Need Help With Spotlight FX?
Answers to common questions. Everything you need to get the most out of Spotlight FX in Premiere Pro and After Effects.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on where you're working and which panel you're using:
In After Effects:
If you're using the Properties Panel (recommended), just click on the text in the timeline, and the font options will appear in the panel.
If you're using the Essential Graphics Panel, you first need to find the MOGRT composition in "Primary" and then edit the font.
In Premiere Pro (2025 and newer):
Just click on the text item in the timeline, and use the Properties Panel to change the font directly. No need to dig into Essential Graphics anymore.
Important:
You cannot change the font through the Spotlight FX Effects Panel, since Adobe doesn’t allow font access through scripting. To make font changes permanent across duplicates, use the Push button after editing.
In After Effects:
1. Select the Spotlight FX item in the timeline.
2. Open the Spotlight FX Effects Panel, click Import.
3. Choose footage from your Project Window, hit Confirm Selection in the Spotlight FX Effects Panel.
In Premiere Pro:
1. Select your footage in the timeline.
2. Double-click on the Spotlight FX item. Your footage will be added automatically inside the item’s slot.
Use native After Effects tools:
1. Select the transition layer.
2. Right-click → Time > Time Stretch.
3. Set a lower percentage (e.g., 50%) for faster transitions or higher (e.g., 150%) for slower ones.
Spotlight FX uses Intelligent Import:
- If one or more clips are selected, the transition is placed at the In Point of the first selected clip (After Effects or Premiere Pro).
- If no clip is selected, it’s placed at the current playhead position.
If “Collect Assets on Import” is enabled in Spotlight FX Settings, all items are saved next to your project.
If it’s not enabled, After Effects will link the items from the Spotlight FX system folder. To manually collect everything later, use the native After Effects "File > Dependencies > Collect Files" function.
We recommend turning on "Collect Assets on Import" from the beginning to avoid surprises.
Some Spotlight FX items (text items especially) come with blue markers on the layer. These mean the in and out animations are fixed and won’t stretch when you make the layer longer.
But you can still extend the layer to hold the animation on screen longer.
For example:
The animation might take 1 second to come in and 1 second to go out. If you stretch the layer to 30 seconds, the animation still happens at the start and end, and the middle just stays visible.
This lets you control how long the item stays on screen, without messing up the entrance or exit.
You can also use Alt/Option + ] to quickly trim the end of the layer and skip the exit animation if you want.
Yes, and you can choose your preferred method:
1. Use native keyframes on layer properties in the timeline
2. Or keyframe directly in the Spotlight FX Effects Panel (works only in After Effects)
They’re fully synced, so keyframes created in either place will reflect across both.
No. In After Effects, you can:
1. Customize your Spotlight FX item using the Spotlight FX Effects Panel
2. Click Push to save those changes as the new default
3. Duplicate that layer across scenes
Each duplicate will use your custom look by default.
In After Effects, go to Spotlight FX Settings (click on your Avatar > Settings) and enable "Force Import from Beginning". With this setting on, every item you import will be placed at the start of the timeline (0:00), no matter where your playhead is.
This is useful when you're:
- Prototyping or building rough layouts
- Stacking multiple effects on top of each other
- Creating reusable animation blocks
This setting applies only in After Effects and is especially helpful when experimenting or working in batch.
Looking for more detailed breakdowns, tips, and creative tricks? Check out our YouTube channel for tutorials, walkthroughs, and real-world editing examples using Spotlight FX.