changelog
What's new in MatterAE
Every meaningful change, newest first. MatterAE moves fast, so this page does too.
v1.6.314 June 2026
Added
- Marquee select in the preview. Drag a box across empty space to grab every shape inside it. Hold Shift to add to what you already have selected.
- Drag to select in the layer list. Click and drag down the rows to grab a whole range of layers at once.
- Auto-scroll. Click a shape in the preview and the layer list jumps straight to that layer, so comps with 100+ layers stay easy to move around.
- Multi-pin. "Pin to World" now works with several layers selected and pins them all in one go.
- Copy and paste constraint settings. Copy one constraint's tuning and paste it onto other constraints of the same type, including onto several at once.
- An instant loading overlay for the heavy jobs (bake, update layers, save project). It pops up right away, shows a progress bar, and cycles through physics-themed one-liners while it works, then closes itself when it is done.
Changed
- Kinematic layers now reliably wake sleeping layers on impact. A dozing layer that gets hit by a kinematic layer moving along its keyframe path wakes up and reacts straight away, while still being allowed to sleep the rest of the time to keep things smooth.
Fixed
- Hardened the action toolbar so a missing element can no longer crash the panel.
- Cleaned up the bake routine under the hood for more reliable bakes.
v1.6.211 June 2026
Changed
- The free version now lets you simulate and preview for the full length of your timeline. Only the bake to AE is still capped at 3 seconds.
- Set a duration longer than 3 seconds in the free version and you get a clear heads-up about the bake limit, instead of the field snapping back on you.
- A reminder now sits in the Bake panel while you are unlicensed and over 3 seconds, so nothing about the limit catches you out.
- The "Licensed to:" text is now a calm gray instead of a green badge, so it blends into the panel.
v1.6.111 June 2026
Added
- New Spike Filter slider per layer. If a tricky shape shoots out weird spikes, nudge it up. If it looks too blocky, nudge it down. Live preview while you drag, double-click to reset, and it applies across a whole selection.
Changed
- Smoother shapes out of the box: complex outlines come in less angular than before.
v1.6.011 June 2026
A big one.
Added
- Collision groups (1 to 8). Layers in the same group pass through each other but still hit everything else. Colored badges in the list and outlines in the preview show who is grouped with who, and a "Select Group" button grabs the whole group in one click.
- Per-layer hitboxes. Use the exact shape, or swap in a circle or rectangle for speed. Pad the collision edge in or out, round off corners so things roll, and MatterAE even reads your stroke width so stroked shapes collide on their visible edge.
- Chains, springs, rigid links and pins. Build a rope or necklace, spring things together, or pin a shape to a point and let it swing. A max-stretch limit keeps things from flying apart.
- Three timing modes for Kinematic layers: follow your AE keyframes from their original time, start straight away, or hold until something hits it.
- Text workflow. Bring in text and MatterAE offers to turn it into shapes, split it into one layer per letter, or leave it. Plus a Split Shape Layers tool that turns one busy shape layer into separate physics objects.
- A smarter import grid: reload selected, reload all, refresh geometry while keeping your settings, or add new layers without touching what is already there. Hidden layers come in as Inactive automatically.
- Collision markers on bake, so your sound design lines up to the frame.
- A Sync button that pulls your comp's duration into the panel.
- Copy and paste a layer's full setup onto any other layer, and randomize weights across a selection.
- World presets: Default, Bouncy Castle, Slippery Ice, Moon Gravity, Heavy Sludge. Plus Static Friction and Sleep Threshold sliders, a reset button, and tooltips all over.
Changed
- The layer panel got a full redesign into compact, AE-timeline-style rows.
- Friendlier names throughout: Bounciness, Air Resistance, Weight and Corner Rounding, instead of the technical terms.
- Kinematic layers now wait for their first keyframe by default.
Fixed
- Plenty. Shift multi-select is reliable now, layers no longer spawn stuck together, kinematic bodies never fall asleep mid-sim (so hold-then-release always works), padded hitboxes no longer break collisions, and complex letters fall back gracefully instead of turning into a mess.
v1.5.5
- Undo 30 steps deep, the hand tool for repositioning shapes, typable slider values, and per-layer weight affecting fall, momentum and bounce.
v1.5.4
- Cleaner shape reading and a scrollable layer panel.
v1.5.3
- Better handling of nested shape groups.
v1.5.2
- Rotation bake fixes.
v1.5.0
- Inactive layer mode, mode colors in the preview, multi-path shapes, import all layers, and convert to bezier.
v1.4.0
- The split-panel layout, welcome screen, Kinematic mode, save and load inside your AE project, and the "show outside comp" view.
v1.3.0
- The real physics engine landed, with file-based bake transfer and smoother simulation.
v1.0.0
- First release: read shapes, preview live, bake to a new comp.
Drop something. Watch it land.
Free to try with the whole plugin in your hands, or unlock it fully for $35, once, no subscription.