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The free, open-source After Effects alternative.

Keyframes, a graph editor, 2D and 3D layers, and the shortcuts you already know. A native engine renders it on your GPU.

  • Free, no watermark
  • Open source, AGPL-3.0
  • Windows, macOS and Linux
  • Opens .aep projects
PFileEdit
Composition: Beyond the Frame — title sequence
BEYOND THE FRAME
00:07:17 / 00:10:00
00:07:1700227 (30.00 fps)
Layer Name
Y Rotation0.0°
Position Z-1900 px
0s4s8s
Frame Render Time: 14ms
Ready · 19 layers · 00:07:17
A working recreation of the editor. Press play, scrub the timeline, pick a layer.Beyond the Frame · made in Premation

New in 1.0

Ask Claude or ChatGPT. Watch it build in Premation.

Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Antigravity from Dashboard ▸ Connections, then ask for motion graphics in a chat. It makes real layers, keyframes and effects in the project you have open.

An assistant in PremationTry it

You, in ClaudeIn Premation, make a 10-second logo reveal for NOVA with a glow.

Premation — HomeClaude
ClaudeClaude connected just now
Recent steps

Nothing yet. Send the prompt above and watch Claude work.

Ready

A recreation of the editor’s activity panel. Step names are the ones the app shows.

You watch every change, and you can stop it
Each step shows in the editor as it happens. Stop throws away whatever it was in the middle of.
One request, one undo
A request lands as a single step in Edit ▸ Undo, named for what it did. Edit while it works and your edit stays yours.
It asks before it touches your disk
Importing files and rendering video wait for you to click Allow.
Free, and on your computer
Free on every plan. The assistant reaches Premation through a private local connection, and only Premation's editing tools are offered to it.

The panels you animate in

A graph editor, GPU effects, per-character type and a real 3D camera. Each one below works.

All features
Graph EditorPosition · Value graph
cubic-bezier(0.33, 0, 0.67, 1)
0f4f8f12f16f20f24f0480960
Position595.2, 540.0

Shape the speed, not just the keys

Pick an ease and the layer below rides the same curve the graph draws.

Effects & Presets275 effects
Search effects and presets

Effects run on the GPU

Blur, glow and color work render as shaders while you scrub. Pick one to apply it.

Text — Animator 1Per character
Range Selector 1
Start100 %
Position0.0, 22.0
Opacity8 %
Blur4.0

Type, one character at a time

A range selector offsets each glyph. Key its Start and the word builds itself.

Composition — Active CameraCamera 1 · 50 mm · Y -28.0°

Layers at real depth, under a real camera

Classic 3D: position layers in Z, then orbit, dolly and key the camera. Drag the view.

The files you already ship

Open an After Effects project. Export the formats a production already uses.

Export

  • MP4 · H.264Delivery file
  • MOV · ProRes 444416-bit, with alpha
  • WebM · VP9Transparent web video
  • HDR10 · HLG10-bit HEVC, BT.2020
  • Lottie JSONVector animation for apps
  • PNG · EXR sequenceFrame-by-frame passes
  • GIF · WAVShort loops, sound
  • EDL · OTIO · FCPXML · ALEEditorial hand-off

Open

  • After Effects .aep · .aepxCompositions, keyframes, masks, text
  • SVGStatic and animated
  • Lottie JSONComes in as editable layers
  • glTF models3D layers
  • Video, image, audioFrame-accurate seeking

Your After Effects hands already know this: comps, precomps, parenting, mattes and Classic 3D keep their names, and V, W, Y, G, U and F9 do what you expect.

Premation and After Effects, compared

What’s new

Premation reached 1.0 and is still shipping every week or two. The latest releases, from the repository’s tags, and what the native engine measured when it arrived.

  1. 1.0.4Latest

    Keyframes behave the way After Effects users expect: smooth Auto Bezier, eases on the right side of the key, and a graph editor that no longer blinks while you drag.

    • Auto Bezier keys are smooth through the key, Easy Ease In and Out apply to the key's own arrival and departure, and keys can be dragged past their neighbors. The value graph draws every curve on one shared axis.
    • Dragging a keyframe or handle in the graph editor stays steady: the curve follows the keys, the first move is not lost and value snapping follows the Snapping toggle.
    • Time-remapped and speed-ramped footage exports with its sound following the picture, instead of refusing the export.
    • A new chrome icon set drawn on the After Effects grid, and a right-click on a keyframe opens its menu every time.
    • Steadier on more machines: a burst of edits no longer gets a healthy engine stopped as hung, a computer without WebGPU draws frames through Canvas 2D, and Help ▸ Copy Diagnostics Report makes a problem easy to send.
  2. 1.0.3

    After Effects-style expressions and scripts, an Essential Graphics panel, the interface in three more languages, and projects with non-English file names open again.

  3. 1.0.2

    Premation ships for Linux, with a calmer set of panels, After Effects units in the Character panel and a full camera toolkit.

Full changelog
The native engineSince 0.9

Everything you see, play and export is drawn by a native C++ engine in its own process; the editor is its interface. If the engine stops, the editor keeps running, restarts it and replays your work.

  1. Editor, Electron and React
  2. premation-engine, Native C++ process
  3. GPU, Direct3D 12 · Metal
Measured: the previous engine against 0.9
CaseBeforeNow
Layer-styles composition, viewport19 fps →30 fps, steady
Inner Shadow, 1080p layerabout 1 s per frame →3 ms
Stroke, 1080p layer0.8 s per frame →about 1 ms

Quoted from the 0.9.0 release notes, measured on the project’s own benchmark compositions. Your hardware and projects will differ.

How the engine is built

Plugins in 1.0: native SDK 1.2 plugins can add menu commands, panels, importers, export formats, presets and on-canvas handles, and they run in the engine. The JavaScript and WGSL plugin system removed in 0.9.0 stays removed; projects that used it still open, and its effects are kept and pass the picture through, with one notice naming them.

The editor is free. Cloud gives you more to make with.

Every tool and every export is in the free app. You pay only if you want the premium Library, Premation's own plugins, and projects we host for you.

Premation

For learning, personal work and anyone who keeps projects on their own disk.

Freeforever

No trial clock and no watermark, for good.

Included

  • The whole editor — Compositions, graph editor, 3D layers, rigging, particles and every effect.
  • Every export, no watermark — Unlimited local projects, rendered to every format.
  • 5 cloud projects — With 7 days of version history.
  • Free Library items and every free plugin
  • Assistants — Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Antigravity. The in-app assistant runs on your own provider key.
  • Open source, AGPL-3.0 — A build from source needs no account.

Over 5 cloud projects, the extra ones turn read-only — never deleted, and export always works.

Premation Cloud

Recommended

For people who ship motion often and want to start from more than a blank comp.

$7.50/ month

Billed $90 once a year. That is $7.50 a month instead of $9.

7 days free, then $90 a year. Start it from Settings → Billing in the app; cancel before the trial ends and you pay nothing.

If you cancel, you keep Cloud to the end of the period you paid for. After that every project still opens and exports on Free.

Everything in Premation, plus

  • The full Library, 114 premium itemsPremium templates, Lottie animations, transitions and sound effects that drop into a project as editable layers.
  • Premation pluginsOur own effects and tools, included as they ship. They run on your computer.
  • Unlimited cloud projectsOpen the same project on every computer you work on.
  • 90 days of version historyGo back to last month's cut, not only last week's (7 days on Free).
  • 7-day free trial
  • Cancel anytime
  • Projects never deleted
  • Export always works on Free
  • Payments by Lemon Squeezy

What people are making with it

4.5 out of 5 across 6 reviews from people using Premation on real work.

5 out of 5
its amazing really the app is super optimized and you really cant go wrong with it its free open source and is basically ae what more would you want
faris almawalimovie beat synced edits
5 out of 5
Like it! Keep doing it. F Adobe. Power to the people)
kiatoDesigner
5 out of 5

确实很强

上限上比ae还差一口气,因为差在生态 插件这些,其他几乎已经大差不差甚至局部超越,挺厉害的
1MadCat个人媒体运营
3 out of 5

tracker

improve the planar tracker more user friendly
krishnadas k sahadevan (BladeloreSamuraiOfficial)filmmaker
5 out of 5
i reallllly appricate their developer and i request you to keep adding things and make it more better i lovve it but the thing i am having problem is toturial this is new and tthere is nothings about premation but i will test each things by myslef and be a advnace vidor editor of premation all i want to say lastly plz make keyfarming place more easily so we can do it faster any way i really love it and i am waiiting for updates and plz never let such a great things paid.
Sameer3d motion
4 out of 5
i like it but the like lags and popularity need work
67 king

Before you download

Yes. Premation is 100% free and open-source under the GNU AGPL v3.0. The desktop motion graphics editor runs on your own machine and every feature of the editor itself is free; Premation Cloud adds hosting and Premation's own plugins. The installers use a free sign-in for the optional cloud; a build from the source has no accounts and never contacts our servers. Projects are stored as open .motion files on your disk.

Yes. Premation is designed as a fast, native desktop After Effects alternative for motion design and animation. It adopts AE's Classic 3D layer model, timeline keyframing, bezier graph editor, all 38 blend modes, track mattes, nulls, adjustment layers, and standard keyboard shortcuts (V, W, Y, G, Q, U, F9), making switching seamless.

Yes. Connect Claude Desktop, Claude Code, ChatGPT desktop or Codex, Cursor or Antigravity from Dashboard > Connections, then ask it for motion graphics in a chat. It builds and edits real layers, keyframes and effects in the project you have open; you watch every change, you can stop it, and each request is one undo step. It asks before importing files or rendering. The connection is local to your computer and free on every plan.

Premation needs a GPU that supports Direct3D 12 on Windows 10 and 11, or Metal on macOS 13 and later (Apple silicon or Intel). The engine drives the GPU natively, and there is no software rasteriser.

Premation exports 18 formats, including MP4 (H.264), WebM (VP9 with alpha), MOV (16-bit ProRes 4444 with alpha), HDR10 and HLG, Lottie JSON, PNG, JPEG and EXR sequences, GIF, WAV, and EDL, OTIO, FCPXML and ALE for editorial hand-off. Exports run in the same engine as the viewport and are deterministic.

No. Since 1.0.1 every installer ships the ffmpeg that MP4, WebM, GIF and ProRes exports use, so there is nothing to install. If export ever cannot run it, Premation says why in plain words and offers Fix video export, a one-click repair. PNG and image sequences, still frames and Lottie never needed it.

More questions6
What is new in 1.0?
Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and Antigravity can work in the project you have open, free on every plan. Native plugins can now add menu commands, panels, importers, export formats, presets and on-canvas handles. Sixty more After Effects effects (215 to 275), faster 3D and playback, and every installer now ships the ffmpeg that video export uses. Since 0.9 everything is drawn by a native C++ engine in its own process.
What happened to plugins?
Plugins are native (C++ SDK) and, since 1.0, far more than effects: they can add menu commands, panels, importers, export formats, presets and on-canvas handles. Third-party plugins are free; Premation's own plugins, starting with a 3D model renderer, come with Premation Cloud. The older JavaScript and WGSL plugin system was removed in 0.9; projects that used it still open.
Is Premation ready for real motion design work?
Yes. Premation is used for production motion design. The current release is 1.0.4, and it is covered by thousands of automated tests and a pixel-level render test harness to ensure rendering reliability across complex compositions, vector paths, and 2.5D cameras.
Can I import vector artwork, SVG, and Lottie into Premation?
Yes. Static SVGs import as vector layers; animated SVGs (CSS/SMIL) are converted into editable keyframe tracks. Lottie JSON animations import as editable tracks. Premation also supports raster images, videos (with frame-accurate seeking), and audio tracks.
How does Premation handle 4K footage and complex motion graphics?
Via automatic background proxy generation. Premation transcodes low-resolution stand-ins for smooth viewport playback without blocking editing. When rendering the final export, the engine automatically uses full 4K source assets.
Is the AI motion assistant required or charged with credits?
No. The in-app assistant is optional and bring-your-own-key (Anthropic, OpenAI or Gemini), with no added credit fees. You can also connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Antigravity on any plan, Free included, and use the subscription you already have. Either way every change lands on the normal undo stack (Cmd+Z / Ctrl+Z).
Premation

Download Premation

Free, with a free sign-in. Projects are .motion files on your disk.

Every build is published on GitHub Releases, alongside the source it was built from.

Opening it the first time

macOS blocks apps from unidentified developers, so the first open needs the right-click menu. Once, per copy of the app.

  1. Drag Premation to Applications

    Open the .dmg and drag it across. Take Premation-macOS-arm64.dmg on Apple silicon and Premation-macOS-x64.dmg on Intel. The arm64 build will not run on an Intel Mac at all.

  2. Right-click it, then choose Open

    Not a double-click. Control-click or right-click the app in Applications. The right-click route adds an Open button that a double-click does not offer.

  3. Confirm Open in the dialog

    That is the whole workaround. macOS remembers the decision for that copy, so normal double-clicking works from then on.

Both platforms only ask because the installers are not code-signed yet. Signing removes the step on each, and no reinstall is needed when it lands. Setup and updates guide

GPU Hardware Requirement

A native engine renders every frame on your GPU through Direct3D 12 on Windows and Metal on macOS. A dedicated or integrated graphics processor is recommended.

View System Specs

GPU & System Specs

Graphics ProcessorDedicated GPU (NVIDIA/AMD) or Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)The engine drives the GPU natively through Dawn: Direct3D 12 on Windows, Metal on macOS. There is no software rasteriser.
Integrated GraphicsIntel Iris Xe / AMD Radeon Graphics with current driversFine for lighter compositions. Heavy effect stacks and high resolutions are where a dedicated GPU pays off.
System Memory8GB RAM minimum / 16GB+ recommendedMemory scales with composition resolution and cached pre-comps. Export is the exception: frames stream to disk one at a time, so peak export memory is one frame rather than the whole render.
Operating systemWindows 10 / 11 x64, macOS 13+ (Apple Silicon & Intel), Linux x64 (AppImage)The editor is an Electron desktop app; rendering runs in a separate native engine process. The installers include the ffmpeg that video export uses. Building from source needs Node.js plus the native toolchain (clang, CMake, Ninja, vcpkg).