How to export a GIF with transparent Background in After Effects (two options)

If you are reading this, it is because you noticed that After effects can not render a GIF with transparent background. Adobe Media Encoder will not help either. There are two ways to get the job done. Let’s get into it!

1. The Easy way. Using the free Plugin from AEJuice

Recently I discovered a free plugin “AEJuice GIF” which is very easy to use and it is free.

1. First download the plugin AEJuice GI from the AEjuice “Free plugins” page. It has an easy installer for Mac and windows, you don’t have to use any other plugin installer.
2. Once you have it installed open After Effects and go to the menu “Window > AE Juice GIF.jsxbin” to open the plugin.

3. The following window will open with the “Render” and the “Configutation” buttons. If you need transparent background for your GIF just open the Configuration with the “cog” icon button.

4. Select Alpha channel to export a transparent GIF. It will ignore the background color of your composition and export only the contents.

5. That’s all you need. It will create a GIF with the name of your composition next to your AE project file.

2. Option B. Using Photoshop to render the transparentGIF

This option has more steps but uses 100% Adobe software.

1. Render a MOV with Alpha channel in After Effects

Just make sure that your composition has a transparent background.

Press this icon to see the transparent area in your composition

Then Choose File>Export> Add to the render list

On the Render list, go to the last entry where your next Render is located.

Click on the setting next to “Output module” (blue link). It will pop up a window with your settings.

On the main options make sure you select “RGB + Alpha channel”.

Choose a MOV format and Render. That’s all in After Effects. Let’s move to Photoshop.

2. Render the GIF with Photoshop

Open your MOV file from the File >Open… menu in Photoshop.

Photoshop will open the video as a Layer with Alpha channel

Then choose File > Export > Save for web (Legacy)… to export it as a GIF.

The settings are up to you.

Recommendation

After testing both options I recommend the first option since it allows you to keep changing your original composition and getting the export right away. It has the same quality and it is free. Download the plugin and tell me what you think. Happy designing!