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animating the hard way, but way easier
You got your cel in my motion design. Or vice versa.
The lines between animation types blur when it's possible to push sequences to After Effects.
Test compositing as you tie down a shot and know that you have everything layered for final color in Ae –so you can use Photoshop and Animate for what they do best.
A standard tool palette in an inconsistent world
Photoshop and Animate each have their own way of working and moving between them can be a challenging context switch. Timelord's frame tools create a consistent workflow that may be customized to fit your pipeline.
Did you say Ps → Ae?
Yes, you heard that right. It is like Overlord for Photoshop.
Timelord requires Ps 2024 and below
Adobe has dropped support for ZXP extensions in Photoshop 2025. That means Timelord requires Photoshop CC2024 and below to run properly.
Will there be a new version?
Sadly no. Along with ZXP being removed from Photoshop, the inter-app, Adobe transfer system has been removed as well. We are currently working on expanding Overlord to fill in the gap between Ps and Ae.
What about Animate?
Timelord still runs great in Adobe Animate and can still transfer layers like a dream.
Can I still buy it?
Yes, as long as you:
Know there will not be any updates to Timelord
Use Photoshop 2024 and below
Or use Animate
Frame-omancy
Whether you call it cel, frame-by-frame, or drawn animation, it takes a lot of work. Spend more time drawing and worry less about how to manage frames.
Take control of groups of frames across multiple layers with matching toolbars in Photoshop and Animate.
Gonna go back in time
Drawn animation is about timing, and timing is all about the length of frames. Increase and decrease frame duration or roll the edit point between frames while maintaining layer length –like video editing.
Become the master of time, or some sort of time-lord. 🤔
Consistency upgraded
Create timelines to match Ae comps –or the other way around. Add new layers ready to draw, and duplicate blank layers with timing for cleanup. Add, remove, duplicate, split and clear frames with the same behaviors in Ps and An.
Working between apps has never been more intuitive.
Tools that grow
New to drawn animation? The default layout has everything you need to get started.
Are you a pro with a well established pipeline? Toolbars are customizable with additional functionality for more niche workflows.
Enjoy the journey.
Getting started
Use Timelord without ever consulting the manual, or deep-dive all the buttons and actions that are available.
TLDR
What is it?
A simple way to render frame-sequence layers and import them into After Effects
A quick way to send an image layer from Ps to Ae
A frame editing toolbar that is unified for working in both Animate and Photoshop
What it's not?
An effect to make your layers look like they were drawn
A vector exporter from Photoshop - Ps can only export PNGs
MP4 rendering from - this was moved to Anubis
Common questions
Creative
Is my art private?
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Absolutely
Our transfer systems run locally and is totally private. Designs never leave your machine; no one can ever see what you are working on.
No AI is ever trained on your work -from anything you ever buy from Battle Axe. It's kind of a bummer that we have to say that.
Is my art secure?
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Absolutely
Our transfer systems run locally and is totally private. Designs never leave your machine; no one can ever see what you are working on.
No AI is ever trained on your work -from anything you ever buy from Battle Axe. It's kind of a bummer that we have to say that.
Where is MP4 rendering?
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Moved to Anubis
In the first version of Timelord, there was a really crude MP4 renderer to send a reference video of your Ae comp to Photoshop or Animate. This small feature in Timelord became the standalone renderer Anubis.
As Anubis developed, the capabilities of the MP4 compressor and file handling surpassed what was possible in Timelord and it became too difficult to maintain so it was removed.
If you previously purchased Timelord hoping to render MP4s, send us a message and we'll help you out.
Can it send Photoshop vectors
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Unfortunately not
Adobe has not made these vector data elements available to 3rd party developers. Layers sent from Photoshop are PNG files, or Text layers.
Note: it is also possible to use Timelord to quickly import the PSD into Ae as a layered file and retain some of the vector scaling.
License
Is this a subscription?
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No
This is a one-time purchase. Updates to the current version will be available for free.
Technical
Why doesn't it work in Ps 2025?
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Adobe dropped ZXP support
For a couple of years, Adobe has been working on an add-on format called UXP to replace ZXP. We build all of our tools on ZXP because that is the most robust format for After Effects (which is our primary app here). The UXP rollout has been slow and for the last few versions Photoshop has supported both, but starting in 2025, ZXP support is gone 😢.
Why not just build a new version?
We would love to, but unfortunately some of the low-level technology that allowed the plugin to run has been removed from the UXP platform. This means we might not be able to rebuild it for UXP, but we'll be looking for workarounds. Thanks for your patience.
Is an internet connection required?
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No
The standard authentication method uses an internet connection to unlock, but after that, it runs entirely offline. If an initial internet connection is not possible, the app will help you unlock with a mobile device.
