Clean colour
Blends that look the way you pictured them.
- OKLab and OKLCH — no muddy grey in the middle
- Stop easing: drag the midpoint between any two colours
- Smooth stops and Balance
- Presets, CSS from Figma and back
New Panel for After Effects
Gradients, finally easy.
After Effects mixes gradients in plain RGB, glues them to fixed points and hides their colours from expressions. BlendIt gives you a real gradient editor, blends that stay clean, gradients that follow the shape, motion, states and one palette for the whole comp. Free, and everything it builds is native.
6looping motions
3colour spaces
5palette colours
0plugins needed to render
How it works
Pick. Apply. Tweak live.
Select a shape, a text or a solid, build the gradient in the panel and press Apply. With Live on, every change updates the layer as you drag.
Pick
A preset, your own stops, or a gradient pasted straight from Figma or CSS.
Apply
Native effects go on the layer, with the points bound to its bounds.
Tweak
Select the layer again later: BlendIt reads its gradient back and edits it live.
Everything inside
A gradient editor that belongs in After Effects. All of it free.
Bound to the layer
The gradient follows the artwork.
- Points driven by sourceRectAtTime()
- Linear, Radial and four-colour Mesh
- Gradient maps that recolour footage by brightness
- Live editing, and the panel reads a layer's gradient back
Motion + States
Gradients that live on the timeline.
- Flow, Rotate, Breathe, Drift, Sheen, Hue
- Seamless loops from 1 to 16 seconds
- States: key the gradient, move on, key again — eased
- Plain keyframes and expressions you can retime
Palette + Spread
One set of colours for the whole comp.
- A palette controller with five colours and themes
- Link gradients and fill any layer with a palette colour
- Spread one gradient over dozens of layers
- Wave or cycle animation, looping
The details
Made for real projects.
Native, all the way
Gradient Ramp, Noise and CC Toner. The project renders on any After Effects, even without BlendIt installed.
Colours you can keyframe
Unlike a shape's Gradient Fill, every BlendIt colour is an ordinary property: keyframe it, link it, drive it.
From Figma in one paste
Copy a CSS gradient from Figma or the web, paste it, and it's rebuilt with its stops and angle. Copy yours back out the same way.
It tells you what AE gets
The panel shows the five tones and effects that will land on the layer, and how closely they match your curve.
Works in any language
Effect parameters are found by type, not by English names, so localised After Effects is fine.
Same family, same feel
BlendIt sits next to MotionKit and RigKit: the same panel design, the same way of working.
Install
Three steps, one minute.
BlendIt is a signed extension, like the rest of MotionLabs. No Terminal, no developer tools. Same steps on macOS and Windows.
Get BlendIt
One signed .zxp file from Gumroad. Free — pay what you want, or nothing at all.
Install it with one drag
Get the free ZXP Installer from aescripts, open it and drag the .zxp onto the window.
Open it
Restart After Effects, then Window → Extensions → BlendIt.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Is it free?
Yes, all of it. BlendIt is pay-what-you-want on Gumroad, with every tool included: motion, states, mesh, maps, palette and spread. No licence key.
Why not the shape layer's own Gradient Fill?
Its colours can't be read or set by scripts or expressions — the request to change that is still open with Adobe. BlendIt builds gradients from effects whose colours are real properties.
Does it work on text?
Yes, on shapes, text, solids, footage and precomps. The gradient follows the layer's bounds as they change.
Will the file open without BlendIt?
Yes. It's native effects and expressions.
Which versions of After Effects?
After Effects 2023 and later, on macOS and Windows.