OpenSesame brings backwards compatibility to After Effects, exporting projects that can be opened in any version from CS3 or later. Projects are exported as human readable text files that can also be edited in a text editor or spreadsheet in various ways, such as changing text layers, colors, footage and file paths.

Instantly turn layered Photoshop or Illustrator files into 3D multiplanes. It adds expressions that let you freely move layers on the z axis without changing the look of the shot from the original camera position, making it easy to experiment with depth in your scene.

Useful if you need to embed subtitles onto video for web or tape delivery. You can import subtitles into After Effects using either the Encore Text Script or SubRip file format, then render with an alpha and import into your editing software, or use Dynamic Link to import directly into Premiere Pro.

Imports karaoke subtitles from the Substation Alpha (.ssa/.ass) or KaraFun (.kfn) file formats, creating new text layers with user designed text animation.

Search for and edit text layers throughout your After Effects project. You can create your own text style presets and apply them to multiple layers at the click of a button.

Search, apply and edit expressions throughout your project. Expressions can be saved, or instantly applied to one or more properties. It can also check for broken expressions, re-enabling them automatically where possible.

Search for effects used in your After Effects project. Find where specific effects have been used, turn them on or off, delete then, or link them together to create cloned effect instances.

Get three awesome scripts for the price of two. pt_EffectSearch, pt_ExpressEdit & pt_TextEdit

Crop nested compositions to fit the image contents. Useful in cases like Photoshop imports where precomps are created as document size.

Split selected layers at their layer markers, or add markers at the cut points of any layers in a comp.

Create contact sheets or storyboards out of selected frames from a precomp or footage layer.

Quickly restore damaged or missing frames. Use layer markers to specify which frames to restore, or get the script to search for color bars and restore any missing frames.

Converts a panoramic image into a 3D cylinder that can be used as a background in a 3D composition

This script can be used to automatically add wiggle, smooth and loop expressions to any selected properties.

Shifts or staggers selected layers in time by a user defined number of frames or seconds.

A floating palette that lets you search for effects throughout a project.

About the author

Paul Tuersley is a freelance motion graphics and visual effects artist based in London.

Items by Paul Tuersley

pt_OpenSesame

January 31st, 201231 Comments

pt_Multiplane

January 4th, 201247 Comments

pt_ImportSubtitles

January 4th, 201257 Comments

pt_SSAKaraokeAnimator

January 4th, 201251 Comments

pt_TextEdit

February 7th, 201123 Comments

pt_ExpressEdit

February 7th, 20118 Comments

pt_EffectSearch

February 2nd, 201114 Comments

pt_SearchAndEditBundle

February 1st, 201111 Comments

pt_CropPrecomps

December 16th, 20106 Comments

pt_LayerMarkers

December 15th, 20106 Comments

pt_ContactSheet

December 14th, 20108 Comments

pt_FrameRestorer

December 13th, 20105 Comments

pt_Panorama

December 6th, 201060 Comments

pt_AutoExpress

December 6th, 20106 Comments

pt_ShiftLayers

May 24th, 201012 Comments

pt_EffectSearch AE6.5

August 3rd, 200911 Comments