6 Free After Effects Scripts That'll Save You Hours of Work (Everyday)

Feeling like you spend half your time in After Effects just clicking around on repetitive tasks? Yeah, me too sometimes. AE is powerful, but man, some things can feel like a drag.

This article isn't about flashy effects (though those are fun too!). Instead, I want to share 6 scripts that I genuinely use pretty much every single day. Honestly, they're must-haves for anyone using After Effects regularly, and the best part? They're technically free! Most use a "Name Your Own Price" model, meaning you can type in 0 and grab them, but if you find them as useful as I do, consider sending a few bucks the creators' way to say thanks. It really helps them keep making these awesome tools.

Think of these as little helpers that just make your life easier. Let's get to it.

1. Move Anchor Point: Adjust Multiple Anchor Points Together

Ah, the anchor point. So important for rotation and scaling, but such a pain to adjust, especially if you need to change it for multiple layers (like centering it on text layers or putting it at the base of objects). The Move Anchor Point script (this one's from Spotlight FX) gives you a little visual widget. You select all the layers you want to modify, and then just click on the widget where you want the anchor point to be (like top-left, center, bottom-right, etc.). It moves the anchor point for all selected layers at once, without moving the layers themselves. It's just... easier. Way easier. (100% free, you just need a free account)

2. EasyCopy: Copy Eases and Values Separately

You know when you've nailed the perfect ease on some keyframes, but you need to apply it to others without messing up their position or scale values? Or maybe the other way around? EasyCopy is your pal here. It lets you copy just the easing (the speed curve) or just the values (like position numbers) and paste them independently. It sounds simple, but trust me, it saves so much fiddling and potential frustration. No more accidentally overwriting your carefully placed keyframes! (100% free, you just need a free account)

3. rd_CompSetter: Batch Edit Composition Settings Easily

Ever needed to change the frame rate, duration, or pixel aspect ratio for a bunch of comps and all the comps nested inside them? Doing that one by one is a total nightmare. rd_CompSetter lets you do it all at once. Just select the main comps, tell the script what settings to change (like duration, frame rate, resolution, even motion blur settings), and boom, it ripples through all the selected comps and their pre-comps. It's a huge timesaver, especially on bigger projects. (Also 'Name Your Own Price'!)

4. True Comp Duplicator: Duplicate Complex Comps Perfectly

After Effects' built-in duplicate function (Ctrl+D or Cmd+D) is okay for simple comps, but if you duplicate a comp that has pre-comps (other compositions nested inside it), the duplicated comp still links back to the original pre-comps. So, if you change something in a nested comp within your "duplicate," it also changes in the original. Whoops! True Comp Duplicator fixes this. It creates a completely independent copy of your composition and all its nested pre-comps, renaming them neatly so everything stays organised. It gives you a true, editable duplicate without any weird linked surprises. Super useful when you need variations. (Yep, 'Name Your Own Price' for this one too!)

5. Simple Ease: Simplify Keyframe Easing Adjustments

Manually tweaking speed and influence on lots of keyframes can get repetitive fast. This script lets you select multiple keyframes and apply smooth easing in one click. Use presets like ease-in, ease-out, or strong ease, or fine-tune it with custom values. You get visual sliders and precise controls if needed. It’s fast, simple, and free in Spotlight FX.

6. SequenceLayers: Quickly Stagger Your Layers

This one's super straightforward but incredibly handy. Got a stack of layers you want to appear one after another? Instead of manually dragging each layer's start point on the timeline, just select them all, run SequenceLayers, and tell it how much of an offset you want (like, start each layer 10 frames after the previous one). Done. It sequences them perfectly from the current time indicator. Great for quick montages, title reveals, or animating lists. ('Name Your Own Price' again!)

Final thoughts

So there you have it, six little scripts that can make a big difference in your day-to-day After Effects work. They might not look flashy, but the time and hassle they save add up incredibly quickly. I really do lean on these constantly.

Give them a try! Since they're "Name Your Own Price," or completely free - there's nothing to lose, and you might just find your new favorite workflow helpers. And again, if you find them useful, maybe send a coffee's worth of cash to the creators to show some love! Happy animating!