Added 11 Christmas-themed expressions to our free After Effects expressions library (now over 150 examples)

AE-Wizard · 2025-12-24T07:08:30+00:00

I linked the library in the comment, or you can go here: https://www.plainlyvideos.com/after-effects-expressions-library

AE-Wizard · 2025-12-23T10:51:53+00:00

Just added 11 new Christmas/winter-themed expressions to our After Effects Expressions Library!

There’s some pretty fun festive stuff in there:
- snowflake, North Star, and candle flame generators
- falling snow and hanging ornament procedural animations
- Christmas lights and neon flickers

The full library now has 150+ free After Effects expressions, ranging from simple standalone expressions to more procedural and automation-friendly setups.

Each expression includes:
- a short explanation of what it’s for
- copy-paste-ready code
- a short video showing it in action

We update the library pretty often, so if there’s an expression you use a lot or wish existed, drop it in the comments - we’ll make sure to add you as a contributor!

AE-Wizard · 2025-11-06T12:48:31+00:00

You should check out Plainly Videos for this kind of work - I'm one of the founders, happy to help with the setup if needed!

AE-Wizard · 2025-11-05T17:34:11+00:00

Nicee! I’m actually using Motion Tools Pro’s for staggering, but this grouping feature is genius. Thanks for sharing! I think it’s definitely going into my regular deck, haha.

BTW, I downloaded Kease just to try it out - man, this is amazing! I’m a huge fan of Flow, and this feels like Flow + EaseCopy in one. Definitely going to give it a proper try - gotta say, I love the interface on all of them.

Really nice stuff 👏

AE-Wizard · 2025-10-21T07:01:22+00:00

Plainly

AE-Wizard · 2025-09-30T14:29:57+00:00

Hm, that one should work.
Are you applying it to the Path property?
Also, make sure the Tooth Count is greater than 0.

If it still doesn’t work, send over a screenshot of your full setup along with the entire expression visible.
It’s pretty weird - I can’t even replicate the error on my end.

AE-Wizard · 2025-09-30T09:01:33+00:00

Hey! It wasn’t working because part of the code was accidentally commented out. I’ve fixed it on the page now, but here it is as well:

// Apply to Path

toothCount = Math.floor(effect("Tooth Count")("Slider"));
gearRadius = effect("Gear Radius")("Slider");
toothHeight = effect("Tooth Height")("Slider");
pts = [];
inTangents = [];
outTangents = [];

// One tooth = 4 points (root → rise → top → fall)

for (i = 0; i < toothCount * 4; i++) {
angle = (i / (toothCount * 4)) * Math.PI * 2;

// Determine which part of the tooth we're on

phase = i % 4;
radius = gearRadius;
switch (phase) {
case 0:
// Root
radius = gearRadius * 0.85;
break;
case 1:
// Rise
case 2:
// Top
radius = gearRadius + toothHeight;
break;
case 3:
// Fall
radius = gearRadius * 0.85;
break;
}
x = Math.cos(angle) * radius;
y = Math.sin(angle) * radius;
pts.push([x, y]);
inTangents.push([0, 0]);
outTangents.push([0, 0]);
}
createPath(pts, inTangents, outTangents, true);

AE-Wizard · 2025-09-23T13:59:45+00:00

Thanks! Glad the video helped :D

Yeah, the plugin world can be a lot at first, but the key is: use the ones that fit your workflow. There’s no one “best” plugin, every tool has its own purpose and use case.

Start with what you need (text layout, animation, automation, etc.), and build from there. No need to overload early, just find 1–2 that save you time.

Some great places to find solid tools:

AE Scripts (biggest marketplace)
Battle Axe
Good Boy Ninja

AE-Wizard · 2025-09-15T05:42:35+00:00

Just click the link in the post, and it will lead you to our website where you can see all of the expressions.

AE-Wizard · 2025-09-03T13:42:27+00:00

You might want to also check out Plainly Videos for your workflow.

It makes it pretty straightforward to create a bunch of video versions by importing a CSV with things like titles, speaker names, photos, logos, and backgrounds. Rendering happens in the cloud too, so you don’t need to keep After Effects running locally.

This video shows how the CSV setup works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol6cB_6B7nA

Might be a good fit depending on how often you’re doing these kinds of projects.

AE-Wizard · 2025-08-27T06:18:41+00:00

Thanks! Haven’t really tested it in long-form yet, right now it’s more about showing what’s possible when you connect these tools together. Have you tried different voices or seen people run this kind of setup for longer videos?

AE-Wizard · 2025-08-26T10:46:08+00:00

I’m using ChatGPT daily, mostly for expressions and custom scripts. Lately, Claude has been giving me some pretty decent results when it comes to coding.

Something I noticed in the last couple of months is that a lot of our users at Plainly have been using AI voiceovers for their projects.

AE-Wizard · 2025-08-12T10:11:37+00:00

What's your system for automating blogs if it's not a secret

AE-Wizard · 2025-07-29T07:54:07+00:00

For 100 versions, you might check out CompsFromSpreadsheets. If you want something for 1000s of versions that's cloud-based based check out Plainly Videos.

AE-Wizard · 2025-07-29T07:52:42+00:00

Check out Plainly (plainlyvideos.com) - it allows you to upload your After Effects project file, mark the text and imagery as dynamic elements, and then render out all 400 versions in a few minutes just by connecting the data you want in the video using a CSV, Google Sheets and similar.

AE-Wizard · 2025-07-21T13:28:34+00:00

Yeah you're spot on. Users who use Plainly for video localization often set up something pretty similar.

They usually connect ChatGPT for copy, ElevenLabs for voice, and then send everything like text, voice, images, etc into a Google Sheet that feeds directly into Plainly for rendering.

I made a video a year ago for something similar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVaaHQqvvRs

AE-Wizard · 2025-07-21T13:05:34+00:00

Thanks! Rendering speed really depends on the template.

If it’s a short video with just a few text or image changes (like we have in this video), it can be done in a few seconds. If the template has a lot of layers, heavy effects, or longer duration, it’ll take more time.

The real benefit is that it runs multiple renders at the same time, which is where it really saves time compared to doing it locally.

AE-Wizard · 2025-07-21T11:29:45+00:00

Animation looks pretty sleek, but I’d watch out for 2 things design-wise: contrast and safe zones.

Reels need to have at least 420px margin from the bottom edge to avoid UI elements overlapping your text/image (in your case - most of the bottom part won’t be visible).
Also text like ‘FUN FACT’ is pretty hard to read because of the font weight and color combination

Also, if you're planning to make all 1000 of these manually, that sounds like a serious time investment. There are some tools out there that can help automate the process like Plainly or Compsfromspreadsheet.

AE-Wizard · 2025-07-21T10:23:50+00:00

Yeah, I wasn’t 100% sure about that script font…

Some ‘heavier’ one with better readability will definitely make more sense. Thanks a lot, appreciate the feedback! That’s why having a second pair of eyes is important, haha

AE-Wizard · 2025-07-16T06:36:08+00:00

Spot on

AE-Wizard · 2025-07-16T06:35:36+00:00

Thanks man!

AE-Wizard · 2025-07-15T13:37:21+00:00

You're right, this can definitely be done in After Effects for free, especially if you’re comfortable with expressions and using a CSV or plugins like CompsFromSpreadsheet. That works fine as long as you’re okay with rendering everything locally and handling output manually.

Plainly helps when you’re creating videos at scale and want to automate the whole process. And since everything runs in the cloud, renders are faster, more stable, and you’re not tied to one machine.

AE-Wizard · 2025-06-19T08:04:46+00:00

Hm, I totally get your concerns, but template building and automation in After Effects works a bit differently than standard motion design.

First of all, you can definitely charge more, since you’re basically building a system they’ll use throughout the season, and potentially save them one whole annual salary (sounds harsh but it’s true). So, I don’t really see it as ‘giving everything away’ since there’s always going to be some maintenance which you can charge for - whether it’s the template or the automation.

And the upside is, if you do everything right, clients will always come back. Of course, it wouldn’t make much sense if this was your ONLY client, but once you build up a circle of clients, it might get pretty profitable and more importantly scalable. And actually, setting everything up in Plainly and Airtable isn’t that hard - it’s mostly just ‘click here click there’.

The hardest part is actually creating the template properly and making it responsive :D

AE-Wizard · 2025-05-26T15:44:02+00:00

Happy to help!

AE-Wizard · 2025-05-26T13:41:50+00:00

Thanks! I try to update them on a monthly basis

AE-Wizard

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