by Plugin Everything·VFX
Images © Plugin Everything. Used for product review; image policy.
Shadow Studio 3 earns its place in the aescripts library for pairing raytraced shadows with an RGBA pipeline, gradients and a preset library, all inside After Effects.
Shadow Studio 3 is an After Effects plugin from Plugin Everything for casting raytraced shadows and light. It adds a shadow effect built on raytracing to the After Effects toolset.
The plugin covers a range of shadow and light behaviours. Gradients are supported, and an RGBA pipeline lets shadows inherit the source layer's pixel colours. Inverse shadows are available, along with inner shadows that are compatible with all modes, plus texturing and compositing controls and over 36 presets. The preset library is currently compatible with After Effects CC 2021 and above.
Version 1.1.0, released November 8, 2025, adds a crash fix specific to After Effects 2025, a fix for a driver issue on certain Nvidia cards, and an updated licensing framework. The plugin runs on After Effects versions from CC 2017 through 2026. A demo video is available on the developer's page.
Shadow Studio 3 is best for after Effects artists casting raytraced shadows and light, working with gradients, inverse or inner shadows, or applying the bundled presets on CC 2021 and above.
Shadow Studio 3 is completely free to download and use.
Shadow Studio 3 supports a broad range of After Effects versions, including 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, CC 2019, CC 2018 and CC 2017. That covers the current release along with several years of older versions. One caveat worth noting: the plugin's presets are only compatible with CC 2021 and above, so on earlier versions you would work with the effect's controls directly rather than loading the preset library.
Shadow Studio 3 includes over 36 presets, but they are currently only compatible with After Effects CC 2021 and above. If you are running an older version such as CC 2020, 2019, 2018 or 2017, the plugin itself still applies to your layers, but you would set up shadows and light using the effect's own controls instead of loading the bundled presets.
Shadow Studio 3 is listed as free in this catalog. Licensing terms can change, so check the developer's page for the current details before you rely on it for a project. The plugin comes from Plugin Everything and casts raytraced shadows and light in After Effects, including gradients, inverse shadows and an RGBA pipeline that lets shadows inherit source pixel colours.
Shadow Studio 3 version 1.1.0 was released on November 8, 2025. This update includes a crash fix specific to After Effects 2025, a fix for a driver issue on certain Nvidia cards, and an updated licensing framework. Earlier releases added multithreading performance improvements, gradient UI fixes, and improved error handling and logging, while the original 1.0.0 release introduced raytracing, gradients, the RGBA pipeline, inverse shadows and over 36 presets.
Also in VFX for After Effects.
by Pixel Sorter Studio
Face Swapper by Pixel Sorter Studio is a GPU-based face swapping plugin for After Effects, DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro. It runs locally with no internet connection and includes models you can use commercially.
by AEJuice
AEJuice Film Noise is a pack of pre-rendered noise, grain, and dirt elements for After Effects, Premiere Pro, and DaVinci Resolve. It includes 31 digital film noise clips delivered as 4K MP4 files.
by Baskl.ai
Anonymizer brings AI face anonymization to After Effects, DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro. It swaps every face in a scene with a random AI-generated face, and also handles automatic face blurring and pixelization.
by Satori
Pixel Stretch is a plugin for After Effects and Premiere Pro that applies organic nonlinear pixel stretching with subpixel accuracy, driven by a luminance curve or an input layer in orthogonal directions.
by Blace Plugins
Goodbye Greenscreen is an AI-based matting plugin for After Effects and Premiere Pro from Blace Plugins. It offers multiple matting models with GPU and CPU processing, and runs hardware-accelerated on macOS.
by Video Copilot
Saber is a free After Effects plug-in from Video Copilot for creating energy beams, lightsabers, lasers, portals, neon lights, electric, and haze effects. It includes 50 presets and works with dynamic text and mask outlines.
by Baskl.ai
CorridorKey brings Corridor Digital's CorridorKey to After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, and Premiere Pro through a plugin implementation for easy use. Currently at version 1.3.0, it ranks among the most popular entries on aescripts.
by Plugin Everything
Quick Chromatic Aberration 3 is a free After Effects plugin that adds RGB shift and distortion to emulate the chromatic aberration produced by real lenses, with GPU-accelerated, 32bpc processing and per-channel control.
by Boris FX
Boris FX Sapphire Annual Subscription is a filter set for After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, and Premiere Pro, offering wipe transitions, lens flares, glares, defocus effects, and a builder for custom effects and transitions.
by Pixel Sorter Studio
Pixel Sorter 4 is a pixel-sorting plugin for After Effects, DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro from Pixel Sorter Studio. It creates glitch art, digital artifacts and sorted-pixel effects with constraint masks, stretch mode and animation controls.
by Boris FX
Boris FX Continuum is a collection of effects for After Effects, DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro. It covers AI image restoration, footage fixes, stylizing, film looks and grains, greenscreen compositing, drag-and-drop transitions and Mocha tracking built into every effect.
