Effects
Six effects.
- Trail: a solid, tapered stroke whose tail breaks into drops
- Write-on along a preset path, your mask, or one you draw
- Liquid type: built, traced or written, out by dissolve, melt or un-draw
- Smoke & dust, Rocket flame, Splash
New Panel for After Effects
Ink that comes apart.
A solid stroke follows your layer and its tail breaks into drops that neck, pinch and drip like real ink. A stroke builds your word, then takes it apart. Splashes with a crown and puddles, tyre smoke, rocket flames. Flat, cartoon, and built as one vector shape layer in your comp.
17presets
6effects
1native shape layer, no plugins
€0free, pay what you want
How it works
Pick. Select. Create.
Start from a preset and tweak it live in the panel. Select what it works on, the layer to follow, your path or your text, and press Create.
Pick
Dissolving trail, built title, liquid type, type melt, splash, car drift, rocket launch, bike dust and more.
Select
A layer to follow, a layer with a mask or shape path, or your text layer. Nothing selected uses the preview's own path.
Create
One shape layer: a group per colour, each a set of paths keyed on every frame. Loop it, or let it follow the whole move.
Everything inside
Four steps. One clear flow.
Ink
Behaves like liquid.
- Drops neck and pinch off, and merge when they touch
- Splashes with a crown, ligaments and puddles
- Drips that fill up under your letters and fall
- Fast drops pull a teardrop tail
Look
Flat and graphic.
- Two colours that blend in steps or cut
- Smoke with a darker shade band
- Width, solid part, break-up, scatter, merge
- Animate on 2s or 3s
Output
Native and editable.
- One vector shape layer, crisp at any size
- A flat Fill per colour: recolour it in the timeline
- Loop it on the length you pick, or follow the whole move
- Update a SplashIt layer with new settings
The details
Made for real projects.
A stroke, not a pile of balls
The line stays solid where it is fresh. Only its tail comes apart, as a ribbon of ink that beads up and drifts.
A real preview, in the panel
Every slider updates the preview live, and hovering a preset plays it, so you find the look before you create anything.
What you see is what you get
The panel traces the same frames into vector paths, so the layer in your comp matches the preview.
It follows your animation
Trails, smoke and flames read the selected layer every frame, from the playhead to the end of the comp.
Type built by a stroke
A stroke draws each letter where your text layer is, flicking drops as it goes. The word holds, then comes apart.
Same family, same feel
SplashIt sits next to MotionKit, RigKit and BlendIt, and opens inside the MotionLabs Hub.
Install
Three steps, one minute.
SplashIt is a signed extension, like the rest of MotionLabs. No Terminal, no developer tools. Same steps on macOS and Windows.
Get SplashIt
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 → SplashIt.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Is it really free?
Yes. Every effect and every preset, no licence key. On Gumroad you can pay what you want, or nothing at all.
Does it need a third-party plugin?
No. It builds a native shape layer with flat fills, so it renders anywhere, even without SplashIt installed.
Can it follow my animation?
Yes. Select the layer before you press Create: trails, smoke and flames follow it every frame. Write-on uses the selected layer's mask or shape path.
Does it use my font?
Liquid type draws your word with its own single-stroke letters, placed and sized where your text layer is, and hides your text layer.
Can I change it later?
Recolour any Fill in the timeline, or select the SplashIt layer and press Update to rebuild it with new settings.
Which versions of After Effects?
After Effects 2023 and later, on macOS and Windows.