Caption-heavy edits can become repetitive when transcription, line breaking, emphasis and animation are handled as separate tasks. Auto Captions v2.8 is built around a simpler workflow: select the footage, choose the range, transcribe it, generate editable text layers, then keep refining those captions without repeatedly running speech recognition.
Get v2.8
Download the free Auto Captions asset
The ZIP is free for registered EliteNuggets users. You can review the full product page before creating an account; login is required only when you start the protected download.
What Auto Captions v2.8 does
The panel creates timed captions from a selected imported video or audio layer. You can choose Selected Layer In/Out for trimmed footage, Composition Work Area for a marked section, or Entire Source when you really need the full media file.
Once the transcript is available, the tool can build multiline captions and apply visual controls for font size, line spacing, tracking, vertical position, outline, editable drop shadow and emphasized words. Smart emphasis spacing adds breathing room when highlighted words become larger than the text around them.
Sentence motion or word-by-word animation
v2.8 separates animation scope from animation style. Whole Caption / Sentence works well for interviews, courses and calmer edits. Per Word — VO synced uses the actual transcription timing for more energetic Reels or Shorts. There are also fixed-stagger and emphasis-only voice-synced modes.
Motion styles include Pop, Slide Up, Bounce, Fade and None. Curve presets include Linear, Smooth, Snappy, Ease Out, Ease In, Soft and Custom, and the resulting keyframes can still be refined in After Effects’ native Graph Editor.
The useful part: rebuild without retranscribing
After one successful transcription, Rebuild From Last Transcript lets you change layout and motion without sending the same audio through speech recognition again. That includes max lines, words per line, font size, leading, tracking, emphasis styling, smart spacing, outline, drop shadow, vertical position, animation scope, motion style and curve preset.
How to install it
- Extract the v2.8 ZIP.
- Run setup_windows.bat once to install the local transcription dependency.
- Copy EliteNuggets_AutoCaptions.jsx, transcribe.py and elitenuggets-logo.png into the ScriptUI Panels folder for the After Effects version you use.
- Restart After Effects and open Window → EliteNuggets_AutoCaptions.jsx.
The first transcription can take longer because the speech model may need to download. After setup, the workflow is designed to run transcription locally.
A beginner-friendly starting setup
For a first test, use a short 10–30 second clip with clear speech. The included beginner guide recommends Selected Layer In/Out, two caption lines, roughly three words per line, outline off, a subtle drop shadow, smart emphasis spacing on, and an emphasis size around 125%. Start with Pop or Fade and Smooth or Ease Out, then adjust after watching the edit at normal playback speed.
Download and guide
Auto Captions v2.8 is a free EliteNuggets product for Adobe After Effects on Windows. The marketplace page contains the protected ZIP download, while the product overview and beginner PDF can be read before signing in.
EliteNuggets Auto Captions is independently developed. It is not an official Adobe product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Adobe.