Context

Creating captions inside After Effects is usually slow and manual; designers have to manually transcribe audio, break lines, time each caption, and build text layers one by one.

Tools like CapCut and Premiere Pro automate this, but After Effects doesn't offer anything similar.

Caption Toolkit was built to bring that level of automation directly into After Effects, producing clean, editable captions in seconds instead of hours.

Role

• Identified the lack of native captioning tools inside AE and mapped the manual workflow
• Designed the extension's flow: audio export → transcription → SRT parsing → text-layer generation
• Built the transcription pipeline using OpenAI Whisper and AssemblyAI for different transcription needs.
• Created a CEP UI for After Effects to control the extension and display progress.

Solution

• Exported timeline audio (all audio or selected tracks) directly from AE for transcription
• Sent the audio to OpenAI Whisper, receiving an SRT with accurate text and timecodes
• Translated SRT entries into After Effects text layers with matching in/out points across the timeline
• Generated fully editable AE captions, same flexibility as manual captions, but without the manual labour

Impact

• Reduced caption creation from an hours-long chore to a workflow that completes in seconds
• Delivered accurate, well-timed captions ready for immediate editing and styling
• Removed a major bottleneck for editors and designers working on fast-turnaround content
• Brought modern, automated captioning into AE without requiring users to jump between apps