Short answer: if AEUX stopped working for you, you are not alone, and you have four realistic options: fix it and live with its limits, export by hand, pay for Overlord, or use a newer Figma to After Effects plugin such as Prism. This guide explains why AEUX breaks, what each alternative actually does, and how to choose in five minutes.
Why AEUX keeps breaking
AEUX was a gift to the motion community. It is free, open source, and for years it was the default way to get Figma layers into After Effects. But it was built at a time when both Figma and After Effects looked very different, and development has been quiet for a long time.
The most common problems people report today:
- Images arrive as blank placeholders. PNG and JPG fills from Figma land in After Effects as empty boxes. This was reported on the Figma forum, and the answer there was that the plugin's owner would need to fix it.
- Large frames struggle. Complex screens can slow Figma down, crash it, or produce a pile of nested precomps that takes longer to clean up than to rebuild.
- Effects stop at the door. Blurs, shadows and more advanced fills are where AEUX's support ends, so they need to be recreated by hand.
- Setup is fiddly. Separate pieces have to be installed for Figma and After Effects, and when one updates and the other does not, the connection silently fails.
None of this makes AEUX bad. It makes it a free tool without a team behind it. If it still works on your projects, keep using it.
The four alternatives, compared honestly
1. Manual export (free, slow, predictable)
Export each element as SVG or PNG, import into After Effects, rebuild text, regroup layers. Some UI teams genuinely prefer this because they know exactly what they get. The cost is time: twenty minutes per screen is normal, and every design change starts the process again. Gradients and text are where manual export hurts most, because SVG gradients and fonts often do not come through as editable After Effects properties.
2. Convertify (a route through Adobe XD)
Convertify from Hypermatic converts your Figma design into another format first and then into After Effects, historically through Adobe XD. It works for simple layouts, but every conversion step is a chance to lose fidelity, and Adobe XD itself is in maintenance mode, no longer actively developed by Adobe.
3. Overlord (the established paid option)
Overlord by Battle Axe, from the same original creator as AEUX, is the best known paid tool in this space and it is genuinely good. Its Figma connection runs through a Figma plugin that talks to a desktop app, and it requires an active Overlord license. It also reads Illustrator and Photoshop. Check Battle Axe's site for current pricing.
4. Prism (one click from Figma, Illustrator or Photoshop)
Prism is the tool we built at Next Horizon after running into all of the problems above on our own client work. You select a frame in Figma, click once, and the design lands in your After Effects comp with its layer tree intact:
- Shapes and vector paths arrive as native shape layers, so trim paths and path animation work
- Text stays live text, with the anchor point already centred
- Linear and radial gradients are rebuilt as real After Effects gradients with every colour stop
- Gaussian blur and drop shadow come through as effects you can keyframe
- Image fills are exported at full resolution and placed exactly
- Frames become pre-compositions and the z-order matches the design
Three things set it apart from every option on this list. Live Sync: when the design changes, re-sending updates the existing layers in place and keeps your keyframes, expressions and parenting. DaVinci Resolve: Prism can send the same design into Resolve as a Fusion composition, not only into After Effects. Two way sync between design apps: a Figma frame can travel to Illustrator or Photoshop and back.
Quick comparison
| AEUX | Manual export | Convertify | Overlord | Prism | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price model | Free | Free | Paid | Paid license | One time, from $39 |
| Figma to After Effects directly | Yes | By hand | Via a conversion step | Yes | Yes |
| Editable text | Yes | Rebuilt by hand | Check current version | Yes | Yes |
| Blur and shadow as effects | Limited | No | Limited | Check current version | Yes |
| Re-send without losing keyframes | No | No | No | Check current version | Yes (Live Sync) |
| DaVinci Resolve output | No | By hand | No | No | Yes |
| Actively maintained | Quiet | n/a | Yes | Yes | Yes |
We have tried to be fair here. Where we could not confirm a competitor's current feature, the table says so rather than guessing.
How to choose in five minutes
- You animate one screen a month and AEUX still works: keep AEUX.
- You need total control and have time: manual export.
- Your studio already owns Overlord licenses: stay with Overlord.
- Your designs change after animation starts, you deliver in Resolve, or you want to pay once instead of renewing: Prism is built for exactly that.
Switching from AEUX to Prism
There is nothing to migrate. Your Figma files stay as they are. Install Prism with the single Windows installer, open the Prism plugin from the Figma Community, paste your license key once in the After Effects panel, and push your first frame. The step by step installation guide covers the common snags, and the Prism guide explains Live Sync in detail. Prism runs on Windows with After Effects CC 2019 or newer; a macOS version is in progress.
If you came here because a deadline is close and AEUX just failed, the fastest path is the Figma to After Effects plugin page. A single bridge is a one time payment, with no subscription.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is AEUX still supported?
AEUX is open source and still available, but development has been quiet for a long time and users report unresolved issues such as images importing as blank placeholders. It can still work for simple projects.
Why do my Figma images show up blank in After Effects with AEUX?
This is a known issue reported by AEUX users on the Figma forum. The workaround is to export those images manually and replace the placeholders, or to use a plugin that exports image fills at full resolution, such as Prism.
What is the best free alternative to AEUX?
The only reliable free alternative is manual export (SVG and PNG, then rebuilding in After Effects). It is predictable but slow, and gradients and text usually need to be rebuilt by hand.
Is Prism a subscription?
No. Prism is a one time purchase. A single bridge, for example Figma to After Effects, starts at $39.
Does Prism work with Illustrator and Photoshop too?
Yes. Prism sends designs from Figma, Illustrator and Photoshop into After Effects or DaVinci Resolve. You choose the bridges you need.
