Smeary smears

howz it werk?

Schmeeer is a pseudo effect that takes control the native Echo effect (with expressions and maths) and cranks things up when your elements are moving fast, and disables echoes them when the layer moves slow.

This lets you focus on motion and trust that frames are smearing when it's most appropriate.

simple = good

Animation is hard work, so enjoy the process.

Schmeeery friends

Stay flexible with the most powerful workflows available

Overlord

Your smear frames will look sharp on top of all the vector layers you transfer straight from Illustrator.

Timelord

If automatic smears aren't flexible enough, switch over to Photoshop or Animate and draw some the hard way, but no it'll be easy coming back to After Effects.

KBar buttons

Apply smears to selected layers with a single click from your personalized toolbar. Kbar makes customizing Ae simple. and all of our freebies are included in the KBarf toolbar.

Schmeeery friends

Stay flexible with the most powerful workflows available

Overlord

Your smear frames will look sharp on top of all the vector layers you transfer straight from Illustrator.

Timelord

If automatic smears aren't flexible enough, switch over to Photoshop or Animate and draw some the hard way, but no it'll be easy coming back to After Effects.

KBar buttons

Apply smears to selected layers with a single click from your personalized toolbar. Kbar makes customizing Ae simple. and all of our freebies are included in the KBarf toolbar.

Schmeeery friends

Stay flexible with the most powerful workflows available

Overlord

Your smear frames will look sharp on top of all the vector layers you transfer straight from Illustrator.

Timelord

If automatic smears aren't flexible enough, switch over to Photoshop or Animate and draw some the hard way, but no it'll be easy coming back to After Effects.

KBar buttons

Apply smears to selected layers with a single click from your personalized toolbar. Kbar makes customizing Ae simple. and all of our freebies are included in the KBarf toolbar.

Specs

Price

Compatible host app

Adobe After Effects
CC 2021 and newer (including the latest)

Install type

FFX preset/KBar (how to install)

OS support

  • Windows 10 (64-bit) version 22H2 or later

  • macOS Monterey (version 12) or later

Licensing

Free to use for personal and commercial work

Note: A paid license of KBar (not included) is required to utilize the headless button features.

Languages

English

Network connection

No internet connection required

Support

None provided but connect with the community on Discord for more ideas

Specs

Price

Compatible host app

Adobe After Effects
CC 2021 and newer (including the latest)

Install type

FFX preset/KBar (how to install)

OS support

  • Windows 10 (64-bit) version 22H2 or later

  • macOS Monterey (version 12) or later

Licensing

Free to use for personal and commercial work

Note: A paid license of KBar (not included) is required to utilize the headless button features.

Languages

English

Network connection

No internet connection required

Support

None provided but connect with the community on Discord for more ideas

Specs

Price

Compatible host app

Adobe After Effects
CC 2021 and newer (including the latest)

Install type

FFX preset/KBar (how to install)

OS support

  • Windows 10 (64-bit) version 22H2 or later

  • macOS Monterey (version 12) or later

Licensing

Free to use for personal and commercial work

Note: A paid license of KBar (not included) is required to utilize the headless button features.

Languages

English

Network connection

No internet connection required

Support

None provided but connect with the community on Discord for more ideas

Quick start

1

1

All the freebies are available lore.battleaxe.co after signing up for the blog/newsletter.

Use the included files to install in any number of ways to help you do your best work.

All the freebies are available lore.battleaxe.co after signing up for the blog/newsletter.

Use the included files to install in any number of ways to help you do your best work.

2

Schmeeer.zip/
โ”œโ”€ AEP/
โ”‚  โ”œโ”€ Schmeeer.aep (example)
โ”œโ”€ Kbar/
โ”‚  โ”œโ”€ Schmeeer.kbar
โ”‚  โ”œโ”€ Schmeeer.svg
โ”œโ”€ Schmeeer manual.url
โ”œโ”€ Schmeeer.ffx

2

2

Install

Schmeeer may be used a few different ways, and there are a few different ways to install based on your workflow.

Install

Schmeeer may be used a few different ways, and there are a few different ways to install based on your workflow.

2

Basic Install

KBar

Preset install

Schmeeer.ffx

  1. Open the Ae Effects & Presets panel

  2. Twirl down Animation Presets > Presets and select any preset

  3. Click the โ˜ฐ menu at the top of the panel and click Reveal in Finder/Explorer

This will navigate to the presets folder path:

  • OS X: ~/Documents/Adobe/After Effects CC 20xx/Presets/

  • Windows: ~\Documents\Adobe\After Effects 20xx\User Presets

  1. Copy the .ffx file into this path

  2. Switch back to Ae and click the โ˜ฐ menu at the top of the panel and click Refresh list

In the Effects & Presets panel search for the new preset or twirl down Animation Presets > Presets > Rubberhose 3

Basic Install

KBar

Preset install

Schmeeer.ffx

  1. Open the Ae Effects & Presets panel

  2. Twirl down Animation Presets > Presets and select any preset

  3. Click the โ˜ฐ menu at the top of the panel and click Reveal in Finder/Explorer

This will navigate to the presets folder path:

  • OS X: ~/Documents/Adobe/After Effects CC 20xx/Presets/

  • Windows: ~\Documents\Adobe\After Effects 20xx\User Presets

  1. Copy the .ffx file into this path

  2. Switch back to Ae and click the โ˜ฐ menu at the top of the panel and click Refresh list

In the Effects & Presets panel search for the new preset or twirl down Animation Presets > Presets > Schmeeer.kbar

Basic Install

KBar

Preset install

Schmeeer.ffx

  1. Open the Ae Effects & Presets panel

  2. Twirl down Animation Presets > Presets and select any preset

  3. Click the โ˜ฐ menu at the top of the panel and click Reveal in Finder/Explorer

This will navigate to the presets folder path:

  • OS X: ~/Documents/Adobe/After Effects CC 20xx/Presets/

  • Windows: ~\Documents\Adobe\After Effects 20xx\User Presets

  1. Copy the .ffx file into this path

  2. Switch back to Ae and click the โ˜ฐ menu at the top of the panel and click Refresh list

In the Effects & Presets panel search for the new preset or twirl down Animation Presets > Presets > Rubberhose 3

3

3

Get to work

Schmeeer was designed to be simple and intuitive. We hope it fits seamlessly into your workflow and you don't really need these docs to build amazing things.

Please share what you're creating with us on Instagram and Discord.

Get to work

Schmeeer was designed to be simple and intuitive. We hope it fits seamlessly into your workflow and you don't really need these docs to build amazing things.

Please share what you're creating with us on Instagram and Discord.

Manual

Void UI
Void UI
Void UI

Smear length

How far do you want to smear?

  • 100% will be the full distance between the current and previous frame

  • 50% will be half the distance between the current and previous frame

Distance threshold

How far does a layer need to move before the smears start?

  • Layer movement less than the threshold (in pixels) will not have smears applied.

  • Note: Smears are cool, but they are typically impactful because of a contrast between smeared and non-smeared frames. Smearing everything can make things look too smooshy, but it's your project. Do whatever you want.

Count multiplier

Increase this value if you notice stepping on the smears. Be careful because this value is multiplying the number of echoes.

Echo effect

You can probably leave alone unless you know what you're doing.

Changelog

Release

1.0.1

Feb 2, 2023

  • Universalize expressions

  • Kbar toolbar install included

1.0.0

Jul 13, 2022

  • Initial release