About Block Swap

Block Swap randomly shuffles image blocks in After Effects and Premiere Pro. Block width and height can be set from 1 (noise‑like) up to 4096 (large tiles). Shuffle Strength defines the percentage of blocks swapped, and Shuffle Spread controls the distance between swapped blocks. Direction modes allow swapping anywhere, within rows only, or within columns only. The effect can apply to all RGBA channels or be limited to a single red, green, blue, or alpha channel. A Time Shift section pulls blocks from other frames using a time step in seconds, while a Mask Filter confines swapping to areas defined by a mask source layer. Version 1.5.1 supports After Effects and Premiere Pro releases from CS6 through 2026.

Features

• Channel control: apply the effect to all channels equally with RGBA, or target the red, green, blue, or alpha channel individually
• Block Width and Height set the block dimensions, from 1 for a noise-like effect up to 4096 for large tiles
• Shuffle Strength sets the percentage of blocks swapped, and Shuffle Spread controls how far apart the swapping occurs
• Direction modes swap blocks anywhere in the image, only within their rows (Horizontal), or only within their columns (Vertical)
• Time Shift pulls blocks from other frames using a time step in seconds, forwards or backwards, with an Exclusive Mode that applies the shift to blocks only
• Mask Filter limits swapping to certain areas via a mask source layer, with an adjustable Intensity
• Random Seed sets the swapping order and can be animated to move blocks around randomly

Best for

Random recomposition, clean noise textures, blocky glitch effects, and transition animations.