What It Does
Auto Crop analyzes a composition’s layers and resizes it to match the exact dimensions of its contents. Works on the current frame or across the entire timeline to ensure no animation gets cut off. Now a native After Effects plugin, it crops compositions directly without requiring pre-composition, and adjusts all instances of that comp across your project automatically.
Key Features
Pixel-perfect accuracy. Scans the alpha channel of every layer, including partially visible pixels. If even a single semi-transparent pixel exists, Auto Crop includes it in the crop dimensions.
Duration-based cropping. Instead of cropping to the current frame, analyze the entire composition timeline. This finds the smallest possible crop that accommodates all animation without clipping.
Multi-instance handling. When a composition appears in multiple parent comps, Auto Crop adjusts the position of every instance project-wide so the visual output stays identical after resizing.
Expand and crop. If layers extend outside the comp bounds, you can expand the composition to include them, then crop to fit. Useful when working with oversized elements or tracking data.
Flexible access. Run from the layer menu, project panel (multi-comp selection), optional ScriptUI panel, or via KBar integration. The panel is customizable to show frequently used settings.
Current comp support. No need to pre-compose first. Crop the active composition directly.
The plugin offers full or current resolution cropping modes and displays a progress indicator when processing large timelines or multiple layers.
Who It’s For
Motion designers working with nested compositions, animators who need clean exports without excess space, and anyone building modular projects where composition sizes change frequently. Particularly useful for text animations, logo reveals, and template-based workflows where trim time matters.
Pricing
Pay-what-you-want pricing. The standard suggested price is $29.99 as a one-time purchase, but you set the amount. Upgrade discounts available for previous buyers. Trial version allows 10 crops per day for 7 days with a serial prompt.
Notes
3D positioned layers require pre-composition to maintain proper positioning after a crop, since the composition dimensions affect 3D camera math. Auto Crop offers an option to handle this automatically. Expressions that reference composition width or height may produce unexpected results after cropping and should be converted to keyframes first.
