There are a lot of After Effects plug-ins out there. Some are free, some you have to pay for. Some are very handy, and some you install and forget you have them. But in this post, I’ll go over the top two that I use almost every time I open the software.
Animation Composer
This plugin is free to install and use. It saves a lot of time for simple animation transitions. Some might think it’s cheating, but I like to think that we should work smarter, not harder. It accomplishes a lot of the heavy work in writing expressions and animating text animators for you.
To download Animation Composer, click here. You can also watch this short video below where I go over how to install it and use it inside After Effects.
FX Console
This next one isn’t as flashy, but is just as important. Created by the team at Video Copilot, this free plug-in is a navigational tool for After Effects. By using it, you can quickly access effects and apply them to layers in just a few key strokes.
To download FX Console, click here. You can also watch my video below to see how to setup FX Console and make it work for you.
Conclusion
Like I mentioned, there are a lot of plug-ins out there, but these two are the ones I use day in and day out. And best of all, they are free to use. If you have After Effects plug-ins that you would like to recommend, please add them below to the comments for others to see.
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John Vlach 