The right After Effects plugins can truly transform your workflow. Use the right tools so that you can focus on the important things and speed up through the time-consuming ones. Every animator, motion designer and 3D artist knows just how powerful After Effects is. But not everyone leverages the amazing third party plugins out there.
Here are my 5 favourite After Effects plugins which have speeded up my workflow massively.
© Video by Mt. Mograph
Motion by Mt. Mograph
Motion 3 is an extremely powerful script. It has over 45 tools and hundreds of controls. The script has had incredible support and feedback from the motion graphics community since its release in 2014. Motion lets you create high-end motion graphics animation in Adobe After Effects. The compact and user-friendly interface makes it easy to use. Once purchased you get a Lifetime License and access all future updates. Motion is by far the After Effect plugin I have used the most in every single one of my projects.
© Video by Adam Plouff
ButtCapper by Battle Axe
ButtCapper is so simple yet so powerful and can save you a lot of time. Up until now, there was no other way to change a stroke’s cap type without twirling down countless times. ButtCapper allows you to change stroke cap and join types with a single click. Additionally, its interface is small and straightforward, so it won’t affect your screen real estate.
© Video by Mike Overbeck
Ease Copy by Mike Overbeck
EaseCopy allows you to copy and paste your eases without overwriting your values. And you can copy and paste your values without overwriting your eases. EaseCopy is extremely versatile. You can copy over multiple eases in one click. They are transferable between all properties that can be interpolated. The user interface is small and simple so you can keep it docked at all times. It is true what they say: Big things come in small packages.
© Video by Batch Frame
Move Anchor Point by Batch Frame
Move Anchor Point allows you to quickly change the anchor point of a layer or group of layers without affecting any of its other properties, even if the layer has keyframes. Its interface is customisable so you can show only the tools you want and hide the ones you don’t need. Overall, this extension is compact and can save you so much time.
© Video by renderTom
Labels by renderTom
Labels helps you stay organised by easily setting label colours and selecting label groups with a single click. All you need to do is select a single layer or multiple ones and pick a colour. You can also set label colours for assets, folders, sequences and any other elements in your project window. You can even install custom themes to make your layers pop!
© Header Image by Dribbble Graphics