GradientHub for After Effects
GradientHub V1.4.0 for After Effects
The Ultimate Gradient Management and Application Tool for After Effects
Download GradientHub V1.4.0 today. Consequently, you can create, organize, and apply gradients across your entire project with unprecedented speed and efficiency, transforming the way you work with color in After Effects. Because motion designers and UI artists frequently need to apply and adjust gradients across multiple layers, compositions, and projects, having access to a centralized gradient management system is absolutely essential. Nevertheless, After Effects’ native gradient tools are limited, requiring you to rebuild gradients from scratch for every new layer and making it difficult to maintain consistency across a project. Fortunately, GradientHub eliminates this bottleneck completely. Moreover, it provides a comprehensive library system that lets you save, categorize, and instantly apply gradients to any layer type, including text, shapes, solids, and even adjustment layers. In short, you can streamline your entire color workflow with a single, powerful tool.
Comprehensive Gradient Library and Organization
The core of this plugin lies in its ability to centralize and organize your gradients. For instance, you can save any gradient you create to your personal library, complete with custom names, tags, and categories for easy retrieval. Furthermore, the plugin supports multiple gradient types, including linear, radial, angle, reflected, and diamond, ensuring compatibility with any design requirement. Since your library persists across projects, you can build a reusable collection of brand colors and signature gradients that maintain consistency across all your work.
One-Click Application to Any Layer Type
Professional workflows demand speed and flexibility. Therefore, GradientHub allows you to apply any saved gradient to your selected layer with a single click. For example, you can instantly apply a gradient to a text layer, shape layer, solid, or even a footage layer without manually creating a ramp effect. Additionally, the plugin intelligently adapts the gradient to the layer’s dimensions, ensuring perfect alignment regardless of size or aspect ratio. Since the application is non-destructive, you can adjust or replace gradients at any time without affecting your original artwork.
Real-Time Adjustment and Live Preview
GradientHub is designed for creative exploration. The plugin provides real-time previews as you adjust gradient colors, stops, and positions, allowing you to see exactly how your changes affect the final composition. Furthermore, you can fine-tune gradient angle, scale, and offset with intuitive controls that update instantly. Additionally, the plugin includes a color picker with eyedropper support, making it easy to sample colors from anywhere in your project. Since the entire process is interactive, you can dial in the perfect gradient without guesswork.
Seamless Integration with After Effects Workflows
GradientHub integrates natively into After Effects, ensuring a smooth, familiar workflow. For instance, the plugin works seamlessly with the Essential Graphics panel, allowing you to expose gradient controls to template users. Furthermore, it supports Master Properties, enabling you to create responsive templates where gradients adapt to different compositions. Additionally, the plugin is fully compatible with the Advanced 3D renderer, ensuring your gradients work correctly even in 3D scenes. Consequently, you can incorporate GradientHub into any project without workflow disruption.
Perfect for Motion Designers, UI Artists, and Template Creators
This plugin is particularly well-suited for motion designers creating branded content, title sequences, and lower thirds that require consistent gradient treatments. Similarly, UI and app designers will appreciate the ability to quickly apply and manage gradients across multiple interface elements. Additionally, template creators and broadcast professionals can use GradientHub to build reusable gradient libraries that streamline their production workflow. Ultimately, GradientHub V1.4.0 accelerates your entire motion design and post-production pipeline.
System Requirements and Compatibility
GradientHub V1.4.0 supports After Effects versions 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026 on both Windows and macOS operating systems. The plugin is available as a standard JSX or CEP extension for easy installation. You will need a standard workstation with at least 8GB of RAM.
Installation and Usage Guide
To install, first download the plugin files from your library. Next, close Adobe After Effects if it is running. Then, install the plugin following the standard aescripts + aeplugins installation process or copy the script to your After Effects Scripts folder. After installation, launch After Effects and navigate to Window > Extensions > GradientHub. Finally, create your first gradient, save it to your library, and begin applying it to layers with a single click. Thus, your professional gradient management workflow will be ready instantly.
What is Included Inside?
The pack contains the complete GradientHub V1.4.0 plugin for After Effects. Furthermore, it includes the comprehensive gradient library system, one-click application to any layer type, real-time adjustment controls, and full integration with After Effects workflows. Ultimately, you receive everything needed for professional gradient management and application.
Final Thoughts on the Plugin
Effortless gradient management evokes profound creative freedom. Therefore, this plugin provides the ultimate foundation for your color and design workflows. You can create, organize, and apply gradients with unprecedented speed and consistency. Consequently, your color vision becomes a stunning reality.
Apply gradients to Colorama, Shape Layers, Layer Styles, proGradient, Color Shift, with 600+ built-in presets. NEW: Mix, edit, create gradients. Save your own presets. Import GRD, CSS, SVG to get thousands more gradients.
GradientHub for After Effects
The hub for every gradient workflow
Browse & Apply
Browse visual thumbnails and apply gradients to any target: Colorama, Shape Layers, Layer Styles and the third-party plugins proGradient and Color Shift.
Select from 600+ curated built-in gradients, or import from .GRD (Photoshop), .CSS & .SVG files to access thousands more.
Studio
The Studio section, new in version 1.5, lets you mix, edit and create new gradient presets.
Perfect for when a preset needs adjustment, or when you want to make a gradient cyclic for continuous colour cycling, or just when you feel like experimenting.
User Presets
Save your own gradients too, and organise them into categories and subcategories with auto-generated thumbnails.
Any gradient preset, whether created in the Studio or saved from a gradient target, can be applied to any target.
Tutorial 1: Built-in Presets, Apply options, User Presets, Imported Formats
Note: This tutorial video was created before the Studio section was added. See Tutorial 2 below for how to use the Studio.
This tutorial was also made before proGradient was added as a target mode. The proGradient options (Apply to existing / Add new unless selected) work identically to the Colorama and Color Shift options. See full documentation in the How to Use section below.
- 0:00 Overview
- 01:00 Color Shift
- 01:22 Colorama and Color Shift modes
- 02:39 Shape Layer mode
- 04:13 Layer Style mode
- 04:52 User Presets and Help
- 05:33 Saving a user preset
- 07:36 Importing from GRD, CSS and SVG
- 09:07 Organising into categories
- 09:32 Custom thumbnails
- 10:03 Help documentation reminder
- 10:15 Conclusion
Tutorial 2: Studio section
Note: This tutorial covers new features in version 1.5, which has a new Studio tab for mixing, editing and creating gradients. For a full walkthrough of GradientHub‘s other features see Tutorial 1 above.
- 0:00 Overview of GradientHub
- 00:36 Overview of the Studio Section
- 00:52 Adding and removing in the Pool
- 01:23 Assigning to the Mixer
- 01:58 Mixer sorting options
- 02:52 Making gradients cyclic
- 03:12 Applying from the Mixer
- 03:29 Saving from the Mixer
- 03:40 Sending to the Editor
- 03:57 Using the Editor
- 04:59 Conclusion
600+ Built-in presets:
How to use
How to apply a gradient preset
Choose your target effect using the radio buttons at the top: Colorama, Shape Layer, Layer Style, proGradient or Color Shift. To apply a preset to your layer just double-click the preset. Or single-click, then click the Apply button. The free trial version is limited to the Colorama built-in presets and the first seven presets in each of the other categories.
Thumbnail toggle
Toggle the thumbnail icons at top right, just underneath the effect-specific options, to switch between “wheel” or “linear” style thumbnails.
Wheel thumbnails:
Linear thumbnails:
Effect-specific controls
Colorama, proGradient, Color Shift
In Colorama, Color Shift and proGradient modes, there are two radio buttons that control what happens when you already have a Colorama, Color Shift or proGradient effect on your layer. If you don’t want to add multiple of the selected effect type on the layer, leave it set to Apply to existing. That way you can quickly try out lots of presets from the panel without ending up with a stack of effects. Only the gradient will be updated, and any other parameters that you may have adjusted will be left untouched. But if you want to add two or more effects of the same type to the layer, then switch it to Add new unless selected, which will cause it to add a new instance of the effect, unless you specifically select the effect first that you want to apply the gradient to.
If you’re applying a preset to an existing Colorama, Color Shift or proGradient effect, it will only change the gradient. So if you’ve adjusted other settings, then all of that will be preserved, and just the gradient will be changed.
Note: When applying a preset to an existing proGradient effect that uses HCL color space with a non-Shortest hue interpolation mode, the rendered result may differ from the GradientHub thumbnail. In this case, manually change Gradient Color Space to OkLAB or RGB.
Shape Layer
Fills/Strokes checkboxes:
The Fills/Strokes filters narrow which types are affected. This is useful when you have made a wider selection, such as selecting a whole shape group or the whole layer. Note however that if just one specific Gradient Fill or Gradient Stroke (or a parameter thereof) is selected, the filters will be ignored and the preset will be applied to the selected Gradient Fill or Gradient Stroke only.
Apply to selected mode:
Existing Gradient Fills and Gradient Strokes are updated.
If a shape has multiple Gradient Fills or Gradient Strokes, the topmost one per shape is updated.
If a shape has no gradient but has visible solid fills or strokes, the solids are hidden and a new gradient is added, spanning the shape’s bounding box. Solid stroke width is inherited.
Shapes that have no existing Gradient Fills or Gradient Strokes, and whose solid Fills or solid Strokes are all hidden are skipped – no gradient is added.
Add new gradient mode:
A new Gradient Fill or Gradient Stroke group is added directly to the Shape Layer Contents. It may need to be manually dragged into a shape group to be visible. This mode is more for advanced users – it’s a flexible option if you like working directly with your shape layer structure.
Note: Shape Layer application only works on one layer at a time.
Layer Style
After Effects has three layer styles that support gradients: Gradient Overlay, Outer Glow and Inner Glow. Choose one of these options, select your layer and apply the preset to get your desired layer style. If a layer style of that type already exists on the layer, the gradient colors will be replaced while other parameters are untouched.
Gradient Overlays are probably the most common use, but do try out some gradients on your Inner and Outer Glows – the results on text and other layers can be really striking.
Temp files
After Effects does not expose gradient parameters to scripting. Therefore, in order to apply a gradient, GradientHub creates a temporary .ffx file in your User Presets/GradientHub folder. These temp files have names beginning with _cbb_tmp_, _cbb_sl_ or _cbb_ls_, and are ignored by the User Presets section when loading or reloading. Every time you apply a preset, any temp files older than 10 seconds are automatically deleted. Additionally, whenever the panel launches, either on AE startup or by opening it from Window > Extensions > GradientHub, any remaining temp files are cleaned up. It is also safe to manually delete temp files from the User Presets/GradientHub folder at any time.
Studio section – NEW in v1.5
The Studio lets you mix, edit, and create gradient presets, which is useful any time a preset isn’t quite right as-is, or when you want to make a gradient cyclic for continuous colour cycling, or just when you feel like experimenting. And since nothing you create in the Studio affects your existing presets, you can explore freely.
Adding gradients to the Pool
To send gradients to the Studio, select up to 10 from the Built-in or User Presets tabs – multi-select works using Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) – then click Add to Studio. Those gradients appear in the Pool at the top of the Studio tab. You can delete unwanted ones by clicking each gradient’s x, or you can click Clear to empty the whole Pool. It won’t remove them from the other tabs, just from the Pool, so you have room to add more. From the Pool, you can send gradients to the Mixer or the Editor.
Using the Mixer
To send a gradient to the Mixer, select it in the Pool and click the Assign A button to assign it to slot A. You can also select a second gradient and click the Assign B button to mix two gradients together. Using slot B is optional, and the B gradient can be removed by clicking the x. The button in between the A and B gradients swaps them, and buttons at the left of A and the right of B can be used to mirror each gradient. Swapping and/or mirroring A and B will affect the Consecutive and Morph sorting options described below. Each of the outputs has a mirror button too.
Mixer sorting methods:
Consecutive puts A and B together one after the other, and the slider creates a blend between them so there isn’t a hard edge.
Luminance Sort orders the color stops from darkest to lightest, with 3 algorithms to choose from: Oklab, which is perceptually uniform and generally gives the most natural-looking result; Rec. 709, the standard luminance formula used in HD video, which weights green heavily to match how the human eye perceives brightness; and HSL, which uses a simpler lightness calculation that can produce quite different results on saturated colours. It’s worth trying all three. Mirror the result if you want light to dark instead of dark to light.
Hue Sort orders the colours by hue based on a color wheel that goes clockwise from red, through orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple and magenta to red. Mirror the result if you want an anticlockwise result.
Random puts the color stops in a random order and you can shuffle for new variations with the button on the right of the bar.
Metallic sorts the colour stops into a light-dark-light-dark zig-zag, which mimics shiny or metallic surfaces.
Morph blends A and B together, with the slider controlling the dominance of A or B.
All of the above outputs can be made cyclic with the Make cyclic button, which makes the start and end of the gradient the same color. This is perfect for continuous color cycling. You can use the sliders to control the blend amount to create a smooth loop, and offset the cycle. Use the Tile x3 button to quickly check how the repetition looks.
Select any of the mixer outputs and click Apply, or just double click to apply it to your chosen target. Or click + Save Preset and give it a name to save it as a user preset – you’ll find it in the User Presets tab – no reload required. Or click Edit to send it to the Editor for further refinement.
Using the Editor
The Editor allows you to create and edit gradients with independent color and alpha ramps.
Click near the bottom of the gradient bar to add new color stops, or click near the top of the bar to add new alpha stops. Drag the triangles to move stops. Delete stops by dragging away or hitting the Delete button.
Set colors using the Saturation and Value square and the Hue slider, or by entering exact HSV values or hex codes. Set Alpha values with the slider or by entering an amount.
There are Undo and Redo buttons too – just note that Command-Z and Control-Z are reserved for After Effects, so use the buttons in the panel instead.
You can also start completely from scratch and create a new gradient by clicking the New button.
Click Apply to apply the Editor‘s output to your chosen target. Or click + Save Preset and give it a name to save it as a User Preset – you’ll find it in the User Presets tab – no reload required.
User Presets
The User Presets section lets you save your own gradient presets as standard .ffx files in a subfolder of your After Effects User Presets folder. Additionally, other gradient formats are supported by placing them into the same folder, to give you a vast range of gradient options.
Apply as any effect type
Regardless of how a preset was created – whether saved from the Studio section, or from Colorama, a Shape Layer gradient, a Layer Style, proGradient, Color Shift, or imported from a .css, svg, or .grd file – it can be applied as any of the five target options. Just select your target using the toggle in the panel before applying.
Automatic thumbnail generation
GradientHub automatically generates a thumbnail for each user preset by reading the gradient directly from the file, so no separate thumbnail image is required – though you can supply one if you prefer – see the Custom Thumbnails section below.
Saving a User Preset
User Presets can be saved from the Studio tab, or from Colorama, a Shape Layer, a Layer Style, proGradient or Color Shift.
The first time you apply or save any preset, GradientHub automatically creates a GradientHub folder inside your default After Effects User Presets folder. This folder is where all your User Presets need to be saved so that GradientHub can find them:
MAC OS:
/Users/[Username]/Documents/Adobe/After Effects [Version]/User Presets/GradientHub
WINDOWS:
C:\Users\[Username]\Documents\Adobe\After Effects [Version]\User Presets\GradientHub
Presets that you save from the Studio tab are automatically saved into the above folder. Just give your preset a name and click Save.
When you save presets from Colorama, a Shape Layer, a Layer Style, proGradient or Color Shift, the native After Effects Save Animation Preset dialog will open and you may need to navigate to the above folder, before naming and saving the preset. After that, for saving subsequent presets, the dialog will return to this folder, so long you haven’t saved animation presets somewhere else in between times. Give your preset a name and click Save.
Presets saved from the Studio will automatically appear in the User Presets tab, with no Reload required. Presets saved by the other methods will require you to click the Reload button in the User Presets tab before they appear.
Studio:
Select either a Mixer output or the Editor, then click the + Save Preset button at the bottom of the Mixer or Editor sections. If the Editor’s + Save Preset button is grayed out, you can activate the Editor by clicking in its gradient bar. Give your preset a name and click Save. Switch to the User Presets tab and your preset will appear there, with no reload required.
Colorama:
Select Colorama in the Effects Control Window or Timeline panel at the top level, or select the Output Cycle parameter. Or select any other individual Colorama parameter, and the selection will automatically jump to the top level of the effect. Click the + Save Preset button in the User Presets tab, navigate to the User Presets/GradientHub folder, name and save the preset. Click the Reload button.
Shape Layer:
Select a specific Gradient Fill or Gradient Stroke group in the Timeline, or its Colors parameter. Avoid selecting a shape group or multiple groups, or the layer itself as the gradient found my not be the one you intended. Click the + Save Preset button in the User Presets tab, navigate to the User Presets/GradientHub folder, name and save the preset. Click the Reload button.
Layer Style:
Select one specific layer style group in the Timeline – Gradient Overlay, Outer Glow, or Inner Glow. Or select any parameter within the group, and the selection will automatically jump to the top level of that Layer Style. Click the + Save Preset button in the User Presets tab, navigate to the User Presets/GradientHub folder, name and save the preset. Click the Reload button.
proGradient:
Select proGradient in the Effects Control Window or Timeline panel at the top level. Or select any individual proGradient parameter, and the selection will automatically jump to the top level of the effect. Click the + Save Preset button in the User Presets tab, navigate to the User Presets/GradientHub folder, name and save the preset. Click the Reload button.
Color Shift:
Select Color Shift in the Effects Control Window or Timeline panel at the top level. Or select any individual Color Shift parameter, and the selection will automatically jump to the top level of the effect. Click the + Save Preset button in the User Presets tab, navigate to the User Presets/GradientHub folder, name and save the preset. Click the Reload button.
Importing from other gradient formats
In addition to .ffx files, the panel can read gradients directly from .grd (Photoshop), .css and .svg files.
There are many websites where you can download hundreds or even thousands of free gradients, then load them into GradientHub.
Each gradient in an imported file appears as its own preset in a collapsible subcategory named after the file. Thumbnails are generated automatically – no image file is needed.
Adding GRD, CSS or SVG files:
Copy the file into the
User Presets/GradientHub folder:
MACOS:
/Users/[Username]/Documents/Adobe/After Effects [Version]/User Presets/GradientHub
WINDOWS:
C:\Users\[Username]\Documents\Adobe\After Effects [Version]\User Presets\GradientHub
Switch to the User Presets tab in the panel and click Reload.
If a client’s brand uses gradient colours on their website or in an .svg logo, you can import those gradients directly into GradientHub – no color picking, no manual stop entry.
The exact gradient as defined by the designer can be applied immediately to Colorama, a Shape Layer, a Layer Style, proGradient or Color Shift, keeping your motion graphics pixel-perfect to the brand.
Photoshop GRD files
Each named gradient in the file becomes a separate preset.
Colours stored in HSB or RGB mode are supported. Gradients using CMYK or Lab colour modes will have those stops skipped; if fewer than two valid stops remain the gradient is omitted entirely.
The Resource Boy website (not affliated with GradientHub) is a good place to source free .grd files.
CSS files
Any linear-gradient() definition in the file is loaded as a separate preset. The file can contain any valid CSS – selectors, rules, comments – the panel only reads gradient values and ignores everything else.
Naming gradients: Place a /* Name */ comment immediately before each gradient definition and that name will appear as the preset label. If no comment is found, the preset is named after the file with a number suffix.
Supported stop color formats: #rrggbb, #rgb, rgb(), rgba(), named colors, hsl(), hsla(). CSS variables are not supported and will cause that stop to be skipped.
A minimal example:
/* Sunset */
background: linear-gradient(to right, #ff6b35, #f7c59f, #004e89);
SVG files
Each gradient defined in the file is loaded as a separate preset. Freeform gradients are not supported and will be skipped – only linear and radial gradient definitions are read.
Gradients are named from their gradient ID, which is an internal .svg property separate from object or layer names. Where the gradient ID is a generic auto-generated value (as many vector applications produce by default), it is replaced with the filename and a number.
Files from Illustrator, Figma, Sketch, and Inkscape are all supported.
Reloading User Presets
Once saved, click Reload in the User Presets section to see your new preset appear in the panel. GradientHub will read a single gradient from each .ffx file, or multiple gradients from .css, .svg or .grd files, and display thumbnails automatically.
Gradient loading and thumbnail creation is generally fast, however it can take a little longer to read the gradients from .svg files due to the complexity of that format. Very large numbers of user presets could also slow the panel down.
Organising User Presets with subfolders
You can organise your presets into subfolders inside the GradientHub folder. Each subfolder appears as a collapsible subcategory in the panel.
For example, a preset saved at:
GradientHub/Fish/clownfish.ffx
will appear under a Fish subcategory.
Up to two levels of nesting are supported — for example:
GradientHub/Fish/Tropical/clownfish.ffx
Anything nested deeper than two levels will be ignored.
Custom thumbnails for User Presets
GradientHub automatically generates a gradient thumbnail for every user preset. If you’d prefer a custom thumbnail, save a .png or .jpg file with the same base name as the .ffx file in the same folder. For example:
GradientHub/MyPreset.ffx
GradientHub/MyPreset.png
When a matching image is found, it takes priority over the auto-generated thumbnail. PNG takes priority over JPG if both exist. Recommended size is 128×128 px at a 1:1 aspect ratio.
Accessing the User Presets Help documentation
You can access the User Presets help documentation at any time by clicking the How to add presets button in the User Presets section of GradientHub.
The documentation will open in your default browser.
User Presets – Notes
FFX files are version-specific. A preset saved in a newer version of After Effects cannot be opened in an older version. If you upgrade After Effects, copy your GradientHub folder into the new version’s User Presets folder – presets saved in the older version of AE will still work normally in the new version.
Only the gradient is read from the .ffx file. Any other Colorama, Color Shift, Shape Layer, Layer Style or proGradient parameters, keyframes, or expressions saved in the file will be ignored by GradientHub. To apply the full saved .ffx including other parameters, use Animation > Apply Animation Preset instead.
If a preset file contains multiple Colorama, proGradient or Color Shift effects, only the last effect in the file will be used. For Shape Layer presets, if the saved .ffx contains multiple gradient fills or strokes, only the first gradient found will be used. For best results, select a specific Gradient Fill or Gradient Stroke before saving.
User presets with a very large number of colour stops (65 or more) cannot be applied to Colorama and will produce an error. Application to Shape Layers and Layer Styles may be slow with very large stop counts. Color Shift supports up to 100 color stops, and if a user preset contains more than 100 stops, only the first 100 will be applied. In practice, gradients imported from .grd, .css, or .svg files rarely exceed these limits.
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