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OverviewAfter Effects

Tools Panel

The Tools panel covers nine AI-native capabilities After Effects lacks, from subtitles and beat markers to editable SVG import — with real, editable results.

The Tools panel collects capabilities After Effects has no native answer for — the kind of work that used to cost an afternoon. Each tool returns real, editable timeline content, not a flat render.

It's one of the three tabs in the Prism panel — see the three-tab model for how MCP, JSON, and Tools divide the work.

The short version
Purpose-built tools for jobs After Effects can't do on its own.
Nine tools: subtitles and beats from audio, generated sound, music, and images, editable SVG and Lottie import, and a source sweeper.
Every result is native and editable — subtitle layers, real markers, real shapes.

The tools

Nine tools, grouped by what they do. Each links its own page. The tag shows whether it draws on AI credits (your prepaid wallet for the heavy, generative work) or runs free.

Audio

  • Transcribe — turn any audio or video layer into a word-level transcript with precise timestamps. Metered: 5 credits / minute.
  • Subtitles — transcribe a voiceover into a timed, styled subtitle layer. Metered: 5 credits / minute.
  • Beats — detect the beat and drop frame-accurate markers to animate against. Metered: 1 credit / analysis.

Generate

  • Sound — generate a sound effect from a short description and drop it at the playhead. Metered: 2 credits / second (10-credit minimum).
  • Music — generate original instrumental background music from a mood or style. Metered: 40 credits / minute.
  • Image — generate an image from a text prompt and place it as a layer. Metered: 8 credits / image.

Import & rework

  • SVG — bring a logo in as real text and shapes, not flattened outlines. Free.
  • Lottie — import a Lottie JSON animation as an already-moving comp of editable layers. Free.
  • Sweeper — swap a layer's source while keeping its keyframes, effects, masks, and trims. Free.

See usage and limits for the monthly credit allowance on each plan and the full per-tool cost table.

How you trigger them

Every tool runs two ways: directly from the Tools tab, or by a plain-language prompt to your connected AI. Same tool, same result — the tab needs no AI client at all. Run the tool from the tab, or ask your AI for the result — "transcribe the voiceover and add subtitles," "detect the beat and add markers," or "import this logo as editable layers" — and Prism runs the matching tool and writes the result into your active comp.

1
Open the comp
Make the composition you want to work on the active comp in After Effects.
2
Run it from the Tools tab
Open the Tools tab in the Prism panel and run the tool — most work from your current selection, and some ask for a short description or a file.
3
Or ask your AI in plain language
Describe the result you want — subtitles from the voiceover, beat markers from the music, or an SVG imported as editable layers. Your AI calls the matching Prism tool.
4
Refine the result
What comes back is native — adjust it like anything else, and undo in one step.

JSON pipeline

Serialize an After Effects comp or project to structured JSON, let your AI read and rewrite the whole structure, then import it back as real, editable layers.

Transcribe

Turn any audio or video layer in After Effects into a word-level transcript with precise timestamps, ready for subtitles.

On this page

The toolsAudioGenerateImport & reworkHow you trigger themRelated