What It Does
Cyclops 3 generates clean behind-the-scenes renders of After Effects projects, revealing the structural elements normally hidden from final outputs. It shows null layers, motion paths, layer bounding boxes, keyframes, and wireframes in a variety of render styles. Instead of manually recreating technical diagrams or taking screenshots, you render the entire composition or application window with all animation mechanics visible.
This makes it straightforward to create social media posts, portfolio case studies, or tutorial materials that explain how an animation works. The tool supports standard, wireframe, green screen, and blue screen render modes, letting you simulate alpha transparency or create technical breakdowns depending on your needs.
Key Features
Multiple render targets. Choose to render just the active composition or capture the entire After Effects application window. This flexibility helps whether you’re documenting a single animation or showing your full workspace.
Render modes. Pick from standard, wireframe, green screen, or blue screen outputs. The green and blue screen modes simulate alpha transparency, useful when compositing behind-the-scenes footage over other backgrounds.
Customizable settings. Adjust resolution and output options to match your workflow, whether you need high-res stills for portfolio pieces or lightweight videos for quick social posts.
Cross-platform support. Available for both macOS (including Apple Silicon) and Windows, with recent updates addressing platform-specific path handling and performance.
Who It’s For
Motion designers building portfolios benefit from showing how animations are structured, not just the polished result. It’s also useful for educators creating tutorials, studios documenting workflow for clients, or anyone sharing process work on social media. The School of Motion feature on Motion Mondays highlighted Cyclops for this exact use case.
Pricing
Cyclops 3 costs $20 for a single-user license. A floating server license is available for multi-seat environments. Users who previously purchased Cyclops 2 on Gumroad can transfer their data to aescripts and receive upgrade pricing by logging in with their original account.
A trial version is available but limits renders to 1 second, which should be enough to test compatibility and output quality before purchasing.
