the layers and linking and behind the scenes stuff. i can see this script being useful only if you’re needing a quick fix for basic out of the box kinetic type. if you need a more custom design it’s probably better to just do it the old fashioned way with keyframes by hand!
aescripts+aeplugins
This is exactly what LayerMonkey is designed to address. If you require more control over your layers then LayerMonkey is the tool you should use. TypeMonkey was designed to be quick and easy to use with the compromise of custom control.
Orrin Zucker
I agree- If you have the time (and budget), theres no beating custom design work.
Thanks for the mention Lester!
thekinginyellow
sorry, i just noticed this was a “new” script called layer monkey and not type. after my experience with type monkey i probably wouldn’t even bother with layer monkey.
aescripts+aeplugins
Thanks for the mention Lester, just a quick note that we rebranded to aescripts + aeplugins (no caps or special emphasis). Would you mind updating our name in the post?
Lesterbanks
sure thing 🙂