Building a credit roll by hand in After Effects looks simple and then eats your afternoon. You type out every name, line up the columns so the roles and people sit where they should, stack it into one long text layer, then start the real fiddling: animating the scroll, timing it, and adjusting it again every time a name gets added late. It is the same tedious job on every project.
Credits is a Filmit plugin that builds that whole thing for you inside After Effects. You assemble your credits in a panel (or import them from a spreadsheet), pick a style, preview the exact look, set the length, and click Generate Credits. This guide follows the demo video above, from install to render.
This video may reference an older version of Credits. Features and UI may have changed since recording.
What is Credits?
Credits is a credit roll generator for After Effects. You build credits, preview them until you are happy with the template or style, then hit Generate Credits. The build runs and your credits are created as a comp, in the demo a clean roll of around 35 seconds, and you can change all of it easily.
When you first open Credits it ships with a couple of built in examples so you can see what it can do right away. Hit New to start your own. The loop is simple: build, preview, generate.
How to install and open Credits
Credits installs through Filmit Studio, the desktop app you download from your dashboard. Open the app, go to My Tools, find Credits, and click Install. It shows up alongside the other tools included with your account, and from there you can learn more about it, report a bug, or request a feature any time.
To open Credits, close and reopen After Effects first if you just installed it, then go to Window, then Extensions, then Credits. The panel opens inside the app and you are ready to build.
Building credits in the panel
The tab on the left is called Credits, the model you build your credits in. At the bottom are the module types you add to the roll: a new section, a spacer, a divider, and the various credit types. You can click to add them, or drag them into place, and there are undo buttons right there.
At the very bottom is the part that saves the most time: Import CSV, Import Excel, Import JSON, and Paste. Instead of building a long credit list by hand, fill your credits into a downloadable CSV or Excel template and import it back into Credits. The Excel flow is deep enough that it is getting its own separate video, so look out for that one.
Pro Tip: For a long cast and crew list, skip the panel. Fill in the CSV or Excel template, then import it and get the whole roll in one step instead of adding modules one at a time.
Preview, speed, and Fit to a duration
The next tab is Preview. Once you have selected a credit style (the demo goes with Hollywood Classic) it pre renders the credits, so what you see is exactly what they look like when generated. This is also where you set the pace of the roll.
Drag the speed control to land anywhere, say a 25 second roll for the whole list, or slow it down if time is tight. You can also type a number and click Fit: 120 lands around 90 seconds, 300 stretches to a couple of minutes, and 30 snaps back to a clean 30 second roll. Styles and resolution sit just below.
Pro Tip: If you have a hard time slot to hit, type the seconds you want and click Fit instead of dragging. Credits sizes the whole roll to that exact duration, so the credits end right on time.
Styles, templates, and resolution
The styles are the fast way to a finished look. They are templates, so you are not inventing a credits design from a blank canvas. Pick one and you have something that reads cleanly. The resolution options sit alongside them: 1080p, 4K, 720, a 1080 vertical roll for social, or a custom size.
The Style tab: scroll vs card sequence and fonts
The Style tab is where you get a little more granular. The first choice is Mode. There is scroll mode, the continuous rolling credits, and there is card sequence, where the credits show one card at a time instead of scrolling. Films use the card look all the time. The demo sticks with the scrolling roll, but both are a click away.
Scroll down and you will find all the base fonts built into the credit system, plus options like an uppercase roll and stacked credits. There is also a help file to confirm you have the right fonts installed. The Settings page links to Filmit.io, feature requests, support, and our Discord, where you can talk to me directly. Just mention max.
Generate Credits: the one to one build
Once your settings are dialed and everything is built, you are ready to generate. Click Generate Credits, a quick box comes up while it works, and your credits are generated. Scroll through the timeline and the result lines up against the preview. It is a nice one to one build: what you previewed lands in After Effects as a real comp.
Advanced Mode: more room to work
As you build, you might want more working space, and that is what Advanced Mode is for. Click the button in the top right and a new window opens, a one to one version of Credits with more breathing room: your credits and a live preview side by side. In the demo I rename the last render to THE FILMIT MOVIE in all caps, hit play, and there it is.
The Style tab is here too, so you can change fonts. Picking a random ugly font and generating it proves the build always works, which is why the templates exist: the documentary style looks clean out of the box. One quirk: After Effects will not let this window maximize, so you make it bigger by hand. A little annoying, but it is what it is.
Pro Tip: Reach for Advanced Mode when you are doing real design passes. The live preview next to your credits means you see every font and timing change immediately, with no jumping back and forth in the panel.
Key takeaways
Credits turns the tedious, every project job of building a credit roll into a build, a preview, and one click.
Assemble or import your credits, pick a style, and Generate Credits drops a finished comp into After Effects.
Fill in a CSV or Excel template, then Import CSV, Excel, JSON, or paste instead of building by hand.
Drag the speed control or type a number and click Fit to size the roll to your exact time slot.
Pick a continuous rolling style or show one card at a time, with built in fonts and templates.
The Preview is a one to one match for the generated comp, and Advanced Mode gives you a roomier live preview.
Why I built Credits
I started as an animator and video editor and I work in production all the time, so I have built more credit rolls than I can count. The names change and the project changes, but the busywork never does, and none of it is creative. It is friction at the end of every job.
So we built Credits to take that off your plate. The templates exist because most people do not want to design a credits sequence from scratch, the spreadsheet import because typing a hundred names into a panel is no fun, and the one to one preview so there are no surprises when you render. This is just the start. More demo videos are coming that build whole workflows by dragging in modules, logos, video, and pictures. We develop new projects from customer feedback, so tell us what to build next.
Get started with Filmit
Credits installs through Filmit Studio, the free app that manages every Filmit plugin for After Effects and Premiere Pro. One install puts Credits in your editor, and the same app keeps it updated.
And if you are already polishing the text on your project, pair Credits with TextPilot, our text manager for After Effects. It scans your whole project and lets you bulk edit, translate, and spell check every text layer from one panel, and the whole suite runs under one subscription.
