Plug-ins

Plug-ins are small software modules—with filename extensions such as .aex, .pbk, .pbg, and .8bi—that add functionality to an application. After Effects effects are implemented as plug-ins, as are some features for importing and working with certain file formats. The Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in, for example, provides After Effects with its ability to work with camera raw files.

Important: Because After Effects CS5 and later is a 64-bit application, only 64-bit plug-ins can run in After Effects CS5 and later. Plug-ins created for previous, 32-bit versions of After Effects will not run in After Effects CS5 and later. To inquire about availability of 64-bit versions of plug-ins, contact the plug-in vendor or provider.

    Installing and loading plug-ins

    You can obtain plug-ins for After Effects and other Adobe products from Adobe or other vendors. For specific instructions for installing a plug-in, see its documentation.

    When After Effects starts, it loads plug-ins from several folder, including the Plug-ins folder. If a plug-in doesn’t come with an installer or with specific instructions for its installation, then you can usually install the plug-in by placing it in the Plug-ins folder.

    By default, the Plug-ins folder is in the following location:

    • (Windows) Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS5.5\Support Files

    • (Mac OS) Applications/Adobe After Effects CS5.5

    Several plug-ins come with After Effects and are automatically installed in the Plug-ins folder.

    When loading plug-ins, After Effects ignores the contents of folders with names that begin and end in parentheses; for example, the contents of the folder (archived_effects) are not loaded.

    After Effects also loads plug-ins from a MediaCore folder, which is intended to hold plug-ins shared between After Effects and Premiere Pro. Some third-party plug-in installers install their plug-ins in this folder. In general, unless specifically instructed to do so, you don’t install plug-ins in the MediaCore folder. If you install a plug-in in this folder that is not supported by one or more of the applications that read from this folder, you may encounter errors or other problems.

    Note: (Mac OS) Some third-party plug-in installers incorrectly install their plug-ins into the Mac OS X Package for After Effects. To reveal these plug-ins, Control-click the After Effects application icon in the Finder and choose Show Package Contents. You can then move the plug-ins into the After Effects Plug-ins folder.

    When exchanging After Effects projects between computer systems, make sure that the plug-ins that the project depends on are installed on both systems. Similarly, if you are rendering a composition with multiple computers on a network, make sure that all plug-ins used in the composition are installed on all rendering computers.

    On Mac OS, press Command+Option+Shift+Help to generate a list of all plug-ins loaded into After Effects (including version numbers). For information on using this command on Windows or with a Macintosh keyboard that doesn't have a Help button, see Todd Kopriva’s blog on the Adobe website.

    Third-party plug-ins included with After Effects

    After Effects comes with several third-party plug-ins. These plug-ins are installed by default with the full version of Adobe After Effects software. Some of these plug-ins are not included with the trial version of Adobe After Effects software. For details of the free 30-day trial version of After Effects CS5.5 and later, see this article on the Adobe website.

    Foundry Keylight
    (included with the After Effects CS5.5 and later trial version. Not included with the After Effects CS5 trial version.) Keylight installs its documentation in the plug-in’s subfolder in the Plug-ins folder. For more information, see Keying effects, including Keylight.

    Synthetic Aperture Color Finesse
    (Not included with the trial versions of After Effects CS5 or After Effects CS5.5.) Color Finesse installs its documentation in the plug-in’s subfolder in the Plug-ins folder. For more information, see Resources for Synthetic Aperture Color Finesse.

    fnord ProEXR
    (Included with the trial version of After Effects CS5 and After Effects CS5.5.) Documentation for ProEXR plug-ins is available in a PDF document on the fnord website. For more information, see About 3D Channel effects, including ProEXR effects.

    Digieffects FreeForm
    (Not included with the trial versions of After Effects CS5 or After Effects CS5.5.) Documentation for the FreeForm AE plug-in is available on the Digieffects website. For more information, see Resources for Digieffects FreeForm.

    Cycore FX (CC)
    (Not included with the trial version of After Effects CS5 or After Effects CS5.5.) Documentation for Cycore FX plug-ins is available on the Cycore website. For more information, see Resources for Cycore FX (CC) effects.

    Imagineer mocha shape AE
    (Not included with the trial version of After Effects CS5 or After Effects CS5.5.) Documentation for the mocha shape for After Effects (mocha shape AE) plug-in is available on the Imagineer website. For more information, see Resources for Imagineer mocha shape for After Effects.

    Note: Unlike the similarly named mocha shape for After Effects (mocha shape AE), Imagineer mocha-AE is not a plug-in; it is a separate, standalone planar tracker application. For more information, see Resources for mocha for After Effects (mocha-AE).

    C/C++ plug-ins and the After Effects SDK

    Many plug-ins for After Effects are written in the C/C++ programming language using the After Effects SDK. Effect plug-ins written with C/C++ have the filename extension .aex. For information on developing plug-ins for After Effects with the C/C++ SDK, go to the After Effects Developer Center section of the Adobe website.

    Kas Thomas provides a tutorial on the MacTech website that shows step by step how to write an After Effects plug-in.

    To ask questions about writing plug-ins with the C/C++ SDK for After Effects, go to the After Effects SDK user-to-user forum.

    Satya Meka provides an overview of the different ways to develop effect plug-ins for After Effects on his website.

    Pixel Bender effect plug-ins and the Pixel Bender Toolkit

    Increasingly, many effect plug-ins for After Effects are written in the Adobe Pixel Bender language. Pixel Bender is designed to improve the performance of image-processing operations by taking advantage of multiple processor cores; multiprocessing for Pixel Bender effect plug-ins does not rely on the Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously option being selected.

    Effect plug-ins written with Pixel Bender have the filename extension .pbk (for single-kernel effects) or .pbg (for multiple-kernel effects).

    The Pixel Bender language is also used to write effects and filters for use with other Adobe software, including Flash and Photoshop.

    For more information about Pixel Bender effect plug-ins and the Pixel Bender Toolkit, go to the Pixel Bender section of the Adobe website.

    Tom Beddard provides several Pixel Bender plug-ins and supporting materials on his subblue website, including a Droste effect and Fractal Explorer effect.

    Satya Meka provides an in-depth introduction to Pixel Bender on his website.

    Where to find more plug-ins for After Effects

    For information on plug-ins available for After Effects, go to the After Effects plug-in page on the Adobe website and the Toolfarm website.

    To exchange plug-ins, scripts, projects, and other useful items with other After Effects users, go to the After Effects Exchange on the Adobe website.

    The After Effects Scripts + After Effects Plug-ins website provides plug-ins, including many written with Pixel Bender.

    For other sources of plug-ins, see After Effects community resources on the Adobe website.