Awesome After Effects

A curated list of awesome resources, plugins, scripts, tutorials, and more for Adobe After Effects. 😎🚀

Contents

• Official Resources
• Communities
• Content
• Scripts
• Plugins
• Software
• Tutorials
• Books
• Courses
• Contribute
• License

Official Resources

• Adobe After Effects - Official website.
• Adobe After Effects Help and Support - Official documentation and support.

Communities

• Reddit - r/AfterEffects - The After Effects subreddit for community discussions and sharing.
• Creative COW - After Effects Forum - Community forum for After Effects users.
• Twitter - #AfterEffects - Follow the latest After Effects discussions on Twitter.
• After Effects Facebook Group - Join the After Effects community on Facebook.
• Nexrender Discord - Community of people specializing in scripting and video generation automation.

Content

• Mister Horse - High-quality presets, templates, and tools for creating animated videos inside After Effects.
• AEJuice - Free and premium motion presets, transitions, and effects packs installable directly via a panel inside After Effects.
• LottieFiles - Platform for creating, previewing, and sharing Lottie animations exported from After Effects.
• Motion Array - Subscription library of After Effects templates, motion graphics presets, stock footage, and plugins.
• Mixkit - Free After Effects templates, transitions, and titles with no attribution or sign-up required.
• VideoHive - Envato marketplace with thousands of hand-reviewed After Effects project templates spanning titles, openers, and broadcast packages.
• MotionElements - Royalty-free stock marketplace with After Effects templates, stock footage, and motion graphics available via subscription or individual purchase.
• Envato Elements - Subscription library of After Effects templates including titles, openers, logo reveals, and motion graphics available under a commercial license.
• Storyblocks - Subscription platform providing unlimited downloads of royalty-free After Effects templates for corporate, promotional, and broadcast motion graphics.
• ActionVFX - Library of production-ready VFX stock footage elements including fire, smoke, explosions, and atmospheric effects for compositing.
• Motion Bro - Free panel for browsing, previewing, and applying third-party animation preset packs and transitions from multiple creators directly within After Effects.
• DailySounds - Free sound effects such as whooshes, impacts, UI clicks and risers, previewed in the browser and downloaded as MP3, WAV or OGG for commercial use.
• Uppbeat Motion Graphics - Subscription library of customizable After Effects project file templates, overlays, transitions, and LUTs updated weekly.

Scripts

• After Effects Scripting Guide - Community-maintained reference for the After Effects scripting API and ExtendScript object model.
• Ease and Wizz - A script that simplifies the process of creating complex easing and animation curves.
• Motion 2 - A powerful script for streamlining motion graphics and animation tasks.
• Duik Angela - Free, comprehensive rigging and animation toolset for character animation with auto-rig, IK/FK, and walk cycles.
• Overlord - A script for easily transferring shapes between Illustrator and After Effects.
• Flow - A script that simplifies the process of creating animation curves and paths.
• RailCut - Multi-track clip editing directly in After Effects with NLE-style tools like ripple edit, rolling edit, slip, and slide.
• Bodymovin - Exports After Effects animations to JSON format for playback on web and mobile using the Lottie library.
• Auto Crop - Automatically crops compositions to fit their contents, analyzing the full duration of the animation.
• True Comp Duplicator - Duplicates entire composition hierarchies including sub-comps while preserving folder structure and references.
• KBar - Creates custom toolbar panels with one-click buttons for scripts, effects, expressions, and presets.
• GifGun - Exports animated GIFs, WebP, and WebM files directly from After Effects via a one-click render queue workflow.
• Explode Shape Layers - Splits a shape layer into individual layers per shape, or merges multiple shape layers into one, with Illustrator conversion support.
• Rift - Shifts, sequences, staggers, and randomizes layer in/out points, keyframes, and markers across multiple properties in a single operation.
• AEVIEWER - Free media browser for previewing and importing After Effects project files and assets without leaving the application.
• BG Renderer Max - Renders compositions in the background using the After Effects engine with multiprocessing, MP4/ProRes output, and notification integrations.
• Anubis - CEP panel for exporting MP4 files from After Effects and Premiere with dynamic file naming and folder organization.
• BeatEdit - Detects beats in audio tracks and generates markers or keyframes to sync animations to music.
• Move Anchor Point 4 - Repositions layer anchor points to any corner, edge midpoint, or center without shifting the layer's position in the composition.
• pt_OpenSesame - Imports compositions and footage items from one After Effects project into another via a plain-text manifest file.
• Automation Blocks - Visual block-based scripting environment for building custom one-click automation tools without writing JavaScript.
• Buttcapper - Free script for batch-changing stroke caps and joins across selected shapes, layers, or entire compositions.
• Motion Tools Pro - Customizable workspace panel with over 30 built-in scripts for easing, keyframe management, and workflow optimization.
• RenderGarden - Splits compositions into segments and renders them across multiple CPU cores or machines directly from the After Effects render queue for multi-threaded output.
• Pastiche - Arranges layers into collage or swarm formations defined by a source shape layer, with support for morphing between formations and looping animation.
• Expression Universalizer - Rewrites project expressions to use locale-independent syntax, enabling sharing across non-English After Effects installations.
• AEUX - Transfers layers from Figma and Sketch into After Effects as editable shape layers, text, and images.
• Zorro The Layer Tagger - Tags layers with labels to enable group selection and isolation without pre-composing.
• TypeMonkey - Keyframe-free kinetic typography script that algorithmically lays out, animates, and syncs text sequences to audio.
• Beatgrid - Generates beat-synchronized markers and keyframes from manual BPM input or tap-tempo for precise audio-driven animation.
• Void - Null-layer alternative that links expression controllers to 2D position without adding visible null objects to the composition.
• EaseCopy - Copies and pastes keyframe easing curves independently from values, with smart scaling that analyzes animation direction and flips velocities as needed.
• Lazy 2 - Distributes layers and keyframes across the timeline along adjustable Bezier curves with pinching methods, a preset library, and KBar integration.
• Marker Conductor - Automatically places composition markers at specified time intervals or BPM with tap-tempo input and customizable marker comment templates.
• Workflower - Adds layer grouping, selective adjustment layers, matte merging, and a pre-rendering system to organize complex compositions without precomposing.
• Expressionist - Enhanced expression editor with syntax highlighting, line numbers, multiple cursors, auto-bracket closing, and Sublime Text-style keyboard shortcuts.
• Labels - Manages label colors for layers, keyframes, and project items with one-click assignment, group selection filtering, and label-based selection modifiers.
• Rubberhose - Shape-layer-based IK limb rigging system for fast character animation with one-click rig creation.
• Joysticks 'n Sliders - Pose-based rigging tool for character and facial animation using joystick and slider controllers.
• Limber - Flexible, shape-based limb rigging with IK/FK switching, auto-rotating hands, and over 100 presets.
• Ray Dynamic Color - Expression-linked color palette system for unified color management across entire projects.
• Squash & Stretch Pro - Behavior-based animation assistant with handcrafted motion presets and an integrated sound effects library.
• GEOlayers 3 - Renders editable custom maps using real geodata inside After Effects with animated routes, borders, and data-driven visualizations.
• Ray Dynamic Texture - Texture workflow panel that stores and re-applies textures including layer settings, effects, keyframes, and expressions to any layer in one click.
• Textue - Free text animation preset panel with 48 included presets, a motion preview on every card, and speed and spread dials added on apply.
• MATE for AE - AI agent panel that generates scripts, expressions, and render queue actions from natural-language prompts using GPT, Claude, Gemini, or Mistral.
• MAG (Make Ae Great) - Panel bundling 24+ scripts for layer grouping, keyframe orchestration, anchor point placement, and shape baking in one UI.
• LottieFiles for After Effects - Imports Lottie animations into After Effects and exports compositions as Lottie or dotLottie JSON files.
• Code Runner - Free dockable panel for organizing and one-click running scripts, expressions, presets, and menu commands from a single workspace.
• Renderly 2 - Defines custom render sections within a composition and batch renders multiple comps with reusable output settings, bypassing the work area bar.
• MotionAmigo - CEP panel that runs a Claude Code or Codex coding agent inside After Effects using your own AI subscription instead of API keys.
• SceneStasher - Saves and recalls named selections of layers and keyframes for quickly returning to specific moments in large timelines.
• Command Frame - Free searchable command palette exposing over 1,300 After Effects actions, with custom keyboard shortcuts for layers, effects, presets, scripts, and plugin commands.
• Reach Pro - Search bar and bookmarking panel for quickly finding and launching commands, effects, presets, scripts, and expressions.
• RenderSmith - Render management panel covering proxies, pre-renders, and final output with auto-versioning, auto-backup, and a quality guard mode.

Plugins

• Red Giant Universe - A collection of GPU-accelerated video effects and transitions for After Effects.
• Trapcode Suite - A set of 3D motion graphics and visual effects plugins for After Effects.
• Element 3D - A powerful 3D plugin for After Effects that allows you to import and animate 3D models.
• Saber - A free, highly customizable lightsaber plugin for creating epic visual effects.
• Optical Flares - A plugin for adding realistic lens flares and other optical effects to your videos.
• Newton 4 - 2D physics engine that simulates realistic collisions, gravity, and joint constraints for After Effects layers, baking results as standard keyframes.
• Deep Glow - GPU-accelerated glow plugin with physically accurate light falloff, HDR thresholding, and image-based glow.
• TextBox 2 - Creates automatically resizing shape backgrounds behind text layers without expressions or parenting.
• Shadow Studio 3 - Ray tracing-based plugin for simulating global illumination, ambient occlusion, and subsurface scattering driven by layer alpha channels.
• Sapphire - Suite of 270+ GPU-accelerated VFX effects with integrated Mocha tracking and a custom effect and transition builder.
• Stardust - Modular 3D particle system with a node-based interface supporting volumetric rendering, 3D geometry instances, and VDB file import.
• AutoFill 2 - Automates animated stroke and fill effects with a multi-layered style builder for compositing, blending, and displacement.
• Twixtor - Per-pixel motion-estimation plugin for high-quality speed changes, slow motion, and frame-rate conversion.
• Lockdown - Plugin for tracking and compositing onto deforming, non-rigid surfaces using mesh-based warp tracking.
• Mocha Pro - Planar tracking and rotoscoping plugin with object removal, stabilization, and PowerMesh organic warp tracking.
• Magic Bullet Suite - Color correction, film looks, and finishing plugin suite with GPU-accelerated grading and film emulation tools.
• AfterCodecs - Output module plugin for rendering H.264, ProRes, HAP, and HEVC files directly from the After Effects render queue without Media Encoder.
• ReelSmart Motion Blur - Adds natural-looking motion blur to footage by automatically tracking per-pixel motion.
• FX Console - Free quick-search command palette for applying effects, presets, and plugins without navigating menus.
• Plexus - Procedural 3D particle system that renders points, lines, and triangles between particles with OBJ mesh import and sound reactivity.
• Continuum - Suite of 350+ GPU-accelerated effects and transitions including Particle Illusion, Primatte Studio keying, integrated Mocha tracking, and AI-based image restoration.
• TV Distortion Bundle - Collection of five plugins simulating analog and digital video artifacts including glitch, chromatic aberration, and pixel effects.
• Fast Bokeh Pro - GPU-accelerated depth-of-field blur using depth maps with polygonal iris shapes and anamorphic bokeh support.
• Extrude - Extrudes live text layers, shape layers, and mask paths into 3D with directional and camera-aware modes and GPU-accelerated shading.
• Digit Fiddler - Animates counters, currency, time, and custom numeric sequences from a single slider with padding and monospacing controls.
• Mask Prompter - AI-powered rotoscoping plugin that generates and tracks masks from point selections or text prompts using deep learning.
• BAO Boa - Spline deformation plugin that distorts layers along mask paths for animating ribbons, ropes, and curved text with 3D controls.
• Datamosh - Glitch-art plugin that simulates video codec corruption with over 60 moshing algorithms and controllable pixel distortion effects.
• Moglyph FX - Procedural glyph cloner plugin inspired by Cinema 4D MoGraph for generating and animating text in grid, radial, and spline arrangements with effectors.
• Depth of Field Generator Pro - Post-production depth-of-field simulation plugin using depth maps with support for aperture shapes, bokeh, chromatic aberration, and tilt-shift effects.
• Aura - Generates animated 3D geometric wave forms and patterns with depth-of-field support and Multi-Frame Rendering compatibility.
• ORB - Free GPU-accelerated plugin for generating photorealistic 3D spheres with multi-channel texture mapping, specularity, and atmospheric glow.
• Autokroma Influx - Native importer plugin that adds After Effects support for MKV, AV1, HAP, and other formats not handled by Adobe's default decoders.
• Thicc Stroke - Free variable-width stroke plugin with gradient-along-path support, taper controls, and animated width profiles.
• Composite Brush - Paint-based color selection and keying plugin that creates accurate mattes by painting strokes directly on footage.
• BAO Bones - IK rigging and mesh-deformation plugin that enables full character animation on a single layer with keyframeable parenting and IK/FK switching.
• Pixel Sorter 4 - Pixel-sorting glitch effect with mask constraints, noise textures, and mirror-sort mode for creating seamlessly loopable animations.
• Neat Video - Noise and grain reduction plugin using temporal filtering and per-frame noise profiles to clean up footage from cameras, phones, drones, and film.
• Blace - AI-powered face detection and tracking plugin with automatic blur, pixelate, and custom mask replacement options for privacy redaction.
• Yanobox Motype - Text animation plugin distributed via FxFactory with 250+ presets for character-level 3D titles, light trails, and motion-painting effects.
• Silhouette - Rotoscoping and paint toolset with node-based compositing and point tracking, available as a standalone application or After Effects plugin.
• GPUDog - Pack of GPU-accelerated effects for After Effects rendering through Metal on macOS and Vulkan or D3D12 on Windows.
• Fractal Noise 3D - GPU-accelerated volumetric 3D fractal noise plugin with box, sphere, and cylinder geometry, domain warp, and depth-map import from other 3D applications.
• Fractal Noise Browser - Preset browser panel with over 200 animated Fractal Noise and Turbulent Noise presets for After Effects.
• Putty - Deforms layers and footage with an adjustable lattice or cage fitted directly to the artwork, as an alternative to the built-in Mesh Warp.
• SUMI - Simulates ink bleeding and absorption into paper surfaces such as washi, watercolor, and kent using any layer as a texture map.
• Entropy - GPU-accelerated particle system plugin from Wild Construct, currently in public beta.
• Higgsfield for After Effects - Panel for generating AI video and images, removing backgrounds, and upscaling footage without leaving the timeline.
• Projection 3D - Camera projection mapping plugin that turns still images into navigable pseudo-3D scenes with match-moving and object removal tools.

Software

• Nexrender - Data-driven render automation for After Effects.
• DataClay Templater - Simplifies and accelerates the process of creating customized videos.
• Cavalry - Standalone procedural 2D animation software with data-driven workflows, real-time rendering, and spreadsheet integration, free for individuals.
• Bolt CEP - Vite and TypeScript boilerplate for building CEP extension panels for After Effects in React, Vue, or Svelte with hot-module replacement and ZXP packaging.
• iArt - Creates motion graphics from prompts and visual assets, with plain-language editing and MP4 export.
• pitchboom.io - Generates motion-design video ads from a product URL or a short brief, with script, editable storyboard, voice-over and music, and exports MP4 in five aspect ratios.
• ae-mcp - Open-source MCP server that lets AI assistants control After Effects projects, layers, keyframes, and renders through a file-based bridge and CEP extension.
• Atom - AI agent that writes expressions, ExtendScript, animations, and rigs in After Effects from natural-language prompts.
• mirAI - MCP bridge that lets Claude, Cursor, and other AI agent tools control After Effects projects, layers, and renders directly.

Tutorials

• Video Copilot - Andrew Kramer's Video Copilot is a treasure trove of After Effects tutorials and tips.
• School of Motion - Provides a wide range of motion graphics and animation tutorials and courses.
• Mobox Graphics - Offers in-depth After Effects tutorials, especially in the field of motion design.
• Tuts+ - Tons of After Effects tutorials, articles, and courses on various topics.

Books

• "Adobe After Effects Classroom in a Book" - A comprehensive guide to mastering After Effects.
• "After Effects Apprentice" - A hands-on course in motion graphics with After Effects.
• "Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects" - A classic book on motion graphics and animation.
• "The After Effects Illusionist" - Explore advanced visual effects techniques.
• "After Effects Expressions" - Master expressions in After Effects.

Courses

• Motion Design School - Offers a variety of After Effects courses on motion design and animation.
• LinkedIn Learning - After Effects Courses - Various After Effects courses on LinkedIn Learning.
• Udemy - After Effects Courses - A wide selection of After Effects courses on Udemy.
• Coursera - Motion Graphics Courses - Explore motion graphics courses on Coursera.
• Skillshare - After Effects Classes - Creative classes and tutorials, including many on After Effects.
• Pluralsight - After Effects Courses - Professional After Effects training on Pluralsight.

Contribute

Contributions are welcome! Please follow our contribution guidelines to contribute to this list.

License

This list is licensed under the Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal.