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After Effects plugins are additional software components that can enhance the functionality and features of Adobe After Effects, a popular video editing and motion graphics application. After Effects plugins can be used for various purposes, such as color correction, 3D animation, compositing, effects, and more.
Video Copilot After Effects Plugin
Video Copilot is founded by Andrew Kramer, a visual effects artist and motion graphics designer. Video Copilot provides users with various tools and resources to create stunning 3D effects, realistic lens flares, energy beams, lightsabers, and more. Some of the popular plug-ins from Video Copilot are Element 3D, Optical Flares, Twitch, and Saber.
Video Copilot also offers free plug-ins such as Orb, Color Vibrance. Video Copilot is a great source of learning and inspiration for anyone who wants to enhance their video projects with amazing visual effects.
Element 3D
Element 3D is a After Effects Plugin that allows users to create and animate 3D objects and particles in real time. Element 3D has many features and capabilities, such as importing 3D models from various formats, applying materials and textures, adding lighting and shadows, using advanced render settings, and more.
Element 3D also supports GPU acceleration, which means it can use the graphics card to perform complex calculations faster and more efficiently. Element 3D is a powerful and versatile tool for motion graphics and visual effects artists who want to create stunning 3D scenes and animations in After Effects.
Saber
Saber is a free After Effects Plugin that allows users to create and animate various types of energy and light effects, such as fire, lasers, neon lights, portals, and more. Saber has many features and capabilities, such as realistic glow falloff, advanced core settings, built-in distortion, 50 presets, dynamic text and mask outlines, and stackable effects.
Saber also supports GPU acceleration, which means it can use the graphics card to perform complex calculations faster and more efficiently. Saber is a powerful and versatile tool for motion graphics and visual effects artists who want to create stunning and creative energy and light effects in After Effects.
Optical Flare
Optical Flares is a After Effects Plugin for designing and animating realistic lens flares in After Effects. Optical Flares has many features and capabilities, such as 3D lens flares with AE lights, intuitive design interface, live visual preset library, real texture support, dynamic triggering animations, chromatic aberration. Optical Flares is a powerful and versatile tool for motion graphics and visual effects artists who want to create stunning and creative lens flares in After Effects
Animation Composer 3
Animation Composer is a free After Effects Plugin that is used by more than 600,000 motion designers. It is a library of adjustable motion presets, precomps and sounds that can help users to create and animate various types of content in After Effects. Users can add animated titles, shapes, backgrounds, illustrations, transitions, sound effects, text boxes, social media stuff and more to their videos with ease and speed.
Animation Composer also allows users to browse their own project files, compositions, MOGRTs, footage and audio files right in the plug-in interface. Animation Composer is a user-friendly and versatile tool that can save time and enhance creativity for motion graphics and visual effects artists.
Red Giant Trapcode
Red Giant Trapcode is a collection of After Effects Plugins that enable users to create and animate 3D particle systems and motion graphics. A plug-in that lets users create organic 3D particle effects and complex motion graphics elements. Users to create realistic simulations of fire, water, smoke, and other effects. Some of the plug-ins included in Red Giant Trapcode are
- Particular
- Form
- Mir
- Tao
- Shine
- Starglow
- Lux
- Echospace
- Sound Keys
DUIK BASSEL.2
Duik Bassel is a After Effects Plugin that enables users to create and animate 2D characters and objects using inverse kinematics (IK) techniques. IK is a method of animating that reverses the direction of the chain of bones in a skeleton. For example, instead of moving the thigh to position the knee, you can move the foot to position the knee and the thigh automatically. Duik Bassel was developed by Rainbox Laboratory, a non-profit organization that produces free and open source tools for animation and video games. Duik Bassel provides users with various features and capabilities, such as:
- Rigging tools: Users can create bones, controllers, constraints, and auto-rigging systems to control their characters and objects. Users can also import and export rigs to reuse them in other projects or share them with other animators.
- Animation tools: Users can use keyframes, expressions, or procedural animation to animate their characters and objects. Users can also use animation presets, motion blur, stretch and squash, and other effects to enhance their animations.
- Other tools: Users can use Duik Bassel to create camera rigs, automate walk cycles, generate random values, manage project files, and more.
RowByte – Plexus 3
Plexus manipulate and visualize data in a procedural manner. Users can render particles and create various relationships between them using lines and triangles. Plexus also supports GPU acceleration, motion blur, sound effector, slicer object, seamless beams, and improved OBJ import. Plexus is designed to bring generative art closer to a non-linear program like After Effects.
Users can create stunning and creative motion graphics and visual effects with Plexus. Plexus is available for purchase from aescripts.com1 or from Rowbyte, Users can also download a free trial version of Plexus from the website.
Redgiant – Magic Bullet Suite
Magic Bullet Suite is a set of After Effects Plugin that provide users with various tools and effects for color correction, finishing, and film looks. Magic Bullet Suite is developed by Red Giant, a company that sells plug-ins for video editing and motion graphics software. Magic Bullet Suite consists of several plug-ins, such as:
Looks
A plug-in that lets users apply over 200 presets or create their own custom looks for their videos. Users can adjust the color, contrast, exposure, saturation, and other aspects of their footage with intuitive controls and sliders.
Colorista
A plug-in that lets users perform professional color grading and correction on their videos. Users can use scopes, wheels, curves, and masks to fine-tune the color balance, contrast, and exposure of their footage.
Denoiser
A plug-in that lets users remove noise and grain from their videos. Users can use advanced algorithms and settings to reduce noise without losing detail or sharpness.
Cosmo
A plug-in that lets users smooth skin and remove blemishes from their videos. Users can use simple sliders and masks to adjust the skin tone, texture, and softness of their footage.
Mojo
A plug-in that lets users add cinematic color and contrast to their videos. Users can use presets or customize their own settings to create stylized looks inspired by Hollywood movies.
Renoiser
A plug-in that lets users add film grain and texture to their videos. Users can use presets or customize their own settings to create realistic or artistic grain effects.
Film
A plug-in that lets users emulate the look of real film stocks on their videos. Users can choose from 22 negative stocks and four print stocks, or create their own custom film stocks with various controls.
Mocha Pro
Mocha Pro is a After Effects Plugin that enables users to perform advanced planar tracking and visual effects tasks. Planar tracking is a technique that tracks the motion of a flat surface in a video, such as a wall, a floor, or a screen. Mocha Pro uses this technique to track and replace objects, remove unwanted elements, stabilize shaky footage, insert 3D objects, and more. Mocha Pro also supports GPU acceleration, which means it can use the graphics card to perform complex calculations faster and more efficiently
- Object Removal: Users can use Mocha Pro to remove unwanted objects from their videos, such as wires, rigs, logos, or people. Mocha Pro can automatically fill in the missing pixels with clean plate frames or background layers.
- Rotoscoping: Users can use Mocha Pro to create and animate precise masks for isolating or replacing parts of their videos. Mocha Pro offers various tools for creating and editing splines, such as area brush, magnetic spline, edge-snapping, and point grouping.
- Stabilization: Users can use Mocha Pro to smooth out shaky or jittery footage. Mocha Pro can lock the movement of a tracked layer to a stabilized position or apply the inverse movement to another layer for match-moving effects.
- Lens Calibration: Users can use Mocha Pro to correct lens distortion in their videos. Mocha Pro can analyze the curvature of a tracked surface and generate a lens profile that can be applied to the whole video or exported to other applications.
- 3D Camera Solver: Users can use Mocha Pro to extract 3D camera motion from their videos. Mocha Pro can track multiple planar surfaces and calculate the position, rotation, and focal length of the camera. Users can then export the camera data to After Effects or other 3D applications for compositing or motion tracking.
- Stereo 360/VR Support: Users can use Mocha Pro to work with stereoscopic 360-degree videos. Mocha Pro can track and mask spherical footage with minimal distortion and seam errors. Users can also use Mocha VR, a specialized version of Mocha Pro, for more VR-specific features such as horizon stabilization, reorienting, and nadir patching.
Superluminal Stardust
Superluminal Stardust is a plug-in for Adobe After Effects that allows users to create and animate 3D particle systems and effects in a modular and node-based way. Users can combine 3D models, particles, effects, and more in one shared space, and control them with various parameters and presets. Superluminal Stardust also supports GPU acceleration, volume rendering, VDB import, 3D camera solver, and stereo 360/VR support. Superluminal Stardust is a powerful and versatile tool for creating stunning and creative motion graphics and visual effects in After Effects
Lockdown
Lockdown is a plug-in that enables users to track warping surfaces and planes in their videos. Warping surfaces are those that bend, twist, or deform in some way, such as a face, a shirt, or a flag. Tracking warping surfaces can be useful for various purposes, such as beauty retouching, object removal, stabilization, 3D integration, and more. Lockdown uses a unique algorithm that analyzes the motion of the pixels on the surface and creates a mesh that follows the warping.
Users can then apply effects, masks, or paint to the mesh and it will stick to the surface. Lockdown 3 is the latest version of the plug-in, which adds 3D depth to the mesh and allows users to export it to Cinema 4D, Blender, and other 3D applications.
Deep Glow
Deep Glow is a plug-in that allows users to create and animate realistic and beautiful glow effects in their videos. Deep Glow simulates the inverse square falloff of light, which means that the glow becomes brighter and more intense as it gets closer to the source. Deep Glow also features intuitive compositing controls, such as input masking, glow aspect ratio, chromatic aberration, tint options, and blending modes, to help users refine their glow results.