Thanks to Michael Delaney, you can now affect and control the properties of multiple layers in After Effects through a master layer, much like the way the Cinema 4D Shader Effector operates in the MoGraph module.
AE Shader Effector provides a quick way to control properties of multiple layers from the pixel values of another layer
AE Shader Effector provides a compact and dockable interface for a quick way to control multiple layer properties with the pixel values of another layer, allowing you to sample from the red, green blue, alpha or luma channels of the control layer.
This will allow you to control things like time remapping, and transformations such as position, rotate and scale as well as layer opacity from any number of layers. AE Shader Effector’s controls work dynamically, adjusting and animating remapping values and offer relative or absolute value options.
AE Shader Effector has a special intro price that is 50% off until Dec 30, 2013 -you can learn more about AE Shader Effector over at aescripts+aeplugins here.
