How to animate a logo in After Effects

How do I animate a logo in After Effects, step by step?

Bring the logo in as vector shapes, animate its parts one after another, ease the motion and hold the last frame. None of the seven steps below needs a plugin. We make mouzeclick. Our faster route for the import, the split (step 2) and the entrance (step 4) is in its own section further down, labelled as ours.

1. Get the vector. Ask for the logo as an SVG or Illustrator file, not a PNG or JPG. A vector stays sharp at any size. A bitmap goes soft once you scale it past its own pixels.
2. Split it into parts. The mark, the wordmark, the tagline and any detail that should move on its own each need their own layer before you set a keyframe.
3. Write the plan in frames. Decide the order of the parts and the length of each beat first. The timing table below is a starting point.
4. Animate the mark. Pick one entrance:
   • draw the outline on
   • fill the shape after its outline
   • pop the scale with a small overshoot
   • fade it up from slightly below
5. Bring the name in after the mark. Start the wordmark a few frames behind the mark, so viewers read the symbol first and then the name. If the name is live text, Adobe's guide to animating text layers and individual text elements covers the text tools.
6. Ease everything, then add one accent. Linear keyframes look mechanical, and easing curves fix that. Then add one finishing touch at most: a shine, a sparkle or a slow push in.
7. Hold and render. Leave the finished logo still for a beat. Adobe gives two ways out: the Render Queue inside After Effects, or Adobe Media Encoder. Our After Effects export settings guide covers the output file.

What logo file should I bring into After Effects?

Bring a vector file, either SVG or Illustrator. Vector shapes stay sharp on a 4K screen and on a phone, and you can split them into parts. A PNG moves only as one flat picture, so the mark and the name can never enter separately.

Before you import, open the file in your vector app and check four things:

• Groups. Make one group for each part you want to animate (mark, wordmark, tagline) and give each group a clear name.
• Colours. Write down the exact brand hex values. You need them later to check the finished render.
• Type. Decide whether the wordmark stays as outlines or becomes live text. Outlines keep the brand's letterforms exact. Live text needs the font installed, but you can animate it letter by letter.
• Artboard. Trim it close to the logo so the artwork is easy to centre and scale.

If the logo began as a drawing in Adobe's Sketch or Capture apps, Adobe documents converting Sketch and Capture shapes to Illustrator files and animating them in After Effects. Start there, then come back to step 2.

How long should a logo reveal be, and how do I time it?

Keep it short, and plan it in frames for the job. An intro sting has to get out of the way quickly, while an end card can take longer. Here is a 3-second plan at 25 fps that is easy to stretch or squeeze.

The plan runs 75 frames at 25 fps. At 30 fps the same 3 seconds are 90 frames, so multiply each beat by 1.2.

The overlap from frame 12 to frame 20 is deliberate. Starting the name before the mark lands makes one animation instead of two in a row.

The hold matters as much as the motion. A logo that is still moving on the last frame looks cut off.

Where can I get a free After Effects logo animation template?

Mixkit is the free source we checked. Its After Effects templates are free to download under the Mixkit License, with no sign-up and no attribution. Adobe Stock sells After Effects and Premiere Pro templates on credit plans. We checked both on 3 November 2026, and the counts and prices below are as each page showed them that day.

Before a client job, check two things:

• The licence for that item type. Mixkit sets licences per item type and links the full text rather than showing it on the page. Adobe Stock's FAQ says a standard licence doesn't let you use a licensed image in items you sell, and that resale needs an extended licence. The page we read doesn't spell out the terms for templates, so check them before you deliver.
• The version. Mixkit gives no version numbers for its templates. Open the project in your copy of After Effects before you promise a deadline.

Adobe Stock's homepage offers 10 Stock images with a free trial, and its plans page shows a 7-day trial on some plans. For more places to look, see our After Effects template sites compared.

Should I use a logo reveal template or build it myself?

Use a template when the brief is a designed scene you can't build in the time you have. Build it yourself when the brand needs its own motion, or when the logo will be changed and re-rendered over months.

• A template is the better pick for a one-off reveal with particles, light or a staged 3D look, or for a quick social post. It also fits when the client chose the look from a preview.
• Building it yourself is the better pick when the same logo opens every video in a series, or when the motion has to match a brand guide. It also helps when someone else edits the project later and needs layers they understand.
• The trade-off. A free template's look is shared with everyone else who downloaded it, and you inherit its structure. Your own build is plainer, but every keyframe is yours.

Editing in Premiere Pro rather than After Effects? See how to use After Effects templates in Premiere Pro. You can also start from Mixkit's Premiere Pro logo category, which lists 47 free templates, logo reveals among them.

Why does my logo animation look wrong, and what should I check?

The cause is nearly always the file or the timing, not After Effects itself. Work down this list in order.

• Soft or jagged edges. The logo came in as a bitmap and was scaled up. Replace it with the vector.
• Everything moves as one block. The logo is a single layer. Split the parts in the vector file, or convert it with a tool that splits it into layers.
• Stiff, robotic motion. The keyframes are linear. Ease them, and add a little overshoot on a pop.
• The name fights the mark. Both start on the same frame. Move the wordmark a few frames later.
• Wrong colours. Compare the render with the brand hex values you wrote down. Recolour the shapes, not the whole comp.
• The end looks cut off. The comp ends on the last keyframe. Leave a hold of at least a second after it.
• A piece is missing after conversion. Simplify that piece in your vector app and bring it in again. With mouzevector, read its report of what converted before you animate.
• The render doesn't match the delivery spec. Check the output settings in the Render Queue or Adobe Media Encoder before you send the file.

Where mouzeclick fits (we make it)

We make mouzeclick, and this section is ours. Its mouzevector extension turns SVG artwork into native After Effects shape layers and adds four animate-ins: Draw on, Fill after stroke, Pop and Fade up. It handles the import, the split (step 2) and the entrance (step 4) of the manual route, and it runs on Windows and Mac.

1. Install mouzeclick and paste your key. On the app's Tool wheel page, press Install After Effects bridge, then restart After Effects.
2. Open mouzevector from Window › Extensions.
3. Bring the logo in: paste SVG code, drop an .svg file, or copy the artwork from Figma.
4. Split it into layers so the mark, name and tagline move separately, and recolour them to the brand values.
5. Read the report of what converted before you animate anything.
6. Give each part an animate-in, for example Draw on for the mark and Fade up for the name. Then offset them as in the timing table.

Keep mouzeclick running while you work. It needs an internet connection while it runs.

The mouzevector feature list shows all 43 of its items in the feature library. The extensions page has a card for each of the 22 extensions.

mouzevector comes in the one mouzeclick plan, at $25 a month, $249 a year, or $499 once for one of the first 100 lifetime keys (see pricing). The trial lasts 3 days with no card, and every After Effects tool works fully in it. mouzeclick publishes no minimum After Effects version, so test yours during the trial.

On Windows only, the After Effects workspace adds three tools that help with a logo:

• Paste image in Toolbox: copied SVG code arrives as a vector.
• Easing lab: 44 ready curves in six curve types.
• Shape morpher in Shape studio: 0.1 to 5 seconds, with six easing presets.

Shape studio also holds 81 animated UI templates that you edit before they build. The workspaces are part of mouzeclick on Windows. The Mac app does not include them.

Where a template is the better pick. mouzevector gives you clean, editable layers and an entrance. It does not give you a designed scene with particles, light or a 3D stage. If the brief calls for that kind of reveal, a template from the sources above gets you there faster.

How do I add a shine, sparkle or camera move to a logo reveal?

Add one accent after the logo lands, on its own layer, so you can retime or delete it without touching the logo. By hand, that means building the accent from shapes or effects and keying it yourself. The tools below do the setup. All of them run on Windows and Mac, and we make them.

• mouzeaccent places 12 accents at the playhead as shape layers. For a logo, the useful ones are Sparkle, Burst, Shine sweep, Circle around and Underline. See the mouzeaccent feature list.
• mouzmic adds moving four-colour light to text, shape and footage layers. It is built from After Effects' own effects and driven by keyframeable Expression Controls, with 10 looks plus your brand colours. See the mouzmic feature list.
• mouzecam is a camera rig. Its moves include Push in, Pull out, Orbit and Settle, and it has 5 ready shots, rack focus and parallax for a slow push onto the finished logo.
• mouzetype has 17 kinetic type styles, applied as real text animators you can retime. Use it when the wordmark is live text. Our page on After Effects text animation presets covers mouzetype alongside Type studio.
• The After Effects Tool wheel puts 114 tools in 13 groups under one flick. Each action is one undo step. See the After Effects radial menu.

How do I export one logo animation in 16:9, 9:16 and square?

Render each size as its own comp, from the Render Queue or through Adobe Media Encoder. Build the master in the widest frame first and keep the logo well inside the edges. Then the tall and square versions only need re-framing, not re-animating.

mouzeresize, another of our extensions (Windows and Mac), turns one comp into other formats: 9:16, 1:1, 4:5, 4:3, 16:9, 21:9 or your own size. It has layer rules and safe areas. It can update the sizes and send them to the Render Queue. The mouzeresize feature list shows each tool.

Which parts run on Windows and which run on Mac?

After Effects, mouzevector and every other mouzeclick extension run on both. The After Effects workspace is Windows only.

The workspaces are part of mouzeclick on Windows. The Mac app does not include them.

Apple has not notarized the Mac app yet, so macOS asks you to allow it the first time it opens. The four install steps are on the Mac install page.

Questions people ask

Sources

Checked on 2026-11-03. Prices and features change: each link goes to the maker's own page.

1. Adobe After Effects product page (price, Render Queue, Media Encoder)
2. Adobe After Effects free trial FAQ (platforms, refund, membership)
3. Adobe Creative Cloud plans (India price)
4. Adobe Help: Animating text
5. Adobe Help: Convert Sketch and Capture shapes and animate
6. Mixkit home (free licence, 851 templates, host apps)
7. Mixkit free After Effects title templates
8. Mixkit free After Effects transition templates
9. Mixkit free After Effects YouTube templates
10. Mixkit free After Effects slideshow templates
11. Mixkit free Premiere Pro logo templates
12. Mixkit free Premiere Pro transition templates (project and mogrt labels)
13. Adobe Stock home (free trial)
14. Adobe Stock templates
15. Adobe Stock asset types
16. Adobe Stock plans, India (prices, licences)

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