Tutorial 01 — Beginner
Installing Captyne in After Effects
Get Captyne running in After Effects on Windows or an Apple Silicon Mac in a few minutes. Covers the installer, the security prompts, signing in and the optional offline model.
- Close After Effects, then run Captyne_Setup.exe (Windows) or Captyne_Mac.pkg (Mac)
- Allow the installer past SmartScreen or macOS Privacy & Security
- Open After Effects → Window → Extensions → Captyne
- On the Account tab, sign in with your captyne.com email and password → Sign In & Activate
- Optional: download the 3 GB Whisper model for free offline transcription
Tutorial 02 — Beginner
Your First Captioned Video
The full workflow from a composition with speech to fully animated caption layers, in about ten minutes.
- Open the comp with speech and pick a preset on the Setup tab
- Choose the audio source (Active AE Comp or a media file) and a transcription provider
- Set Reveal Mode, Words / Phrase and Words / Line
- Click Transcribe — Captyne switches to the Preview tab
- Fix any words, then click Generate Captions
- Preview and render as normal
Tutorial 03 — Beginner
Editing Captions in the Preview Tab
The Preview tab shows every phrase as word chips. Fix transcription mistakes and shape the captions here before any layers are created.
- Double-click a word chip to fix its spelling
- Hover a word and click the red × to delete it — its time goes to the neighbouring word
- Hover between two words and click ⛓ to merge them into one chip
- Use ✂ to split a phrase and ⛓ Merge to join two phrases
- Click a chip to cycle its style (Normal, Emphasis, Style 3); use ↑ / ↓ to move it between lines
- Every edit is saved with your project automatically
Tutorial 04 — Intermediate
Marker-Driven Timing: Full Control Without Keyframes
Every caption word Captyne generates is animated by markers on its layer. Drag a marker and the animation follows — no keyframes to edit.
- After generating, select a word layer (named ACP_SET_n_WORD_m)
- Find the IN_END and OUT_START markers on the layer
- Drag IN_END to change when the in-animation finishes
- Drag OUT_START to change when the exit animation begins
- Presets with a sweep, glow or blur also have SE_IN and SE_OUT markers for that effect
- Everything updates immediately — no keyframe editing required
Tutorial 05 — Intermediate
Creating Your Own Caption Preset
Design a caption style with normal After Effects layers and effects, then capture it as a reusable preset that works on every word.
- Click + New Preset, name it and choose how many styles you need
- Captyne opens a template comp with NORMAL and EMPHASIS layers, markers and a Reveal animator
- Style each layer with fonts, effects and text animators
- Add Smart Effects (Shine, Gradient Reveal, Bounce…) and companion layers such as a box or underline
- Click ⊙ Capture Preset — it appears in My Presets
- Share it as a .json file with ↑ Export / ↓ Import
Tutorial 06 — Intermediate
Caption Layer Structure: Master and Phrase Nulls
Generated captions are organised under nulls, so you can move all captions, one phrase or a single word without breaking the animation.
- ACP_MASTER — move, scale or rotate every caption at once
- ACP_SET_n_CTRL — one null per phrase; move a phrase out of the way of a face or graphic
- ACP_SET_n_WORD_m — one text layer per word for fine adjustments
- Effect points such as gradients and light sweeps follow each word when you move any level
- Click Generate Captions again to rebuild — old caption layers are replaced
Tutorial 07 — Advanced
Using Third-Party Plugins in Caption Presets
Presets can use any After Effects plugin you have installed, such as Deep Glow or Optical Flares, and still fit every word.
- Apply the plugin to a style layer in your preset comp
- Place its point controls on the word — Captyne saves them relative to the word's size
- For moving points, use the _acWord variables in an expression
- Test with a short and a long word, then capture
- Anyone using the preset needs the plugin; Captyne warns them if it's missing
Tutorial 08 — Advanced
Captioning Long-Form Content Efficiently
Workflow tips for interviews, podcasts and videos longer than ten minutes.
- Use Offline / Local transcription for unlimited free minutes (NVIDIA RTX 20-series or newer, or Apple Silicon)
- Transcribe once — captions and edits are saved per comp and restored when you reopen the project
- Re-transcribing the same audio with the same settings reuses the result and uses no minutes
- Caption long videos in sections, one comp per section, to keep timelines light
- Move captions between projects with ↑ Export Session / ↓ Import Session
- Precompose finished sections to keep the main timeline fast
Tutorial 09 — Advanced
Building Marker-Driven Presets With Word-Tracking Effects
Build a preset whose timing follows markers and whose gradients, light sweeps and other effect points stay locked to every word.
- Time animations from IN_END, OUT_START, SE_IN, SE_OUT or your own markers
- Markers are saved as a percentage, so timing stretches to each word
- Use Smart Effects, still points or the _acWord variables for effect points
- Avoid keyframed points and expressions that use thisComp
- Test with short and long words before capturing
Tutorial 10 — Advanced
Animated Light Sweep on Text: Lock It to Every Word
Build a CC Light Sweep that stays locked to each caption word, animates on markers and uses keyframes relative to the word.
- Lock the sweep’s Center to the word with the _acWord variables
- Time the sweep between IN_END and a LightSweep_End marker
- Keyframe a Sweep Progress slider instead of pixel positions
- Reuse the method on any effect with a Center point
Tutorial 11 — Advanced
Gradient Text That Follows Every Word
Make Gradient Ramp and 4-Color Gradient fit every caption word, follow it when it moves and animate as a colour reveal.
- Lock Start and End of Ramp to the word’s edges
- Animate a colour reveal between SE_IN and SE_OUT
- Shape the motion with a Gradient Progress slider
- Pin 4-Color Gradient points to the word’s corners
Tutorial 12 — Intermediate
Stacked Captions for a Podcast Clip: A Complete After Effects Project
Turn a 60-second podcast moment into a vertical clip with stacked, big-word captions, from an empty comp to the final render.
- Set up a 1080×1920 comp and transcribe the clip
- Turn on Stacked blocks and set 3–5 words per block
- Let AI Stacking pick the breaks and hero words
- Polish line padding, jitter and position on ACP_MASTER
Tutorial 13 — Beginner
Proofreading an Interview Transcript Word by Word in After Effects
A worked example: fix a guest's name, a misheard number and filler words in a two-minute interview, before a single caption layer is built.
- Open Review Transcript after transcribing
- Hunt names and numbers first
- Split, delete and fix words with a double-click
- Go straight to the Preview when it sounds right
Tutorial 14 — Beginner
YouTube Subtitles to Animated Captions in After Effects (SRT Import)
Reuse the subtitles you already corrected on YouTube: download the SRT, clean it, import it and turn it into animated captions.
- Download the subtitle track from YouTube Studio as .srt
- Remove [Music] tags and speaker labels
- Import SRT / VTT on the Setup tab
- Pick a preset and generate
Tutorial 15 — Intermediate
Restyle a Finished Caption Edit: Swap Fonts, Resize Emphasis Words and Regroup Phrases
Handle a full round of client feedback (new font, smaller emphasis words, two regrouped phrases) without regenerating the whole video.
- Judge a font change at the playhead first
- Apply to all: words re-space automatically
- Shrink emphasis words with Scale
- Regroup in the Preview and rebuild only changed phrases
Tutorial 16 — Intermediate
Add a Bounce-In from Your Own Preset Library to Every Caption Word
Save a bounce-in as an .ffx animation preset and apply it to every emphasis word, on top of any Captyne caption style.
- Build a short scale bounce on a text layer
- Save it with Animation → Save Animation Preset
- Add it under Your Own Animations → Emphasis words
- Generate and fine-tune