What It Does
Story Boarding imports screenplay files (Adobe Story .astx or Final Draft .fdx) into After Effects and converts them into organized compositions. Each scene becomes a separate comp with characters, locations, cameras, and timing based on dialogue and action. You can use it as a reference while animating or generate a complete rough cut for an animatic.
Key Features
Screenplay import. Reads .astx and .fdx formats directly. The script analyzes dialogue and action to estimate scene duration.
Auto-composition generation. Double-click a scene in the list to create a comp populated with nested comps for characters and locations, plus a camera layer. Story Boarding creates one comp per character and location across the entire project, so edits propagate to every scene where that element appears.
Rough cut assembly. Generate a full edit of the screenplay with all scenes timed and sequenced. Action and dialogue appear as markers on the timeline.
Dockable panel. Keep the screenplay open in the UI while working on individual scenes. You can import the script purely as a reference tool without generating any comps.
Simple Camera Rig support. Integrates with Malty for quick camera setup during previz.
Scene and timecode overlays. Add metadata directly to compositions for tracking.
Who It’s For
Animators and directors working on narrative projects who need to plan scenes before committing to final animation. Useful for building animatics, testing pacing, or experimenting with camera angles in a structured way.
Pricing
Pay what you want. The developer suggests $59.99 as a standard price, with upgrade discounts for previous buyers. Bulk purchases save 25% for 2 licenses, up to 33% for 10. A portion of proceeds supports Child’s Play Charity. No subscription or recurring fees.
Originally built to support an independent animated feature (Mythomen), the script is designed for fast iteration rather than complicated workflows.