One of the many things I love about After Effects is how large its ecosystem is. Out of all the compositing applications I’ve come across, no application has as many resources or add-ons than After Effects. This is especially true when it comes to the tools available for creating animations. Many long-time users of AE know of the motion parameters used to create animations that are simple and complex. However, when time isn’t always on your side and you need to create stunning animations quickly, look no further than these offering of animation tools.
LayerMonkey/TypeMonkey/MotionMonkey
From the talented folks of Ebberts and Zucker, these three animation assistants allow you to create animations involving kinetic typography, camera moves between 3D layers, and more.
LayerMonkey is a script that arranges and animates your composition’s layers in time and space. It also creates a parented camera and generates a master control layer that makes timing and global adjustments a piece of cake. To see what this script is capable of, take a look at the demo below:
TypeMonkey is a script meant to simplify the process of creating kinetic typography. According to the features description, it can create random kinetic type layouts based on parameters entered into the control panel. It also allows for keyframeless timelines to make changes to timing as simple as sliding a marker, and distributes words evenly over the length of the composition or work area. See what it can do in the demo below:
MotionMonkey is the other animation script that allows you to animate very complex designs and layers in a matter of seconds. It can create a wide range of animations of your layered designs based on parameters entered into the control panel. It works with most layers including text, stills, video, pre-comps, solids, shapes, .ai, .psd, nulls, and parented layers. Another fun thing about this script is how it interacts with VideoCoPilot’s Element 3D. In the demo and Element 3D tutorial below, you can witness the power and ease this script offers:
Overall, I believe these three scripts are must haves for increasing the speed which you are able to crank out complex animations in a short time frame.
These tools are essential if you want to rig and animate characters in After Effects. Utilizing the concept of inverse kinematics, Duik Tools simplifies the process by rigging the character of your choice with controllers on various body parts. These tools include an inverse kinematics tool, bones and puppet tool, autorig, animation tools, and more. The best part about these sets of tools is that they are free, so you definitely want to have this as part of your arsenal for those character animations you may get down the line.
This plugin is the creation of AE guru and VFX artist Andrew Kramer. It allows you to control the After Effects camera and move between layers in 3D space with ease. Included as part of the functions of this plugin is the ability to wiggle, auto rotate, dolly, and roll the AE camera. This plugin originally started as a preset, but soon became a fully functional and much respected plugin. I’ve personally used this camera animation plugin on numerous occasions, and can say that it gets the job done. You can witness the power of this plugin by watching this tutorial below:
If you are looking for animation tools or plugins that allow you to be a fast animator in After Effects, look no further than this collection. These tools definitely help users create complex animations that need to be done as soon as possible. These options won’t disappoint.
