Brand Motion Controls
Change a brand color once, and every After Effects video that uses it follows.
Working Available to download. Below, a browser demo on sample data.
The problem
Name captions, title cards and end cards get rebuilt for every campaign, and a color change means opening every comp.
What I built
A shared controller for colors, corner roundness and speed, linked to every motion graphic that uses it.
- Colors, corners and speed
- Every graphic follows live
- Nothing rebuilt by hand
Download for After EffectsTry the browser demo
Features and limits
Built and tested
- One controller: Primary, Secondary and Accent colors, corner radius and speed.
- Three graphics (lower third, title card, end card) follow it live, including the timing of their in-move.
- Two original themes for a fictional brand; switch or edit them freely.
- Brand checks: text contrast on boxes at least 4.5:1, button text at least 3:1, speed in range. (The check caught the first Tidepool accent at 2.03:1; it was darkened.)
- The After Effects expressions each property uses, and a downloadable script that builds the controller comp from a spec exported here.
Limits
- The download builds the controller. Create your graphics and connect them with the supplied expressions.
- Tested in After Effects 26.5.0 on macOS 27.0.1 on a fictional project: the script built the controller, and test graphics using these expressions followed all five controls. Not yet tested on Windows.
- No generative AI: the themes and graphics are designed, not generated.
Planned
Design token import, controller validation and safe override hierarchy.
How to use
- Switch the theme, then change a color or the radius: all three graphics follow.
- Move Speed and press Replay to see the in-move timing change.
- Open the After Effects section to read the expressions, export the controller spec, then run the script from the download.
How it works
- Tokens are the single source: the preview reads them and the expressions point to the same named controls.
- Each graphic property maps to one control; a test checks every mapping points to a real control and every expression compiles.
- Speed drives time remapping, so animations keep their shape and only their pace changes.
Tested versions & limits
- Pass Unit: brand contrast checks (caught and fixed a weak accent) Node 22, Linux
- Pass Unit: every graphic property maps to a control; expressions compile Node 22, Linux
- Pass Unit: speed timing and controller spec Node 22, Linux
- Pass Host script: compiles; refuses to overwrite Node 22, Linux
- Pass Browser: live graphics follow the controller; checks; expressions Chromium (Playwright), 1280px
- Pass Host: controller comp and linked graphics in After Effects After Effects 26.5.0, macOS 27.0.1
Last verified 2026-10-31.
Controller, checks and live graphics work in the browser. The controller script ran in After Effects 26.5.0 on macOS 27.0.1 on a fictional project: it built BRAND_Controls with five controls, and test graphics using the listed expressions followed Primary, Secondary, Accent, Corner radius and Speed (through Time Remap), changed with the controller and returned. The lower third, title card and end card are not built as After Effects comps. Evidence: labs/host-tests/results/2026-10-31-mac.
Details
- Input
- Original motion style system
- Output
- Editable AE template with linked controls
- Runs in
- Installs as an After Effects script that builds the controller (tested in After Effects 26.5.0 on macOS 27.0.1). The controller, checks and live graphics also run in your browser.
- Source
- Original, rebuilt from scratch