Slider Control is a type of Expression Control effect in Adobe After Effects that allows you to create a single control slider for use in expressions. It’s incredibly useful for controlling animation properties like scale, opacity, position, and more—making your workflow flexible and efficient.
🔧 What is Slider Control?
Slider Control is an effect located under:
Effects & Presets > Expression Controls > Slider Control
It adds a numerical slider to a selected layer that can be referenced using expressions to control various properties.
🪜 How to Use Slider Control – Step-by-Step
Step 1: Add Slider Control
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Select the layer (usually a Null Object or Adjustment Layer).
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Go to Effects & Presets panel.
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Search for Slider Control.
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Drag it onto your selected layer.
Step 2: Rename for Clarity (Optional)
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Rename the Slider Control to something meaningful like "Opacity Controller" or "Wiggle Amount" to avoid confusion.
Step 3: Link to a Property Using Expression
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Hold
Alt(Windows) orOption(Mac) and click the stopwatch icon on the property you want to control (e.g., Opacity). -
Use the Pick Whip tool to drag from the expression field to the Slider Control.
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Example expression:
effect("Slider Control")("Slider")
Step 4: Customize the Animation
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You can now animate the slider values from the Effects Controls Panel, and the linked property will respond accordingly.
🎯 Use Cases of Slider Control
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Control the intensity of wiggle.
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Animate text opacity or position.
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Adjust scale or rotation based on one control.
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Link to multiple layers to maintain consistent animation.
💡 Pro Tips
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Combine Slider Control with other expressions like
wiggle(),time,valueAtTime()for dynamic results. -
You can parent multiple properties to one Slider for global changes.
🧠 Example Use: Wiggle Controlled by Slider
freq = effect("Slider Control")("Slider");
wiggle(freq, 30)
This lets you animate the frequency of wiggle using the slider.
✅ Conclusion
Slider Control simplifies animation in After Effects by giving you a central point of control. It makes your projects cleaner, more organized, and easier to adjust—even when you need to make changes last-minute.
