After Effects presets allow you to use and reuse specific configurations of layer properties and animations and apply them across various projects.
Though the After Effects program includes hundreds of animation presets, there'll be times when you just can’t find exactly what you’re looking for within the application.
For those occasions, I’ve compiled a varied list of the 14 best After Effects presets from a number of creators at VideoHive.
1. The Most Handy Motion Presets
First up, The Most Handy Motion Presets. The most popular as well as one of the best-rated After Effects presets on VideoHive, The Most Handy Motion Presets contains over 1,000 motion graphics presets based on the most frequently used animations in animated videos.
The presets, which are all customisable, work with Animation Composer, a free plug-in for Adobe After Effects, and are divided into two categories: transitions and effects.
User barbosay says:
“Great time saver and very powerful tool!”
2. Cinematic Color Presets
Cinematic Color Presets contains 51 unique presets to adjust the colour of the footage quickly and easily.
All presets are completely editable and resizable and will work with any resolution. In addition, the package comes with a detailed video tutorial to help you with installation and any other questions you might have.
3. Camera Movement Presets
Camera Movement Presets contains 45 camera animation presets to animate footage in a number of ways. The package comes with a detailed video and PDF instruction.
User CreativelyMe says:
"This package is well done and well documented (with videos), and the author is responsive and helpful. It's too bad you can't give something 6 or more stars.”
4. The Ultimate Glitch
If a project calls for glitch effects then The Ultimate Glitch is the preset pack for you. It offers 70 text and transition glitch effects that include distortion, damage, bad signal, RGB, camera jitter and more.
A comprehensive tutorial for using the effects is included with the pack.
User mayview says:
“Insanely easy to use. A beautiful work. Also the author is extremely quick to respond to any questions and was a huge help.”
5. Easy Vignette & Color Correction Pack
Easy Vignette & Color Correction Pack helps users modify the look of footage with a number of colour correction, colour modification and vignetting presets.
The pack contains 90 different presets to drag and drop wherever you want to create an effect in the footage. A video tutorial is included to explain how to install and use the pack.
6. Text Preset Pack
Text Preset Pack contains over 1,000 presets for animating text, ranging from basic to complex transitions. They are divided into transitions and effects for user convenience and can all be customised as needed.
User iananddan says:
“Beyond AWESOME text preset pack......so glad that I found it.”
7. Long Shadow Two Preset
The Long Shadow Two Preset does one thing well. It adds a long shadow to text and objects in any video footage, wherever you need it to.
The shadow can be modified as needed and, as with the other presets featured here, there’s a video tutorial and installation notes to help you along.
User BradEustathios says:
“Great tool, with great flexibility and virtually no learning curve. Takes a little bit extra to render, but that's to be expected with an effect like this!”
8. Arrower
Businesses that do a lot of video presentation work will find this handy preset quite useful.
Arrower allows users to create a wide variety of arrows to be incorporated into infographics and used to create graphs, map pointers, transitions, loaders and more.
9. Pixelator
The Pixelator preset adds some visual variety to your footage by breaking up any image into rectangular squares of colour that replicate the effect of pixellation, as in a low-resolution image in digital photography.
10. Sketch me!
Sketch me! is a mix of animation effects which include hand-written text and hand-drawn shapes that bring a personal look to video footage.
11. Digital Watch Clock System
Drag and drop the Digital Watch Clock System onto your text layer, and the preset converts it into a fully customisable digital clock with hours, minutes, and seconds.
The easy settings menu that automatically appears in the effects panel so you can make changes as needed.
12. CINEPUNCH V10
A powerful collection of presets, CINEPUNCH V10 provides users with over 6,000 motion elements to spice up their video project.
Presets include over 500 transitions, a glitch toolkit, light leaks, film effects and more. The presets work with any resolution and frame rate and are accompanied by eight video quick tip tutorials.
User Symbion7 says:
“This must be simply the hugest package available on Envato. Of course, the possibilities are endless. It is a blade on your Swiss Army knife for film editing with a spectacular value.”
13. 22 Awesome Cartoon Text Presets
22 Awesome Cartoon Text Presets is a set of fun typo animation effects that work with any type of text layer. Whether it’s a bounce, stretch, squash, wiggle or a spin you need, each preset is easy to adjust with simple settings.
The package comes with an extensive user guide to help you get started.
User Candybear7 says:
“Magnificent text presets.”
14. Voltus Preset
The final package, Voltus Preset, is perfect for users looking to drag and drop a bit of energy and pizazz into their footage. A fun and colourful preset, Voltus allows users to create colourful animated text, lines and shapes quickly and easily. Video tutorial and installation notes are included.
Charles Yeager has written a tutorial about the Voltus Preset for creating interesting animations.
User YamoD says:
“It’s an awesome preset with a very beautiful template included.”
Conclusion
These 15 best After Effects presets are just a small selection of the hundreds of amazing After Effects presets that are available at VideoHive, so if none of them quite fits your specific needs, there's plenty of other great options to from which to choose.
Or check out Envato Elements, which offers millions of stock items, including motion graphics projects for After Effects, with creative templates for slideshows, titles, logos, lower thirds, intros, and text effects.
And if you want to improve your skills building motion graphics yourself, then check out some of the ever-so-useful 3D and motion graphics tutorials.
