Panel says “No connection”? A firewall, antivirus or VPN may be blocking After Effects. The latest panel works around it: use the Download button below to get the zip again, or sign in with your browser.
A soft little panel for After Effects. Subtitles written for you, any TikTok or YouTube link straight into your comp, easing you can actually see. One click each.
On your phone? This is a panel for After Effects on your computer. Open vsvxfx.com there to install it.
Short on screen space? Drag the panel narrow.
No installer wizard. About a minute. Stuck? Help.
Right-click the zip you downloaded → Extract All…. Don't run anything from inside the zip.
Close After Effects. Windows: double-click Install.bat. Mac: right-click › Open Install.command. Wait for Done.
Start After Effects → Window › Extensions › VSVX Softkeys. Dock it wherever you like.
Install once. After that the panel updates itself every time you open it, so you never download it again.
Windows or your antivirus may warn about an “unknown publisher”. That is expected: the panel is not code-signed yet, because a signing certificate costs money. Here is what it does, and what it does not:
%APPDATA%\Adobe\CEP\extensions) and turn on one Adobe setting for your user only, so After Effects loads unsigned panels (that is enable-panel.reg).Install.bat and enable-panel.reg are plain text, open them in Notepad before you run them. More in Privacy.Twenty-two keys in total — these are the ones that save the most time. Every key is explained on its own page.
Pick the audio, press once: your subtitles are written as text layers, timed to the words, with your font, colours and an entrance animation. It listens on your own computer — no upload, no fee.
Paste a TikTok, YouTube or Instagram link and the video or the sound lands in your comp at the playhead, in the best quality up to 1080p, exactly as the site has it.
Click the person in the clip and the key keeps them in the middle of the frame, or gives you a null that follows their head for text and stickers. It works on your own computer — nothing is uploaded. Windows for now.
The home page stays short. Details live here.
New: help the Beat Marker learn where editors cut. Tap along to a song you like (2 minutes). Help the Beat Marker →
Softkeys is free because I'm an editor too and I wouldn't pay for it myself. I build it to help people, not to make money, and I'm trying to keep it that way. If it saves you time, you can buy me a coffee. Totally optional.
It lands straight on my desk. Every version so far came from what testers sent — the more precise, the faster it gets fixed.