# Generate plates, elements and sound without leaving After Effects

> Install the Layer panel for After Effects and generate video, images and audio, edit the selected layer, reframe and upscale — inside the composition you are already animating.

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Motion work runs on elements: a plate to push in on, an overlay to sit under a title, a
loopable puff of smoke, a low grinding hit for the moment a gate opens. Most of them are too
small to commission and too specific to find in a library, so they get faked with what is to
hand — or the shot gets rebuilt around what exists.

The Layer panel puts generation next to the timeline. Describe the element, pick from what
comes back, and drop it onto the layer stack; it arrives as footage in your project, sized to
the region it was made for, in one undo step.

## What it does in a composition

**Generate footage, stills and sound.** Video for plates and elements, images for end cards
and badges, audio for the hits and textures a sequence needs. Each result is saved to a Layer
session, so the composition and the creative behind it stay together.

**Edit the layer you have selected.** Change it with a prompt, reframe it for a vertical
placement, or raise its resolution — without round-tripping through another application.

**Keep working where you already are.** The panel is a dockable extension: it sits beside the
Effect Controls, and generation happens against your Layer workspace rather than on your
machine, so a render is not competing with a generation for the same cores.

## Where it fits a game team

A launch trailer is mostly elements. A store listing needs the same beats cut vertically. An
end card needs a badge that matches the key art. Those are the jobs this panel is for — the
supporting material around the shots you have, made in the application the shots are already
in.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Is there a Layer plugin for After Effects?

Yes. Download the .zxp from this page, install it with a ZXP installer, then restart After Effects and open Window → Extensions → Layer AI. The panel generates into the composition you already have open.

### Which After Effects versions are supported?

After Effects 25.0 and newer, on macOS and Windows. That is the first release carrying CEP 12, which the panel is built against; the exact minimum for the current build is listed on the download card above.

### Why does the plugin install differently from the Photoshop one?

After Effects has no UXP, so its extensions are CEP — a different packaging format. That is why this one is a signed .zxp placed by an installer rather than a .ccx the Creative Cloud desktop app picks up.

### What can the panel generate into a composition?

Video, images and audio. Describe a plate, an element or a sound and the result comes back as footage you can drop straight onto the layer stack. You can also select a layer and change it with a prompt, reframe it for a vertical placement, or raise its resolution.

### Do I need a Layer account to use the plugin?

Yes. Sign in from the panel with the same account you use at layer.ai. The plugin is free with every plan, and generations draw on your workspace's Creative Units, so what you make in After Effects bills exactly as it would in the browser.

### Do my generations from the plugin show up in Layer?

Yes. Each generation is saved to a Layer session you can open in the browser, so a composition assembled in After Effects and the creative it came from live in the same place.

### Can it read a clip back out of my composition?

It can read the frame you are on, and it can edit footage the panel itself placed. Reading an arbitrary clip back out would mean rendering the composition, which takes minutes and produces a different file — so the panel says what it can act on rather than guessing.

### Does the plugin work offline?

No. Generation runs on Layer's infrastructure, so the panel needs an internet connection. Everything else in After Effects keeps working as normal.

### What's the best way to bring generated footage into a comp?

Let the panel place it. Footage lands as a new layer at the top of the stack, sized to the region it was made for, and the import is one undo step — so a result you do not want costs a single Cmd-Z.

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Install the panel, sign in, and generate your next element into the composition you already have open.

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