You know the routine. You need a slideshow, so you go hunting for a template pack, download one, and open it up. Then it never quite fits. The pack was built for eight photos and you have twenty, or it was built for twenty and you have six, so you spend the next hour deleting slots, duplicating others, and re-timing markers you did not place. By the time it lines up with your actual set of images, you have done more rigging than designing.
We built Slideshow to skip that step entirely. Instead of handing you a fixed template and asking your photos to fit it, the plugin builds the slideshow for you, around your numbers, as a real and fully editable After Effects composition. It is fast, close to real time, and it works the same whether you have a handful of photos or dozens of clips. This is an overview of what Slideshow is and the three ways it builds.
This video may reference an older version of Slideshow. Features and UI may have changed since recording.
What is Slideshow?
Slideshow is a Filmit plugin for After Effects that automatically creates slideshows. You tell it the look you want and your timing, and it assembles a finished comp for you in near real time. There is no template pack to wrangle and no markers to chase. The output is a normal After Effects composition, so every photo, transition, and bit of timing is yours to edit afterward.
It is a brand-new tool, version 1.0.0, and it is a paid plugin that comes with a 7-day free trial. It lives in the Filmit Studio Suite, so you install it from the desktop app on your dashboard, and the trial unlocks the whole growing library, not just Slideshow.
How to install and open Slideshow
Slideshow installs through Filmit Studio, the desktop app you download from your dashboard. You do not install it on its own. Filmit Studio installs the whole growing plugin suite, so the rest of the tools land too, and the 7-day free trial unlocks all of it.
Once it is installed, open After Effects and go to Window, then Extensions, then Slideshow. The panel opens docked like any other, and from there the whole build is a few clicks.
Three ways to build a slideshow
Slideshow gives you three starting points, depending on where your images are. You can start from scratch and drop photos in later, build from images you already have in your comp, or point the plugin at a folder and let it pull everything in. All three end the same way, with a finished, editable slideshow comp and a preview before you commit.
Pro Tip: Pick your starting point by where your photos already live. Empty comp and want structure first, use Create Template. Images already on the timeline, use Selected Layers. A folder of files on disk, use Choose Image Folder.
Create Template: start from scratch
Create Template is the from-scratch path. You pick a look, set the number of slides by clicking or typing a number, then choose a format, a transition, the cross-dissolve length, the image timing per slide, the total length, and a fill mode. When it looks right, click Create in After Effects, and Slideshow builds the comp almost instantly.
What you get is an editable composition with empty slide pre-comps, one per slide, waiting for imagery. Open any of those pre-comps and drop a photo or clip in, and it slots straight into the timing and the transitions Slideshow already laid out. This is the path to reach for when you want the structure in place before you have settled on every image.
Use Selected Layers: build from what you have
If your images are already sitting in a comp, you do not need to start over. Highlight the layers you want, click Use Selected Layers, and Slideshow gives you a preview built from exactly those images. Pick your look and your timing, set the cross-dissolve length and the per-slide duration, and Create.
Slideshow turns your selected images into a slideshow in near real time, applying the transitions and pacing across the set you chose. It is the fastest route when the photos are in front of you and you just want them animated into a sequence without exporting, re-importing, or rebuilding anything by hand.
Choose Image Folder: point and go
The third path skips importing altogether. Choose Image Folder lets you point Slideshow at a folder of photos, or video clips, and it sources and imports them for you automatically. It then shows you a preview of the slideshow before you build, so you can pick a look and confirm the result.
From there it is the same finish as the others. Choose a look like Modern, set your timing, click Create in After Effects, and Slideshow assembles the full sequence from the folder in near real time. It is the quickest way to go from a folder of raw files to a moving slideshow.
Looks, formats, and transitions
Every build starts with a look, and there are seven: Classic, Modern, Cinematic, Reel, Pop, Bounce, and Drift. Each one sets the motion personality of the slideshow, from restrained to energetic, so you are choosing a feel rather than tweaking individual settings to get there.
Formats cover 16:9 HD, 9:16 for vertical and social, and 4K, and you can rebuild the same slideshow in a different format. That means a 9:16 cut for social and then a 4K 16:9 copy come from the same source without starting over. Transitions include cross dissolve and slide with varied direction, and fill modes let you fill the frame or leave it as none.
Pro Tip: Build once, then rebuild in a second format for a different platform. The same photos and look carry over, so a vertical social cut and a 4K landscape master are both a quick rebuild apart.
Everything stays fully editable
Whatever path you take, the result is a normal After Effects comp, not a locked black box. Slideshow does the assembly, then steps out of the way, so you can open the timeline and adjust anything. Each slide lives in its own column and pre-comp, which keeps the project tidy and easy to navigate.
One thing to be clear about: there is no AI here, and Slideshow does not detect where faces or subjects are, so it does not auto-crop for you. When a photo needs repositioning, you jump into its slide pre-comp and drag it into place yourself. That is the trade for keeping the whole thing open and editable, and an advanced board mode for reordering slides is planned for a later update.
Key takeaways
Slideshow trades fiddly template packs for a comp built around your exact set of photos, in three ways and seven looks.
No template pack to force-fit. Set your slide count and Slideshow assembles a comp sized to it in near real time.
Create Template from scratch, Use Selected Layers from images in your comp, or Choose Image Folder to import a folder automatically.
Classic, Modern, Cinematic, Reel, Pop, Bounce, and Drift, in 16:9 HD, 9:16, and 4K, with a rebuild path between formats.
You get a normal After Effects comp with each slide in its own pre-comp, so you can adjust timing and framing afterward.
Slideshow works with both, so still images and footage build into the same sequence the same way.
Get started with Filmit
Slideshow installs through Filmit Studio, the desktop app you download from your dashboard to manage every Filmit plugin for After Effects and Premiere Pro. It comes with a 7-day free trial that unlocks the whole growing plugin suite, and one install puts Slideshow in your editor and keeps it current. If you want a step-by-step build, read how to make a slideshow in After Effects.
To fill those empty slides fast, pair Slideshow with Sourcer, our stock-media panel, and drop royalty-free photos and clips straight into each pre-comp. The whole suite runs under one subscription, and the team is on Discord for questions.
