What It Does
Swatcheroo gives After Effects a proper color swatch system. Read colors from your project, store them in a panel, and apply them to shape layers, text, or footage with a click. The plugin handles color management through expression-driven masks, but you won’t see the complexity. Just a clean interface for working with colors.
Developed by Zack Lovatt and distributed through aescripts, this panel fills a gap that other Adobe apps (Photoshop, Illustrator, Animate) have covered for years.
Key Features
Read colors. Select a layer and pull its color into a swatch slot for reuse.
Apply colors. Click a swatch to color selected layers. Hold SHIFT + CLICK for quick application without changing your selection.
Swap fills and strokes. Toggle between stroke and fill modes with one click. Useful when working with shape layers that need quick style changes.
Remove colors. CMD/CTRL + CLICK on a swatch to strip fills or strokes from selected layers.
Swatch history. The panel remembers your recent colors automatically. Set the number of history rows in preferences (added in v1.1.0). Lock specific swatches to prevent them from cycling out of the history.
Swatcheroo works on shape layers, text layers, and even footage (through expression-controlled tint effects). No helper comps, no manual expression writing.
Who It’s For
Motion designers working with brand guidelines or multi-color projects. If you’re constantly switching between client colors or managing style frames, this speeds up the process. Text animators who need consistent type colors across compositions will find the history feature helpful.
Also useful for anyone tired of digging through the color picker every time they need to match a previous color choice.
Pricing
Swatcheroo uses a pay-what-you-want model. The listed price on aescripts is $15, but the original pricing structure allowed you to name your own price. You pay once and own it (no subscription).
Version 1.1.3 (June 2020) is the current release, with support for After Effects CC 2014 through 2026.