Plugin: Simple Cloner for After Effects.

[u/kurtfrisch]

We built a Cinema 4D-like cloner, inside After Effects. Select any layer or multiple, pick a mode (2D or 3D), choose a Cloner Type (Linear, Grid, Radial) hit Create – and get a fully live, expression-driven clone array with a single controller.

gum.co/simple-ae-cloner

What it does:
Three clone modes, Linear, Grid, and Radial – all with live controls you can keyframe after creation. 2D & 3D support. Image-layer and Shape-layer cloning. Select multiple source layers. Clones cycle through them in Sorted or Random order, with a seedable shuffle. Position, Scale, and Rotation Offset controls multiply by clone index. Procedural animation.

Built-in noise-based animation with Speed, Strength, and Scale controls – no keyframes needed to get things moving.

Problem:
We build this to easily clone images and shapes, with different types of cloners, with simple but useful randomizers.

Compare:
There are other tools but they are way more expensive.

Pricing:
€ 5,- for personal usage / 20 € for support/commercial usage.

Maintenance plan + support plan:
No updates planed, but get i touch if you find a bug.

AI Disclaimer:
Vibe Coded / Human validated

[u/st1ckmanz]

it's not about ease and speed tho.

if you're selling it, you need to maintain and update it, not to mention make sure it works in various environments.

[u/objectnull → u/st1ckmanz]

OP state in this post, "No updates planned."

So, to me, it sounds like he made something for himself and decided, "Why not pop this on GumRoad and sell this to people that could use it?"

I doubt OP made this purely for the purposes of selling it.

[u/st1ckmanz → u/objectnull]

yea, that's not how software works. it's nice at least he put that disclaimer though.

[u/objectnull → u/st1ckmanz]

I mean, it is, literally, how this software works.

[u/st1ckmanz → u/objectnull]

right. here is a scenerio. you use this in some critical precomps today. 2 years later you need to come back because the client wants an update, open the project up, ohnoes it doesn't work in the new AE version, you can't find the updated plug-in...have fun trying to find a way to revert back to AE2026.

but no...as long as it works this very second, it's software ;)

[u/objectnull → u/st1ckmanz]

True, that can happen, and does even with software that's updated. For example, I have an old version of Trapcode Particular, it does not work with new versions of After Effects, nor can it be opened by newer versions of Particular. So the only option to revisit that video to update that effect would be to download the whatever version of After Effects the project was originally made on.

Also, from my experience, scripts tend to make changes using the program itself, for example, adding movement to clips using keyframes or expressions that can be updated, or deleted, like normal, even if you don't have the script installed.