The Aescripts – Free Compose for After Effects from Aescripts offers countless tools to improve your productivity. It has Track Mattes that automatically adds needed mattes; NewMake, which forms groups similar to Photoshop; and NewShow, which makes groups collapse. NewMove helps to quickly move layers on the timeline, while NewCutoffs groups layers without cutting out their content.

Steven Twigg – Free Compose features

• Track Mattes: Add a track matte to any of your groups and update them to add mattes to layers that need them. Some layers may get precompiled automatically.
• NewMake: The selected layers can be grouped by hitting the ‘Make Group’ button, and if you don’t want to parent layers, hold alt.
• NewShow: Toggle visibility for all layers or only for the nested layers of a group by holding alt.
• NewMove: Move the group in the timeline to shift the positions of all layers in that group.
• New Cutoffs: Layer contents can be organized without pre-composition and cutting them off.
• NewEffects: Add or remove effects to a group layer while managing intended effects from nested groups like a sequence.

Aescripts – Free Compose in After Effects Documentation

Image 1: Control the group layers’ visibility and audibility with prior state remembered

Image 2: Layer groups like Photoshop without breaking expressions, parenting, or cropping