Grow Fill

Grow Fill is an animated “infection” fill that creeps across a layer from seed points — through letters, around holes, along the layer’s own shape. It lives in the LAYER EFFECTS section (next to Running Glow, 3D Depth and Motion Blur) and is free on every layer type.

How the growth works

The spread is geodesic — it travels through the shape instead of wiping across it, so it flows along strokes, around counters and down the stem of a letter. Bridges let it jump between disconnected parts (separate letters, split logo pieces).

Three modes:

• Fill — paint the fill over the layer.
• Unfill — burn the layer away.
• Reveal — use the fill as a matte, revealing the layer as it grows.

Fill styles: Solid, Gradient by Age, a looping Gradient Wave, Noise Texture, or edges-only.

Animate it

• Grow Speed (%/s) advances the fill over the clip’s time with no keyframes needed. It’s keyframable — a ramp accelerates the growth smoothly.
• Start Fill is the (keyframable) starting offset.
• Or keyframe Fill directly from 0 → 100% for exact timing.

Seeds and the front

• Seed placement: Left / Center / Right / Top / Bottom / Scatter, with count, variation and stagger — or Manual (on canvas): click Edit points on canvas, then click the preview to add points, drag to move them, right-click to remove. Each point has its own delay, and points ride the layer through move/scale/rotate and keyframes.
• Speed maps (Turbulent Noise, Shape Flow, Combine) shape how the front advances.
• The Front has edge softness and organic waviness; a crisp Front Edge band (solid or a gradient across the band) carries its own glow, and an optional trailing Back Edge adds echo looks.

Presets

14 presets with gradient swatches: Ink, Glow Sweep, Electric, Fire, Ocean Wave, Neon Gradient, Neon Edge, Scan Sweep, Echo, Magic Mist, Handwriting, Frost, Burn Out, Disintegrate.

On 3D models

On a 3D model layer Grow Fill is real 3D: the infection field is baked over the model’s actual surface, so the front creeps around the geometry, respects occlusion, and rides the model through rotation and animation. In Manual mode, clicking the preview raycasts onto the surface — points stick to the 3D spot you clicked and survive layer transforms and camera moves. All looks work on models: Fill/Unfill/Reveal, every style, both edges with glow, speed maps and bridges.

Where to go next

• Layer Effects — Running Glow, 3D Depth and Motion Blur
• 3D Model Layers
• Overlay Effects