Free AE Templates and Assets to Celebrate 25 Years of After Effects
Adobe After Effects is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary, so we figured it was time to round up some of our favorite free templates, presets, and assets.
It still feels like we just celebrated Premiere Pro’s 25th birthday, but now it’s time to shift the celebration over to After Effects.
Going back to January of 1993, After Effects version 1.0 was working behind the scenes on what would become the biggest blockbuster film ever, Jurassic Park.
The team on Jurassic Park used proprietary software to develop the virtual world. But it was After Effects that allowed the VFX team to combine aspects of 3D dinosaurs and 2D sketches to virtually preview movie scenes. This was due to After Effects’ unique capabilities to do quick-turn shots. Jurassic Park transformed the industry forever and went on to win a well-deserved Oscar for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing. It also was the catalyst to help the creators of After Effects strive to make the product what it is today. —Adobe
You should also make time to throw it back to the After Effects demo reel from 1993.
After Effects has long been in the hands of everyday consumers now, and the software is behind countless commercials, films, and motion design projects all over the world.
To celebrate the milestone, we’ve rounded up our favorite free After Effects assets. Below, you’ll find tons of free animations like icons and transitions as well as presets, templates, and overlays.
Free Animations, Transitions, and Icons for After Effects
- 16 Circle Transitions
- 12 Circle Bursts
- 35 Shape Layers
- 24 Lower Thirds
- Animated Text Messages
- 20 Animated Icons
- 30 Office Technology Icons
- 16 Colorful Transitions
- Animation Effects for Helvetica Neue
- Ribbon Animated Typeface
- 5 Animated Wedding Name Badges
- Animated Social Media Icons
Free Overlays and Elements
- 16 4K Volumetric Light and Dust Elements
- 21 4K Fog Overlays
- 13 4K Light Leaks
- 16 Light Leaks
- 65 Free Bullet Sparks
- 19 4K Space Nebula Backgrounds
- 5 Glitch Effects
- VHS Distortion Overlay
Free Logo Reveals
- 3 Animated Logo Reveals
- Ironclad — Metallic Fantasy Logo Reveal
- Hiro — Anime Logo Reveal
- Orbital — HUD Logo Reveal
- 3 Click Logo Reveals
Free After Effects Presets, Plugins, and Tools
- 15 Free Camera Shake Presets
- FX Console — Workflow Tool
- Typominal — Text Preset
- Buttcapper — Stroke Cap Selector
- Ouroboros — Multiple Strokes in Path Preset
- DUIK — Rigging Animation
- AE Flame
Free After Effects Templates
- Poly Titles AE template
- Fast Flip AE template
- Split Layers AE template
- Fast Slides AE template
- YouTube User Interface
- Instagram User Interface
- 10 Free After Effects Templates: Typography
After Effects Tutorials
If you need to learn how to use these assets, I suggest these roundups of the best After Effects tutorials.
- 21 of the Best After Effects Tutorials
- PremiumBeat’s After Effects Fundamentals
- Augment Reality with These After Effects HUD Tutorials
We’re also constantly updating the PremiumBeat YouTube channel with tutorials on After Effects, video editing, cinematography and video production, more freebies, and so much more. Be sure to subscribe for the latest tuts.