AFTER EFFECTS PLUGIN · SMEAR

ASheng
Smear

Drag the picture
along one brushstroke.

Smear samples color at the start point and smears a continuous bundle of varying-width bristles along a curved path, with bristle and dry-brush texture; dye and running ink can go on top, and source scratches are scraped out on the start side. Drag the path right in the viewer: pull the curve by hand and add points for more turns. Works on text, photos and video; the stroke draws itself and can keep flowing. 4 built-in presets, fine-tuned with the sliders.

Apple Silicon · M seriesmacOS 14 or laterAfter Effects 2026GPU accelerated

10 USD · 365-day license · 1 Mac

Buy license ↗Download for Mac Already licensed? Activate

Output is watermarked until a license is activated. The license runs from the time of purchase and does not auto-renew; buy another to keep using it after it expires. The Golden Pass already includes Smear. Prices follow the live plan on the purchase page.

Dry Stream

Click above to switch · every frame is rendered by the plugin (built-in presets, no post work; portrait demos use one photo, text demos are applied directly to a text layer)

Stroke · Path

One stroke —
how it bends and how thick is up to you.

“Start Point” is where the stroke begins; “Direction” and “Length” set where and how far it drags; “Bend” curves the path and “Bend Position” sets where along it the bend sits. Drag the bend handle in the viewer and these values follow. For a freer path, click the line to add a “Path Point”; the stroke passes smoothly through each one, points can be dragged, double-click deletes. “Width” is the whole bundle’s width. The three images below use the same photo and start point.

Portrait with a straight stroke — **Straight**Bend 0, dragged straight out.

Portrait with a curved stroke — **Curved**Raise “Bend” and the path swings into a wide arc.

A wavy stroke shaped with path points — **Path points**Two path points added; the stroke passes smoothly through each.

Stroke · Width and sampling

The width varies,
and you choose where the paint comes from.

Width Curve varies the width from start to tail: the curve’s left is the start, right is the tail, 1× is the width set above, up to 2×. Two Modes: “Smear” samples color at the start point and smears outward; “Pull” samples from a circular area (or a closed mask) and pulls the paint along the path, with “Pull Source Away” optionally emptying the sampled area. The path can also follow an open guide mask.

A spindle-shaped stroke made with the width curve — **Width curve**Thin at the start, widest in the middle, tapering at the tail.

A stroke in Pull mode — **Pull mode**Color sampled from a circle and pulled out into a stroke.

Text layers

Text works too —
the letterforms dragged out in one stroke.

Smear applies directly to text layers. Everything below is the same “AS” with only the settings changed: the flowing version keeps its color moving forward; the static one holds still; the dyed one stains pink ink into the letters; the curved one pulls the stroke into a wide arc.

Continuous flowThe stroke drags from “A” into “S” and the gold paint keeps flowing forward.

A static stroke on the text AS — **Static stroke**Progress held at 100; the stroke is frozen in place.

The text AS stained with pink ink — **Dye**Ink set to pink, staining the dragged letterforms.

The text AS dragged into a wide arc — **Curved**Direction turned 60°, bend raised; the letterforms drag into an arc.

Smear · Texture

The brush’s texture:
dry brush and bristles, both adjustable.

“Smear Amount” sets how far the color is dragged; “Bristle Width” is the width of a single hair — thinner is silkier, thicker is more like bands of color; “Dry Brush” opens dry gaps at the stroke edge that show the picture beneath; “Taper” thins the tail; “Source Blend” decides how the start transitions from the original to the stroke. Each pair below is the same stroke with one parameter changed.

A stroke with dry brush at zero — **Dry Brush 0%**A solid body with clean edges.

A stroke with dry brush at maximum — **Dry Brush 100%**Edges brushed open, showing the picture beneath.

A stroke with fine bristles — **Bristles 1.5 px**Very fine hairs; the stroke is like a bundle of silk.

A stroke with thick bristles — **Bristles 30 px**Thick hairs; the stroke becomes broad bands.

Dye

The paint stains,
the ink runs on its own.

“Density” sets how heavily it stains. “Dye Style” is Wet (diffuse, lighter) or Hard (dense, hard-edged); color can be a solid or a two-color gradient shifting from start to tail. “Turbulence” makes the ink appear and mingle like smoke in water. “Run-off” grows thin rivulets of ink from the tail, with “Run Length” and “Rivulet Count” setting how long and how many.

A wet-dyed stroke — **Wet dye**Blue ink diffusing through the stroke.

A hard-dyed stroke — **Hard dye**The same blue, denser and harder-edged.

A stroke dyed with a two-color gradient — **Two-color gradient**The default ink black to dark red, staining from start to tail.

Run-offRivulets of ink grow from the tail and keep running.

Source scratches

On the start side,
the bristles scrape out streaks.

Scratches grow from the start point toward the “source” side: the bristles scrape long streaks into the original image along the stroke, echoing the smear on the other end. Four “Kinds”: furrow, hair, dry brush, mixed; “Method” makes them ink marks, cut-outs, or drags the color along; “Coarse” and “Fine” take a count each, and “Scratch Length” and “Spread” set how far and how wide. The three images below are the same stroke with Method set to ink.

Source scratches of the furrow kind — **Furrow**3 coarse, 5 fine, scraped along the stroke.

Source scratches of the hair kind — **Hair**Same counts, scraped hair-style.

Source scratches of the dry-brush kind — **Dry brush**Scraped dry-brush style.

Animation

The stroke draws itself,
or keeps flowing.

Three “Animation” modes. Auto Draw: the stroke draws out from the start, the ink runs a while, then dries and stops; “Draw Time” and “Dry Time” are adjustable. Continuous Flow: paint keeps flowing forward along the stroke, good for endless loops; “Flow Speed” is in px/s and “Stop Flow” slows it to a halt at a set time. Manual: keyframe “Progress” from 0 to 100 yourself. “Exit Time” wipes the stroke away from start to tail, revealing the original. Animation is computed directly from time, so reverse play and scrubbing give identical results.

Auto drawThe stroke draws out, the ink runs a while, then dries.

Continuous flowThe stroke stays; the paint keeps flowing forward, loopable forever.

Manual progress + exitProgress 0 to 100 draws the stroke; at the exit time it is wiped away.

4 built-in presets

Dry brush, poster, silk, loaded paint —
one click to apply.

The library ships 4 presets: Dry Stream, Poster Pull, Silk Ribbons, Loaded Paint. Each is a full parameter snapshot you can fine-tune after applying and save as your own; the library is shared, so your presets sit alongside. Presets never move your start point or change your chosen mask. All thumbnails are actual plugin renders.

Dry Stream preset, actual render — **Dry Stream**乾刷流動

Poster Pull preset, actual render — **Poster Pull**海報拖曳

Silk Ribbons preset, actual render — **Silk Ribbons**細絲流帶

Loaded Paint preset, actual render — **Loaded Paint**厚實筆觸

Getting started

Three steps to get going.

Requires an Apple Silicon (M-series) Mac, macOS 14 or later and After Effects 2026. No Intel Mac or Windows version yet.

Download the installer
Click “Download for Mac” on this page and unzip. The installer is notarized by Apple.
Quit AE, then install
Save your project, quit After Effects fully with Cmd+Q, then run the installer; the 4 built-in presets are added to the preset library at the same time.
Add it to a layer
Reopen AE, find ASheng_Smear under “ASheng - Stylize”, add it to a text, photo or video layer, place the start point, then pick a preset or set each control yourself.

Good to know

Where is it in AE?

Under “ASheng - Stylize” in the Effect menu; the name is ASheng_Smear.

Can it go on text?

Yes. Text, photo and video layers all take it directly; the “AS” above is applied straight to a text layer.

Is it one stroke per effect?

Yes. One Smear effect draws one stroke; for more, apply more instances, each with its own start point, direction and settings.

What is the difference between Smear and Pull?

Smear samples color at the start point and smears outward; Pull samples from a circle or a closed mask and pulls the paint along the path, optionally with “Pull Source Away”.

Do I need keyframes to make it move?

No. The default is continuous flow, so the paint runs as soon as it is applied. For frame-level control set “Animation” to Manual and keyframe “Progress” from 0 to 100.

Is the result the same when scrubbing?

Yes. Animation is computed directly from time with no dependence on the previous frame, so reverse play, frame jumps and multi-frame rendering all match.

Does the Golden Pass cover it?

Yes. The Golden Pass covers every ASheng AE plugin, including future releases, so Smear activates directly.

Which bit depths are supported?

8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit float are all supported.

Does it use the GPU?

Yes. “GPU Acceleration” is on by default and renders on the Apple Silicon GPU (Metal); if the GPU is unavailable it falls back to the CPU with the same picture, just slower.

Does it support Premiere Pro?

After Effects only for now.

Can I use it without a license?

Yes, you can try it with a watermark on the output. With a valid Smear license NFT or Golden Pass, click the status button at the top of the effect panel (showing “Trial”) to open the license helper and activate.

See the Golden Pass All plugins

ASheng Smear

One stroke —how it bends and how thick is up to you.

The width varies,and you choose where the paint comes from.

Text works too —the letterforms dragged out in one stroke.

The brush’s texture:dry brush and bristles, both adjustable.

The paint stains,the ink runs on its own.

On the start side,the bristles scrape out streaks.

The stroke draws itself,or keeps flowing.

Dry brush, poster, silk, loaded paint —one click to apply.