What It Does
Layer Force generates transitions and slideshows for After Effects layers using 19 parametric animation styles. It syncs layer cuts to audio peaks or voiceover pauses, automates the entire process, or lets you customize timing and transition types per layer. Useful for quick social media edits, automated caption sequences, or syncing visuals to music.
Key Features
The plugin offers 4 overlap transition styles (simple cut, cross fade, and variants where previous layers remain visible) and 15 dynamic transition styles (fade in/out, slide directions, rotation, zoom, fish-eye distortion, chromatic aberration). Enable Force Comp Fill to trigger dynamic transitions that scale and reposition layers to fill the composition.
Audio syncing detects peaks in a loaded audio track and places cuts at those markers. Adjust the threshold to control sensitivity. For voiceovers, Speech Mode (requires Text Force v1.9+) detects pauses in speech and cuts text layers accordingly.
Premiere Pro integration (added in v1.1) copies timeline content from Premiere, pastes it into an empty After Effects comp, and auto-adjusts layer timing and order. This streamlines workflows where rough edits start in Premiere.
Override transitions lets you assign specific transition styles and directions to individual layers before animating. Align tools snap layers to composition edges or centers. Presets save and load custom configurations for repeated use.
Who It’s For
Social media editors cutting rapid-fire visuals to music, motion designers building kinetic slideshows, or anyone who needs to animate dozens of layers quickly without keyframing each one. The Premiere paste feature suits editors who rough-cut in Premiere then polish in After Effects.
Pricing
Layer Force uses a pay-what-you-want model. The product page suggests $89.99 but allows buyers to name their own price. A 25% discount applies when bundled with Text Force (another plugin by the same author). Eligible users can unlock upgrade pricing by logging in. A trial version is available to test before purchasing.