What It Does
Plexus 3 renders procedural particle networks directly in After Effects. You create geometry from particles, then connect them with lines or facets based on distance, position, or custom parameters. The plugin handles everything from simple dot connections to complex triangulated meshes.
Key Features
Object Panel. A dockable tree interface organizes geometry objects, effectors, render objects, and groups. You select what you need without scrolling through long effect controls.
Sound Effector. Sample audio waveforms and map them to vertex position, scale, or color. Echo effects let you sample sound over time, useful for music visualizations.
OBJ import. Load OBJ files and sequences through After Effects’ file importer. The plugin reads vertex positions, facets, normals, and texture coordinates. You can animate imported meshes with native AE tools.
Transform Effector. Drive particle transformations using After Effects layers. Link layer position, scale, or rotation to particle behavior.
Slicer Object. Slice through meshes to reveal internal geometry. Works best with OBJ meshes and pairs well with the instance object.
Motion blur and depth of field. Use composition settings or custom camera shutter values. Both features work with Plexus’ native rendering engine.
Text and shape integration. The plugin automatically generates particles along text outlines and shape paths. Useful for kinetic typography or shape-based transitions.
Noise and field effectors. Control particle movement with noise patterns or spherical fields. Noise can loop seamlessly for repeating animations.
Color mapping. Map layer colors to particle position, scale, or color values. You can drive effects with gradients or footage.
Sprites. Render custom sprites per particle with randomization. Multiple sprites per particle work for infographic builds.
Beams. Create volumetric light beams between particles with no overlapping joints. Graph-based parameters control thickness, opacity, and color along the beam length.
Unified rendering. All objects share a common 3D space. Points, lines, and polygons from different objects correctly intersect in Z-depth.
Depth map culling. Use depth maps from 3D software or Buena Depth Cue to occlude Plexus elements behind scene geometry.
Visibility controls. Fade or hide elements based on camera distance. Cull polygons facing toward or away from camera.
Graph UI parameters. Control color, opacity, and thickness with custom curves instead of linear values.
The plugin integrates with After Effects cameras and lights. Collapse transforms on nested compositions to maintain camera relationships across comp boundaries.
Who It’s For
Designers creating abstract backgrounds, title sequences, or data visualizations. Also useful for anyone building organic structures or network diagrams that need to animate over time. The modular workflow scales from simple line connections to complex multi-object setups.
Pricing
- Full license: $249.99
- Upgrade from Plexus 2: $99.99 (login to aescripts account to see discount)
- Upgrade from Plexus 1: $149.99 (login to aescripts account to see discount)
- Render-only license: $50.00
One-time purchase, not subscription. Free trial available.