Free plugins for Adobe After effects

[carly_6084]

My 12 year old is just starting to use Adobe After Effects. Are there any free plugins he can use as a novice. He has found Sapphire plugin which looks great but we can't afford that at this stage. Any help most apreciated as i don't use AE. Thanks

[nishu_kush]

Hi there, welcome to the After Effects community.

It'll be really helpful if you could specify what kind of plug-ins you're looking for. If you'd like to explore, you can find plug-ins on Adobe Exchange and AEScripts. You can find both free and paid plug-ins. I use After Effects for fun and below are a few of the plug-ins that I use frequently.

1. DUIK

2. Saber

3. Camera Crew

Hope it helps. Feel free to reach out.

Thanks,
Nishu

[carly_6084]

Thanks so much. My son has used Saphire plugin but it has a big red cross over the images (as he needs to pay for it) I will tell him about these suggestions. Thanks so much Carly

[nishu_kush]

Happy to help. Feel free to reach out if there are any other questions.

Thanks,
Nishu

[Filippo Marchetti]

Videocopilot's:

- Orb

- Saber

- FX Console

RX Laboratory:
- Duik (Hard to learn, but immensely powerful suite of tools)

You could also check the https://aescripts.com/ website, for free offerings.

I'd like to add that there are a few great free options, but there is a large amount of paid (yet cheap) scripts/plugins that expand AE's functionality, while not breaking the bank.
Of course, before investing in that, I'd focus on learning the core tools as well as possible before checking out plugins.

Cheers 🙂

[Ko.Maruyama]

Many of the tutorial videos that use plugins will describe what effect it creates and why it's used or options for alternative effects (even native recipes)
There are so many options for effect styles in a range of free plugins, it really helps to narrow down: what is the desired visual effect that the plugin is creating.