Top 20 keyframe assistant plugins for After Effects to improve animation quality and workflow efficiency. Perfect tools for all animators.

Are you looking to improve your animation workflow in After Effects? If so, then keyframe assistant plugins for After Effects can be the perfect solution. These plugins offer a wide variety of tools to help you create smoother animations, save time, and simplify complex tasks.

For example, they provide features for easing keyframes, generating dynamic motion curves, and much more. As a result, keyframe assistant plugins for After Effects make the animation process both faster and easier.

In this blog post, we will explore 20 of the best keyframe assistant plugins for After Effects. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, these plugins can help you achieve professional-looking animations with less effort.

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1. Mt. Mograph Motion

Mt. Mograph Motion is a powerful keyframe assistant plugin for After Effects. It provides over 50 tools to simplify animation workflows, offering features like custom effect controls, keyframe easing, and color tools. With Motion, users can easily handle animations using built-in tools like the Curve Graph and Easing Sliders. It offers a lifetime license with all future updates included, making it a valuable addition for motion designers.

2. Flow

Flow is a keyframe assistant plugin for After Effects that simplifies creating animation curves. It offers an intuitive interface, bypassing the complex graph editor, and supports CSS animation-timing functions for precise control. Additionally, with 25 pre-defined motion curves and the ability to import custom presets, Flow enhances animation workflows and speeds up the process.

3. Joysticks n Sliders

Joysticks n Sliders is an After Effects keyframe assistant plugin that makes pose-based rigging easier. It uses joystick controllers to create smooth animations between multiple poses, perfect for character rigging or motion graphics. In particular, with unlimited poses and easy setup, it simplifies complex animations and boosts creative control.

4. Keystone 2

Keystone 2 is a keyframe animation plugin that simplifies keyframe manipulation. It provides tools for aligning, stretching, staggering, and coloring keyframes, making animation workflows more efficient. Moreover, with features like a dedicated layers panel, link/unlink options, and a favorites system, Keystone 2 enhances the animation process by grouping essential tasks into one easy-to-use extension.

5. Easecopy

EaseCopy for After Effects is a keyframe animation plugin that allows you to copy and paste keyframe eases effortlessly. This plugin simplifies the process of duplicating animation curves between layers, saving time and maintaining consistency in animations. As a result, with EaseCopy, you can create smoother transitions and easily apply them across multiple elements.

6. Keyfast

KeyFast offers one-click shortcuts for animating scenes in After Effects. It automates tasks like easing, aligning, and staggering keyframes, allowing you to quickly adjust layers, trim paths, and more. KeyFast speeds up your workflow, saving time on repetitive tasks so you can focus on creativity.

7. Lazy

Lazy is a plugin for After Effects that introduces advanced easing options. It allows users to distribute layers and keyframes along customizable bezier curves, adding flexibility to animations. The plugin features three pinching methods for precise control and includes a library of presets for various animation styles. Therefore, Lazy streamlines the animation process, making it faster and easier to create dynamic effects.

8. Shifter 2

Shifter 2 is a plugin for After Effects that allows users to “staircase” clips in a timeline, adjusting their order, time units, and easing types. It supports various easing options like Linear, Quad, and Expo, providing flexibility in animation workflows. Thus, Shifter 2 is ideal for quickly arranging and animating multiple clips in a customized fashion.

9. MographAE

MographAE helps create complex animations quickly. It includes three cloners -Grid, Array, and Linear – and five effectors to arrange and animate layers efficiently. Furthermore, with features like proximity-based effects, sequential animation, and smooth morphing between positions, it streamlines animation workflows.

10. Ease And Wizz

Ease And Wizz is a keyframe assistant plugin for After Effects that adds realistic easing effects to your animations. It uses custom expressions to create dynamic motion, offering various easing types like Quad, Cubic, and Bounce. Consequently, with Ease and Wizz, you can enhance your animations with smoother transitions and more natural movement.

11. After Ease

After Ease is a keyframe assistant plugin for After Effects that provides intuitive control over easing functions. It offers a user-friendly interface to adjust speed and motion, allowing precise manipulation of animations. Additionally, with tools like keyframe acceleration and custom curve adjustments, After Ease enhances animation workflows by creating smoother, more dynamic transitions.

12. Motion Path Pro

Motion Path Pro links motion paths to selected layers. It simplifies animation control by allowing users to link masks to motion paths, toggle Auto Orient, reverse directions, and animate with sliders. Therefore, the plugin is user-friendly, offering quick adjustments and real-time updates for smooth animations.

13. Real Ease

Real Ease Pro is a keyframe animation plugin for After Effects that creates smooth animations with minimal effort. It adds an intermediate keyframe to control speed and motion, focusing on acceleration and deceleration forces. Furthermore, the plugin includes presets for ease in/out and constant velocity, making complex keyframe adjustments simple and efficient.

14. Easy

Easy for After Effects is a keyframe assistant plugin that simplifies the creation of smooth animations with just a few clicks. It offers a variety of in-and-out presets and visual graphs for precise motion control. Easy works across multiple layers and properties without using complex expressions, making it ideal for both beginners and advanced users to streamline their animation workflows.

15. Keyframe Manager

Keyframe Manager allows users to view, edit, rearrange, search and replace, copy, and paste keyframes easily. The plugin features tools to change keyframe values, adjust easing types, and visually shift keys, making animation tasks faster and more efficient. Thus, it’s a great addition for those looking to enhance their editing capabilities.

16. KEYboard

KEYboard is an After Effects keyframe assistant plugin that enhances animation speed and workflow. It offers shortcuts to manage keyframes, such as easing, cloning, mirroring, shifting, and randomizing keys. Therefore, designed for animators, KEYboard helps streamline repetitive tasks and control animations efficiently through keyboard commands.

17. Bezier Node

Bezier Node allows you to link objects to bezier nodes, creating flexible, dynamic animations with fewer keyframes. Moreover, the plugin supports intuitive controls, such as auto-aligning layers and adjusting motion paths, simplifying the animation process and boosting creative possibilities.

18. Wave-o-Matic

Wave-o-Matic is a keyframe assistant plugin for After Effects that creates advanced wave-based motion on any layer in 2D or 3D. It offers full customization and control over positional and rotational wave settings, supports layers with keyframes and expressions, and includes easy on/off settings and impact sliders. Thus, Wave-o-Matic simplifies the creation of natural wave motions, saving time on complex animations.

19. Cyclops

Cyclops enables you to create behind-the-scenes renders of animations. It can show null layers, motion paths, and bounding boxes, making it perfect for project case studies or social media. Additionally, Cyclops offers customizable render settings, including green and blue screen options, and supports the latest versions of After Effects on both macOS and Windows.

20. Smart Key Reverse

Smart Key Reverse is a keyframe assistant plugin for After Effects that instantly reverses complex animations. It allows you to reverse keyframes for multiple layers while preserving their timing patterns. As a result, with features like keyboard shortcuts and different reverse modes, it simplifies the process of creating fade-in and fade-out animations, making your workflow more efficient.

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