Railcut v1.1.0 for After Effects (Win/Mac)

Go ahead. Edit in After Effects. Railcut brings track-based clip editing to After Effects. Trim, ripple, cut, and move clips without roundtripping to Premiere ever again. Everyone said don't edit in After Effects. They weren't wrong. For years, everyone said the same thing: "After Effects is not an editor. Go edit in Premiere." And historically, that was true. AE previews were slow. Realtime playback was never possible. Changing anything meant re-rendering. The editing roundtrip to and from Premiere was just part of the job.

But things have changed. Between After Effects' performance improvements and modern hardware, realtime playback is genuinely achievable. After Effects can be your editor.

It just never had the right tools, so I built them.

The editing tools After Effects was missing.

Multi-track timeline
Video tracks above, audio tracks below, just like every other NLE. Instantly familiar.

Full tool palette
Select, Blade, Ripple Edit, Rolling Edit,Slip, Slide, Rate Stretch, Track Select, Pen, Zoom, Pan; all the tools you already know.

Audio waveforms
See your audio on every clip so you never miss a beat.

Video thumbnails
First-frame previews on every clip, for video and still images, so you always know what you're looking at.

Keyboard shortcuts
Built-in presets for Premiere, DaVinci, Final Cut, and After Effects. Fully customizable.

Drag from Project Panel
Drop footage from AE's Project Panel or straight from Finder, directly onto the timeline.

Snapping
Clips, playhead, and markers snap to edit points. Toggle on/off with Shift+S.

Live layer sync
Select a layer in AE and it slects in Railcut. Always in step with what's happening in your comp.