Design Mode launches as a vector editing suite inside After Effects

Jake Bartlett launched Design Mode, a vector editing suite that runs inside After Effects. You pull shapes, masks, and text from a comp onto its canvas, edit them, and push the changes back.

Animated layers can be pulled too. Edits to keyframed properties land as new keyframes, and effects, expressions, and parenting are preserved. The tools include exact position, length, and angle controls for each point, Pathfinder and path actions, interactive tapers, and Replicate arrays (linear, grid, radial, brick, spiral) built from native Repeaters. It writes standard After Effects shapes, masks, and text, so a project still opens for people who don't have Design Mode.

There's no timeline, so you still animate in After Effects, and properties driven by expressions can't be edited. This is V1, and Bartlett says to expect gaps and bugs.

It's a one-time purchase at a $48 launch price ($58 full price). The license covers two machines and includes free V1 updates. It needs After Effects 2023 or later, or 2024 or later for text editing, on Mac or Windows.