Version: 3.2.0 -

Auto Crop

Instantly crop compositions to fit their contents

Compatibility:
After Effects CS6 and newer
Tool Type:
Plugin
Update: Version 3.2.0 now supports Apple Silicon!
A zoomed in view showing that the glow from a layer was not cut off by auto crop

Get pixel perfect cropping.

Precise crops based on the alpha channel of every layer within a composition.

If even a single pixel is partially visible, Auto Crop will see it and include it in the crop dimensions.

Auto Crop
Crop Duration
Preferences

Work less, get more done.

Auto Crop can crop without causing any visual changes1 throughout the project,
even if the cropped composition is used in many places.

Shows that after a crop has happened, all uses of the comp are corrected to maintain the same position

Crop with confidence.

Have animation within your composition?

Auto Crop can examine the entire duration to find the smallest possible size without cutting off any details.

A layer with a many motion keyframes that has been auto cropped over the duration of the animation

Use it your way.

Auto Crop is designed to be as minimal as possible while still remaining flexible.

Use it from the menu to keep Auto Crop available, but out of the way.

Or customize a dock-able panel so the perfect crop is always just one click away.

The script UI panel that can be used to run auto crop commands
The command for auto crop in the layer menu

Designed for flexibility.

Do more than just simple cropping.

Auto Crop can also crop based on masks and even automatically expand a composition before cropping to include any layers that are cut off.

An image highlighting the mask crop option
A before and after showing that auto crop can be used to include content that has been cut off and then re-crop at the larger size

See it in action.

Need more information?

For all the details on Auto Crop, including how to install and how it works, check out the manual

1. Auto Crop does as much as possible to maintain the position of every layer within a composition, however there are a couple of exceptions.

First, the size of a composition affects how 3D layers are viewed. This means that if your composition contains 3D positioned layers, your composition will need to be pre-composed in order to maintain proper positioning. Auto Crop provides an option to do this for you.

The other exception is when expressions applied to your layers are affected by the dimensions of the composition. Since Auto Crop changes these dimensions, your layers may end up in different places after the crop completes, resulting in results that appear inaccurate. In order to avoid this, you would need to convert your expressions to keyframes before cropping.