Painted
Free painting tool for After Effects. Drop in any image and Painted repaints it stroke by stroke with real shape layers: fat brushes block it in, fine brushes finish it, and the whole thing animates on.
Got Any Questions?
Painted works with After Effects 2022 and newer. It is a CEP extension, so any version of After Effects with the Extensions panel runs it.
Yes. Free forever, with no trial, no watermark, and no locked features. Download it and start painting.
Download the ZIP and extract the ZXP file. Install it with the free ZXP/UXP Installer by dragging the ZXP into the installer. Restart After Effects and open Painted from Window → Extensions.
You can edit it. Every stroke is a shape layer path animated with Trim Paths, grouped by brush into layers and parented to one Canvas layer. Retime it, recolor it, mask it, or add effects like any other shape layer.
Painted reads PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, and BMP stills. Photos with a clear subject look great, but bold type, gradients, and pixel art are just as fun. Use Paint focus to steer the fine brushes toward the part that matters.
Mixing the paint in the panel takes a second or two. Building into After Effects depends on stroke count: around 18,000 strokes took about 35 seconds on our machine. Fewer brushes or lower Detail means fewer strokes and faster builds.
Ready to try Painted?
Turn any image into animated brush strokes