-
After Effects
Newton 4
The industry standard for 2D physics in After Effects. As a true native plugin, Newton 4 turns your composition into an interactive physics playground. Effortlessly transform any of your 2D layers into physical objects with perfect realism, making complex physics fast, fun, and instant to save you days of production time.
- Yours forever: One-time purchase for Newton 4.x, strictly no subscription.
- Loyalty upgrade: Upgrade from Newton 3 for just $99.99 Read details
- Try for free: Fully functional trial (export limited to 25 frames).
- Academic offer: 50% discount available for students and faculty. Learn more
2D PHYSICS ENGINE
FOR ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS.
THE INDUSTRY STANDARD.
From basic organic motion for any element to complex physical rigs that are impossible to animate by hand, Newton 4 delivers realistic motion in real time.
Our native plugin effortlessly handles hundreds of layers at any composition resolution, bypassing the slowness of standard scripts to transform laborious keyframing into an interactive playground.
For 15 years, we have enabled artists and creators to innovate without limits.
Bring Your Own Assets
Images, video footage, text, vector shapes, or pre-compositions: Newton works natively with all your 2D assets. It seamlessly blends your existing keyframes with realistic physics.
Built for Speed
Step into a dedicated, ultra-performant workspace designed entirely around your creative flow. Bypass After Effects' timeline limitations to configure, test, and preview complex setups instantly, in real-time, without the usual rendering lag.
Simple & Fun to Learn
Transform laborious keyframing into an interactive playground. With an intuitive learning curve, configuring advanced physical simulations becomes an accessible, fast, and highly rewarding process.
Absolute Control
Newton bakes the entire simulation into standard After Effects keyframes so you can tweak, adjust, and refine everything post-simulation.
What's new in Newton 4
Download the fully functional free trial and see for yourself.
Full feature access. Export limited to 25 frames.
Complex Animations Made Simple
After Effects isn't built for realistic animations. Newton is.
Trying to simulate complex collisions or realistic movements inside native timelines is clunky, slow, and limiting. Newton 4 solves this by giving you a specialized, dedicated workspace built by and for motion designers. Designed entirely around your creative flow, it is perfectly optimized to design and simulate scenes with dozens or even hundreds of objects in real-time, without ever breaking your stride.
Transform 2D Layers
Transform 2D layers into solid objects with comprehensive, real-world motion properties like density, friction, bounciness, and gravity scale.
7 Objects & 7 Joints
Mix and match seven object types with seven advanced joints to rig highly creative, precise, and complex physical machinery.
Simulate Advanced Scenes
Bring your ideas to life with instant support for buoyancy, global magnetism, custom triggered forces, and teleportation.
Universal Compatibility
Newton works at any composition resolution with shape layers, text, vector files, pre-compositions, and footage.
Adjust specific physical properties for selected layers, including density, friction, bounciness, and gravity scale overrides.
Fine-tune mechanical properties for active joints. Configure friction, limits, elasticity, and motor behaviors easily.
View all imported After Effects layers. Group layers for collision handling, toggle active states, and manage your asset selection.
Preview your scene and play simulations instantly in real-time at high frame rates, completely bypassed from After Effects timeline rendering lag.
Create and manage your joint rigs. Link bodies together using Distance, Pivot, Piston, Spring, Wheel, Blob, or Weld connections.
Quickly save your current simulation setup to easily create, compare, and switch between different versions of your physical rig.
Set global parameters including gravity angle and magnitude, world boundaries, and solver precision (substeps) for the entire workspace.
Easily navigate through your layout changes. Undo or redo any action to safely experiment with different physical setups.
Bake your completed simulations directly into standard After Effects keyframes on your original composition timeline in one single click.
Samples Browser new!
Don't start from scratch. Learn by deconstructing.
Unlock the full potential of Newton 4 with the built-in Samples Browser. Dissect professionally rigged templates to master advanced physics configurations. Analyze the joint connections, copy active material properties, and integrate pre-made setups directly into your own After Effects pipeline.
Advanced Joints
Rig complex mechanical systems without breaking a sweat.
Create lifelike mechanical motion by linking your layers together. Whether you are building complex vehicle suspensions, elastic rope rigs, or industrial piston machinery, our advanced joints system handles the entire simulation with perfect physical accuracy.
Weld Joint new!
Permanently bond layers together while keeping control over their relative flexibility.
Distance Joint
Keep layers at a precise distance while letting them swing freely, with adjustable elasticity.
Piston Joint new!
Constrain layers to slide strictly along a single axis without rotating, powered by an optional built-in motor.
Pivot Joint
Force layers to swing around a shared anchor point with customizable rotation limits.
Spring Joint
Connect layers together with a physical, bouncy spring.
Wheel Joint
Connect rotating elements with built-in suspension, customizable shock absorption, and a motor drive.
Blob Joint
Bind a group of layers together to form a soft, volume-preserving physical mass.
Animate & Control
Complete physical control, keyframe by keyframe.
The physics simulation is only the beginning. Take total control over your animation by keyframing physical properties dynamically over time. Tweak gravity scale, friction, or density mid-simulation, and watch your objects respond instantly on our visual graph preview.
Animate with Precision
Control almost any physical property (like gravity or velocity) on the fly to easily change how your layers behave and collide.
Interpolation Styles
Choose from five keyframe interpolation styles to get the exact physics-based movement you need.
Looping Animations new!
Keep your physical simulations repeating seamlessly with built-in looping options.
Graph Preview
Use the graph preview to fine-tune how your objects behave, ensuring everything moves exactly as planned.
Waterlike new!
Bring organic, fluid motion to your compositions.
Simulate high-fidelity buoyancy and liquid drag without slow third-party particle scripts. Design immersive underwater scenes, create floaty organic elements, or build invisible drag barriers that layers detect and respond to dynamically.
Triggermatic new!
Build automated, chain-reaction animations on contact.
Set up perfect physical timing automatically. Turn any layer into a trigger that launches keyframe sequences, text reveals, or forces the exact microsecond a collision occurs. Create cascading chain reactions with professional looping options like cycle, ping-pong, and offset.
Teleportation new!
Defy space and distance.
Create captivating animations with Teleportation effects. Transform any layer into an active portal and watch objects pass through and emerge instantly at designated coordinates.
Loop your assets through composition boundaries to playfully bend spatial rules.
Comp Walls new!
Your composition is no longer a void.
Instantly turn your canvas borders into interactive, solid walls or active teleportation portals with a single click.
Customize their behavior and destinations to add excitement, flow, and structural safety to your projects without building background safety containers.
Grenade new!
Controlled chaos at your fingertips.
Get ready to shake up your animations with the Grenade tool.
Easily trigger realistic explosions that send layers flying with absolute mathematical precision. Control the blast radius, detonation timing, and shockwave intensity with real-time visual feedback directly within the interface to ensure precise and dramatic results.
Experience even more possibilities with Newton
Null Layer Support new!
Integrate invisible control layers for complex, lightweight physical rigs and animations.
Property Highlighting new!
Quickly identify custom adjustments and active property overrides with visual markings in the panel.
Auto-Save new!
Automatically saves physics settings per composition so you never lose your setups.
Randomizer
Introduce organic variability with controlled randomness for more natural, lifelike simulations.
Export Contacts
Automatically transform physics-based contact events into standard keyframes for precise, synchronized event-driven animations.
Scene Snapshots
Compare different scenes and physical configurations instantly without reloading setups.
Actions History
Experiment with confidence. Instantly undo or redo any change in your setup.
Elevate Your Workflow with Our Free Scripts.
Simplify soft body simulations by prepping shape layers with small solids that automatically follow your animation.
Turn puppet mesh pins into solids for simple position control. Incredibly helpful when combining Weld Joints and AE's puppet tool.
Download the fully functional free trial and see for yourself.
(Export limited to 25 frames).
Master Newton 4
Explore our deep library of video tutorials.
From quick essential guidelines to advanced workflows and creative techniques.
The Essentials
Advanced & Creative Techniques
The Industry Standard Since 2011
Newton is trusted by a massive global community of tens of thousands of users, from passionate independent motion designers and freelancers to leading design schools, academies, and universities worldwide.
Our tools are relied upon daily by tech giants, pioneering creative agencies, premier broadcasters, and the world's most celebrated animation and VFX studios:
From its groundbreaking debut in 2011 to the power of Newton 4, it remains the absolute reference for 2D physics animations in After Effects.
No subscriptions. Yours forever.
COMPATIBILITY
macOS 10.14 Mojave minimum required. Native support for Apple Silicon (M1 and above). Windows compatible.
NOTE FOR OLDER NEWTON USERS
We’ll still provide support for Newton 3, but we’ll no longer be doing bug fixes, new features or improvements to this version.
Upgrade Notice
If you bought Newton 3, you’re eligible for an upgrade for just $99.99.
The upgrade from Newton 2 costs $150.00. Floating licenses are billed separately.
No discount is available for upgrading from v1.
Log in to the original purchase account to receive the upgrade price. The discount will be applied at checkout.
If you need assistance, please open a support ticket.
Discussions
Want to talk about it?
Head over to r/aescripts to chat with fellow users about this product.
Need Support?
Please open a support ticket to be connected directly with the author of this product
Version History
4.0.77 -
May 21, 2025
- fixed a bug with high DPI monitors on Windows
- update PupperMeshTool
4.0 -
Nov 20, 2023
- added Hidden body parameter
- added Waterlike body parameter
- added Grenade body parameter
- added Teleportation mechanism
- added Weld joint
- added Loop Type to the Keyframes panel
- added Samples Browser dialog
- added support of middle mouse button to pan the preview
- added support for null layers
- added a Pref for appending a suffix to the name of the exported comp
- improved Comp Walls settings
- improved Auto Load/Save Settings system
- improved Randomizer
- improved body selection in the preview
- improved visual quality of the UI with svg icons
- many bugfixes
Compatibility
After Effects
2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020
EULA
This software ("the Software Product") and accompanying documentation is licensed and not sold. This Software Product is protected by copyright laws and treaties, as well as laws and treaties related to other forms of intellectual property. The author owns intellectual property rights in the Software Product. The Licensee's ("you" or "your") license to download, use, copy, or change the Software Product is subject to these rights and to all the terms and conditions of this End User License Agreement ("Agreement").
Acceptance
YOU ACCEPT AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT BY SELECTING THE "ACCEPT" OPTION AND DOWNLOADING THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT OR BY INSTALLING, USING, OR COPYING THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT. YOU MUST AGREE TO ALL OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT BEFORE YOU WILL BE ALLOWED TO DOWNLOAD THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, YOU MUST SELECT "DECLINE" AND YOU MUST NOT INSTALL, USE, OR COPY THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT.
License Grant
This Agreement entitles you to install and use one copy of the Software Product. In addition, you may make one archival copy of the Software Product. The archival copy must be on a storage medium other than a hard drive, and may only be used for the reinstallation of the Software Product. This Agreement does not permit the installation or use of multiple copies of the Software Product, or the installation of the Software Product on more than one computer at any given time, on a system that allows shared used of applications, on a multi-user network, or on any configuration or system of computers that allows multiple users. Multiple copy use or installation is only allowed if you obtain an appropriate licensing agreement for each user and each copy of the Software Product.
Restrictions on Transfer
Without first obtaining the express written consent of the author, you may not assign your rights and obligations under this Agreement, or redistribute, encumber, sell, rent, lease, sublicense, or otherwise transfer your rights to the Software Product.
Restrictions on Use
You may not use, copy, or install the Software Product on any system with more than one computer, or permit the use, copying, or installation of the Software Product by more than one user or on more than one computer. If you hold multiple, validly licensed copies, you may not use, copy, or install the Software Product on any system with more than the number of computers permitted by license, or permit the use, copying, or installation by more users, or on more computers than the number permitted by license.
You may not decompile, "reverse-engineer", disassemble, or otherwise attempt to derive the source code for the Software Product.
Restrictions on Alteration
You may not modify the Software Product or create any derivative work of the Software Product or its accompanying documentation. Derivative works include but are not limited to translations. You may not alter any files or libraries in any portion of the Software Product.
Restrictions on Copying
You may not copy any part of the Software Product except to the extent that licensed use inherently demands the creation of a temporary copy stored in computer memory and not permanently affixed on storage medium. You may make one archival copy which must be stored on a medium other than a computer hard drive.
Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability
UNLESS OTHERWISE EXPLICITLY AGREED TO IN WRITING BY THE AUTHOR, THE AUTHOR MAKES NO OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN FACT OR IN LAW, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OTHER THAN AS SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT OR IN THE LIMITED WARRANTY DOCUMENTS PROVIDED WITH THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT.
The author makes no warranty that the Software Product will meet your requirements or operate under your specific conditions of use. The author makes no warranty that operation of the Software Product will be secure, error free, or free from interruption. YOU MUST DETERMINE WHETHER THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT SUFFICIENTLY MEETS YOUR REQUIREMENTS FOR SECURITY AND UNINTERRUPTABILITY. YOU BEAR SOLE RESPONSIBILITY AND ALL LIABILITY FOR ANY LOSS INCURRED DUE TO FAILURE OF THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT TO MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS. THE AUTHOR WILL NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR THE LOSS OF DATA ON ANY COMPUTER OR INFORMATION STORAGE DEVICE.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL THE AUTHOR, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PARTY FOR INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND INCLUDING LOST REVENUES OR PROFITS OR LOSS OF BUSINESS) RESULTING FROM THIS AGREEMENT, OR FROM THE FURNISHING, PERFORMANCE, INSTALLATION, OR USE OF THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT, WHETHER DUE TO A BREACH OF CONTRACT, BREACH OF WARRANTY, OR THE NEGLIGENCE OF THE AUTHOR OR ANY OTHER PARTY, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR IS ADVISED BEFOREHAND OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. TO THE EXTENT THAT THE APPLICABLE JURISDICTION LIMITS THE AUTHOR'S ABILITY TO DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES, THIS DISCLAIMER SHALL BE EFFECTIVE TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED.
Limitation of Remedies and Damages
Any claim must be made within the applicable warranty period. All warranties cover only defects arising under normal use and do not include malfunctions or failure resulting from misuse, abuse, neglect, alteration, problems with electrical power, acts of nature, unusual temperatures or humidity, improper installation, or damage determined by the author to have been caused by you. All limited warranties on the Software Product are granted only to you and are non-transferable. You agree to indemnify and hold the author harmless from all claims, judgments, liabilities, expenses, or costs arising from your breach of this Agreement and/or acts or omissions.
Governing Law, Jurisdiction and Costs
This Agreement is governed by the laws of New York, without regard to New York's conflict or choice of law provisions.
Severability
If any provision of this Agreement shall be held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remainder of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect. To the extent any express or implied restrictions are not permitted by applicable laws, these express or implied restrictions shall remain in force and effect to the maximum extent permitted by such applicable laws.
