After Effects 2021

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Don’t shell out a ton of money on templates, plugins, presets, and overlays. Check out these free After Effects assets instead!

Is anything truly free anymore? You bet. And to prove the point, we’ve rounded up an awesome list of free After Effects assets! These assets cover a wide range of solutions from lighting, tracking, overlays, and lightsabers. Yes, lightsabers.

So, let’s check out how these free After Effects assets can help you with your next project, whether it be an independent film or motion graphic job.

New features and enhancements in the January 2021 (version 17.6) release of After Effects. Feature summary After Effects (January 2021 release) More accurate Content-Aware Fill Work with a wider range of video clips, including ones where lighting changes over time with the new Lighting Correction in Content-Aware Fill. Jan 05, 2021 COVID Vaccine Side Effects More Common After 2nd Dose, Says Dr. Mallika Marshall By Kristina Rex January 5, 2021 at 11:59 pm Filed Under: Coronavirus, Coronavirus Vaccine, Dr. Mallika Marshall.

After Effects Templates

RocketStock

The gang over at RocketStock has an ever-growing Free Stuff section that’s loaded with free After Effects templates. Currently, you can trick out your projects with the glitchy Digital Distortion template, the high-octane Dynamic Car Gauges template, and the trendy 2D Circle Burst template. They add new freebies every month, so be sure to keep an eye on the RocketStock blog.

After Effects Presets

Video Copilot

After Effects rock star Andrew Kramer offers a wide range of free presets that can be found on his Video Copilot website. The tutorial below goes over the first preset, Film Fade Transition. You can find more tutorials for free presets on Video Copilot’s YouTube channel.

VFX Bro

Real Camera Shake Pro is a preset developed by VFX Bro that allows you to add realistic camera shake to your tripod footage. If you’re a one man band and doing everything yourself, adding this small effect to your footage could help quite a bit. You can download the free preset here.

Ouroboros

The Ouroboros preset allows for users to create a new shape layer that has a stroke and effects attached to it. You can then parent this new shape layer to another shape and transfer the effect properties. Using this preset gives your shape great flexibility and range of motion. You can download this preset from Sander van Dijk’s website. Here is a video overview of the preset from Sander van Dijk’s Vimeo page.

After Effects Plugins

Ugly Box

Digital Anarchy, makers of the Beauty Box After Effects plugin, have devised a new “beauty” tool for AE users. Ugly Box is a plugin that analyzes the skin tones of characters within the image and makes that skin, well, ugly. While it adjusts the skin tones, it leaves the rest of the image intact. As Digital Anarchy states, Ugly Box is a perfect tool for making “someone look older, evil, or just kind of ugly.” You can download Ugly Box from Digital Anarchy’s registration page. For a look into the plugin, check out this tutorial from the the Digital Anarchy Vimeo page.

2021

Normality

Created by 3DCG, Normality is an extremely powerful plugin that gives motion graphic artists the ability to light 3D objects and compositions within After Effects. Now, Normality is no longer supported by 3DCG, and does not work with Creative Cloud. However, if you have CC, you have access to download and install CS6, which Normality works perfectly with. You can download the plugin here under 3DCG’s Legacy Downloads page. To see Normality in action, check out this clip from Video Copilot where Andrew Kramer uses the plugin in his Scene Re-Lighting tutorial.

After Effects Overlays

Gorilla Grain

After effects 2021 mogrt

Overlay assets are extremely helpful, especially when trying to achieve a specialized type of look. We’ll start with Gorilla Grain, which offers a great line of overlay assets in the form of film grain and film burn. Head over the their website and scroll down to the bottom of this page to gain access to a free set 35MM film grain. You will need to enter your email in order to get the free overlays. Watch Gorilla Grain in action on their YouTube channel.

Projector Films

Need to add some light leaks? Then head over to Projector Films. There are 25 different types of light leak overlays and film burns. These are free to use for personal projects, but if you wish to use them for commercial projects, Projector Films requests that you donate. You can download each of the 25 overlays from their website. Here is a sample of the first pack from creator Tim Clague’s YouTube page.

Creative Dojo

Need even more light leak overlays? Then Creative Dojo has you covered. Head over to their website to download a pack of 15, full 1080p HD light leaks. You can use these light leaks for personal or commercial projects with attribution needed. Here is a video where creator VinhSon Nguyen uses the light leaks in conjunction with Plexus 3D particle system plugin for After Effects which can be bought at aescripts.

AfterAfter Effects 2021

Vegasaur Particulas

Because you can’t have enough overlay assets, we thought we would also highlight these from Vegasaur. Particulas is a collection of organic dust effects that can be overlaid into your compositions. You can download this particles for free here. Check out the particles in action on Vimeo from Alessander Demyanov.

Want to explore more After Effects content? Check out these articles from our pals at RocketStock. They’re all about all things After Effects.

Are there free plugins and presets that you use all the time that we didn’t add? Let us know about them in the comments below!

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These free After Effects templates include hundreds of free elements and options to use in any project. Most have AE project files, and others you can use in any NLE!

One of the best ways to improve your After Effects skill is by taking apart templates and seeing how other people create projects. Whether you’re seasoned in the program or a beginner, these free after effects templates are a wonderful asset to your editor’s toolkit.

We previously compiled lists like 10 Free After Effects Templates and the aptly named 10 More Free After Effects Templates. After that, we put together 10 Free After Effects Assets and 10 Free After Effects Templates for Typography! What could possibly come next? Well, how about 9 FREE After Effects Templates for you to use and learn from.

1. 9 Digital Distortions

The digital distortions template allows you to simply drag and drop your footage into the composition and play with the motion parameters to get Noise, Color Boxes, Flicker, Tuning, Turbulence, Pixel Blending, Rolling Bars, Chromatic Aberration, and Color TV Pixels.

These are great for any screen replacement in your film, especially televisions and security monitors. They can also satisfy the craving for that VHS vibe you have been searching for.

Adobe After Effects Cc 2021

2. The Anamorphic Look

The wider visuals of the anamorphic lens can add drama to your travel video or help draw focus to a character or element of a video you’d like to feature more prominently. This juxtaposition of usefulness has made the anamorphic highly sought after.

In this super handy video you will find a quick demo of the free After Effects template and how to use adjust the parameters to get the exact feel you need for your project. You can also just drag and drop your footage as-is, and you will still have a pretty solid and refined anamorphic crop.

3. Free Action Effects

Fire is one of the most difficult elements to pull off digitally. This free Action Elements Pack can be used in any NLE or motion graphics software. Adjusting the scale, motion parameters and alpha channels will provide you with some solid fire and explosion effects. It’s better than any fire template I have seen. These elements look much more realistic and require much less render time.

4. Animated Font

With over 43 unique compositions, this animated font After Effects template can make any information much more invigorating. This skill is essential for your motion graphics tool kit. You never know when you might need a few animated letters or numbers to spice up your next edit. You’ll need to have Helvetica Neue installed on your machine to use this free After Effects template.

5. VHS Distortion

Just like the digital distortions pack, this free After Effects template allows you to recreate the look of an old VHS tape. Once again, all you have to do is drag and drop your footage. You can even customize the text. This template does require you to download a free font as well. Check out this tutorial on how to get the most out of this Free VHS template.

6. Free HUD Elements

If you are looking for that futuristic HUD aesthetic this free After Effects template is for you. Below is a tutorial for how to create a Spider-Man: Homecoming-inspired look, but these HUD elements have a multitude of uses.

7. Dynamic Car Gauges

Now that so many car commercials have gone digital, every video editor needs digital assets for commercial work and promos. With these 16 free After Effects car gauges, you can easily create a custom gauge for your car work. The download also includes 9 free sound effects.

After Effects 2021 Free Download

8. 20 Free Color Grading Presets

After Effects 2021 Crack

If you aren’t a color grading expert but want to add a great custom look to your footage, these 20 free AE color grading presets are fantastic. Each color grade adds a unique style and tone to your films and commercials. Check out all twenty presets in this video.

9. Split Layers

If you aren’t the best with motion graphics, this free After Effects template instantly creates split layers to splice up your images or video. You just drop your footage into the project and select which of the nine types of layers you want.

As long as you guys love these lists, we’ll keep putting them together. Check out the Rocketstock blog for even more free elements and free AE Project Files.

How To Import Photos Into After Effects 2021

This post was originally published in October, 2015. It has been updated to reflect changes in the industry.

After Effects 2021 Free Download

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