Getting Started with Spotlight FX for After Effects

If you just installed Spotlight FX and you're not sure where to start, this is for you. I'll walk you through everything, from opening the plugin for the first time to finding the right asset for your project in seconds.

Install Spotlight FX

Head to spotlightfx.com/plugin and download the installer for your system (.exe on Windows, .pkg on Mac). Double-click it and follow the steps. That's it. Spotlight FX installs automatically inside both Premiere Pro and After Effects. No manual file moving, no folder hunting.

Open Spotlight FX in After Effects

Once installed, open After Effects and go to:

Window > Extensions > Spotlight FX

The panel opens inside your workspace. You can dock it wherever you want, just like any other panel in After Effects.

Importing Items

There are two ways to import any item into your timeline.

Option 1: Select a clip first. 

Click on a clip (or multiple clips) in your timeline, then double-click any item in Spotlight FX. It imports directly above your selected clip. If you select two clips and import a transition, it lands right at the cut between them. No manual positioning needed.

Option 2: No selection needed. 

Don't select anything. Just move your playhead to wherever you want the item to appear and double-click it. It imports at that exact point. This is the faster way when you're building a scene from scratch or layering multiple items on top of each other.

Both methods work for transitions, overlays, text elements, and everything else in the library.

Editing Items

Every item in Spotlight FX has its own Editor panel.

By default, the Editor opens automatically right after you import something. You can also open it manually at any time by clicking the Editor button in the bottom right of the app.

Inside the Editor, you can change text, colors, timing, opacity, and effects. What's available depends on the item, but everything is controlled from that one panel. No need to dig through compositions or touch any expressions. Just adjust what you see and it updates in your timeline.

Toolbox

Right next to the Editor button, you'll find the Toolbox.

This is where the workflow scripts live. In After Effects, you'll find:

• Keyframe Easing - smooth out animations without touching individual keyframes
• Anchor Point Mover - adjust anchor points across multiple layers at once
• Blending Modes - set Add, Overlay, Screen and more in one click instead of five
• Keyframe Copy - copy keyframe values or easings and apply them across multiple animations
• Looper - create seamless loops or boomerang-style loops in one click
• Renamer - batch rename layers, search and replace, add prefixes, suffixes, or custom sequences

These are tools Adobe doesn't give you out of the box. They're included on every plan, including free.

Collections

If you're working on a specific type of video, Collections will save you a lot of time.

Instead of scrolling through every item in the library, Collections group assets by style and use case. Hip-hop music videos, VHS aesthetic, wedding, true crime, startup product demos, and more. Each collection has items that already match the vibe you're going for.

So if you're editing a hip-hop music video, you open that collection and everything inside fits. No second-guessing whether a transition is the right energy for the project.

Global Search

You can search for any item from anywhere in the app.

And you're not limited to typing the exact name. Every item has hidden tags and a description behind it, so searching something like "cinematic," "glitch," or "retro" will surface relevant results even if those words aren't in the item's title. Type what you're looking for and you'll find it.

A Few More Things Worth Knowing

Liked items.

You can like any item by clicking the heart icon. Everything you like shows up in My Library, so your go-to assets are always one click away. Likes sync across devices too, so switching computers doesn't reset anything.

Tutorials inside the app.

There's a Tutorials section in Spotlight FX where you can browse real-world editing examples. Click on any tutorial and it opens on the website with the full video and a list of the exact assets used, so you can recreate any look from scratch.

That covers the core of it. Install, open, import, edit, and find what you need. The rest you'll pick up naturally as you use it.

If something's not working or you want to request an item that's missing from the library, hit the chat bubble inside the app or find us on Discord. We read everything.

Happy editing.

Tom Balev
Co-Founder of Spotlight FX