Discover how vibe coding is shaking up After Effects animation by putting AI in the driver’s seat — no coding chops needed. We chatted with pros, dove in ourselves, and built an AI-powered plugin from scratch!

🎬 Vibe Coding in After Effects: How We Built an AI Plugin With Zero Coding Skills

Let’s face it: After Effects is a beast when it comes to motion graphics, and the idea of diving into coding plugins and expressions can sound intimidating (or downright terrifying). But — spoiler alert — AI just might be the new best friend you didn’t know you needed.

🤖 What’s Vibe Coding Anyway?

Think of vibe coding as the art of guiding AI to write code for you. No need to learn React, TypeScript, or any scary dev jargon. Instead, you chat with AI assistants who craft scripts, commands, or plugins based on your instructions.

And guess what? It’s not just for webdev and gaming geeks anymore. Motion designers and After Effects enthusiasts are hopping on this train, using AI to turbocharge their workflows without becoming programming wizards.

Fun fact: Vibe coding sounds fancy, but it’s really about teaming up with AI to solve problems and add features without getting lost in the weeds of traditional coding.

🧠 What the Pros Say: Insights From Industry Wizards

Before we dived in, we caught up with some cool cats in the After Effects community to get their vibe-coded take.

🕺 James Cowan — the Explorer

James admits he’s not a coder but has been teaching himself JavaScript for 18 months just to ride the vibe coding wave. Using an AI assistant like Claude, he’s crafted websites, online games, and now wants to reshape After Effects workflows.

“I’m not a great programmer, but I know how to ask AI the right questions and catch when it’s off its rocker.”

James tips his hat to using an IDE like Cursor combined with AI, feeding it Adobe’s SDK and API docs — basically giving AI the cheat codes to craft better plugins.

✨ James Whiffen — the Plugin Master

James runs Plugin Everything, and while he’s optimistic about AI lowering barriers, he warns:

“AI’s hit-or-miss. Sometimes it hallucinates features that don’t exist, so a solid foundation is key.”

He believes vibe coding could be just the icebreaker artists need to dive deeper into After Effects’ hidden superpowers.

🛠️ Vibe Coding in Action: Two Paths in After Effects

Adobe talks about:

Commands: Little expressions you paste into layer properties like position and rotation.
Plugins: Bigger tools with UI, like extensions or panels.

✍️ Starting Simple: The Magic of Commands

Even with a free ChatGPT account, we solved creative challenges in under 30 minutes with minimal coding know-how. Examples include:

Drawing lines and calculating midpoints between moving layers.
Crafting per-character text animations that adapt gracefully to font variations.
Creating dynamic blend animations that respond live to shape transformations.

Example vibe code snippets

💬 How to Chat with Your AI Buddy

The trick? Keep prompts clear, friendly, and descriptive. Toss in your own guesses or wishes about methods to help steer the AI. It’s okay if it flubs the first attempt — that’s part of the dance.

Tools like Klutz GPT even plug ChatGPT right into After Effects, bringing coding assistants closer than ever.

🚀 Level Up: Building Plugins With AI

Want to go beyond one-off tweaks and create reusable tools? Plugins are your jam. We tried the famous Claude + Cursor combo — and it was a revelation:

You don’t need a PhD in coding.
The AI explains each file and function it generates.
You guide, approve, and it builds.

Cursor and Claude interface

Our Plugin Journey: AEShapeFilly

Meet our baby: a plugin that fills any shape with a scatter of circles and squares, whimsically named "Shape Filly." Here’s how it went down:

Created a folder and opened it in Cursor.
Told Claude our vague plan and handed over Adobe’s SDK docs (converted to a readable format — pro tip!).
Claude scaffolded the whole project with folder structures, files, and a readme.
Followed installation instructions, then faced a "why isn’t it working?" moment — fixed with AI’s help.
Repeated iterations ironed out bugs like overlapping dots and empty curves.

Shape Filly progress

After a bit of patience (and reminding AI to rebuild), Shape Filly came alive, proudly filling the Envato logo with patterns! 🎉

🪄 7 Tips to Rock Your Vibe Coding Experience

Be clear and specific with your AI commands or ask it to wait until you are.
Claude loves formal, precise language; ChatGPT tends to vibe better with casual chat.
When Claude offers code snippets, hit "accept all" or it just sits there pretending.
AI sometimes forgets earlier specs — patience and reminders help.
You can and should share screenshots when things go wonky.
Read AI’s feedback carefully to learn tweaking tricks.
And hey, be eco-conscious! AI prompts add up, so choose wisely.

🔮 The Bright Future of Vibe Coding

If you want a sneak peek at vibe coding beyond After Effects, check out this course where Adi Purdila dives deep:

“AI is a powerful tool—it’s how you wield it that counts. I recommend newcomers get their feet wet with vibe coding but keep digging deeper if you want mastery.” — James Whiffen

Motivated by this adventure, we’re convinced vibe coding is a game-changer for Motion Designers. But remember — a bit of coding savvy will keep you ahead of the curve.

Happy vibe coding! 🚀

Psst: Don’t forget to check out Envato Elements for tons of creative assets to level up your projects.