How to Use After Effects Templates: Edit Text, Logo, Colors and Render (Step by Step)
A beginner-friendly video tutorial for your Typoanim premium After Effects templates: unzip and open the project, edit the text and logo, change the colors, set the duration and render an MP4 video.
8 min read
You downloaded an After Effects template from Typoanim's Premium After Effects templates, and now you want to turn it into your own video. This page is the official Typoanim tutorial for how to use an After Effects template: how to unzip and open the project, how to edit the text and replace the logo, how to change the colors, how to set the duration and how to render the final video as an MP4. Every step comes with a short screen recording, so you can follow along click by click, even if this is the first time you open Adobe After Effects.
The guide is written for Typoanim's premium After Effects templates, but the same workflow works for most After Effects project files: logo animations, animated titles, lower thirds, slideshows, transitions and product promos.
What is an After Effects template?
An After Effects template is a ready-made animation project for Adobe After Effects. All the motion design work is already done: you only replace the placeholder text, add your logo or images, pick your brand colors and export the video. Typoanim templates come as an .aet file (an After Effects template project). When you open it, After Effects creates a new, untitled copy of the project, so the original file always stays untouched and you can start over at any time.
What you need: Adobe After Effects 2023 or later, and the ZIP file you downloaded from your Typoanim account. No paid plugins are required, and every Typoanim premium After Effects template animates at 60 fps.
In this After Effects tutorial
Step 1How do you open an After Effects template?
As shown in the video above, first extract the ZIP file you downloaded from Typoanim. On a Mac, double-click the ZIP file in Finder and a folder with the same name appears next to it. On Windows, right-click the ZIP file in File Explorer, choose Extract All and click Extract. Inside the folder you will find the After Effects template file (.aet), a Tutorial.pdf and a Used Fonts.pdf.
Now simply double-click the After Effects file in the folder. After Effects opens and loads the template project with all its compositions in the Project panel. You can also start After Effects first and use File > Open Project. Because the template opens as an untitled copy, save your own version right away with File > Save As.
Tip: before editing, install the fonts listed in Used Fonts.pdf. They are free on Google Fonts or included with Creative Cloud through Adobe Fonts, and they make sure your text looks exactly like the preview. If a font is missing, After Effects shows a warning and replaces it with a default font.
Step 2How do you edit text and replace the logo in After Effects?
In this video we customize the content. To change the text, double-click a text layer (for example Text 01 or Text 02) in the timeline or in the Composition panel, select the placeholder words and type your own text. The animation updates automatically, so you do not need to touch any keyframes.
You are not limited to the original layout either. To move the text, select the Text01Control or Text02Control layer, open its Transform properties (or press P to show only Position) and drag the Position values. Each line moves on its own while the animation keeps working, which shows how much control a Typoanim premium template gives you: you can rebuild the layout around your own brand name and tagline.
To replace the logo, double-click the Your Logo composition. This is the logo placeholder: whatever you put inside it appears in the animation. Drag your logo file (PNG with a transparent background, SVG, JPG or AI) into the Project panel or use File > Import > File, then drop it into the open Your Logo composition. If your logo is too big for the composition, right-click the logo layer and choose Transform > Fit to Comp Width. The image is scaled to fit the composition perfectly. If you want to swap a product photo or any other image, it works exactly the same way.
Step 3How do you change the colors of an After Effects template?
The video above shows the fastest way to restyle the whole animation. Select the layer named CONTROL PANEL at the top of the timeline. Then look at the Effect Controls panel: all the color settings of the template are collected here, such as the text colors, box colors, background color and switches like Background On/Off. Click a color swatch, choose a new color in the color picker (or paste your brand's HEX code) and press OK.
If you do not see the Effect Controls panel, open it from the top menu with Window > Effect Controls (shortcut: F3 on Windows, Fn+F3 on most Mac keyboards). One control layer changes every scene at once, so you never have to search through dozens of layers to update a color.
Step 4How do you change the duration of an After Effects template?
As you can see in this short video, the final touches and the timing happen in a new composition. Choose Composition > New Composition (Cmd+N on Mac, Ctrl+N on Windows) and use the same size and frame rate as the template: 1920 x 1080 at 60 fps. Then drag the main template composition from the Project panel into the new composition.
To change the duration, trim or extend the template layer on the timeline by dragging its start or end point. This way you control exactly how long your logo animation or title stays on screen, and you can easily match it to your music, voiceover or the rest of your edit.
Step 5How do you render an MP4 video in After Effects?
When everything looks right, the video shows the last step: render your video. First set the part of the timeline you want to export by adjusting the work area bar above the timeline (press B to set its start and N to set its end at the current time). Then choose Composition > Add to Render Queue from the top menu (Ctrl+M on Windows, Cmd+M on Mac).
In the Render Queue panel, click the text next to Output Module and choose H.264 as the format. We recommend H.264 because it exports your video as a high-quality MP4 file that plays everywhere: YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, presentations and video editors. Next, click the file name next to Output To to choose where the video will be saved, and finally press the Render button. When the progress bar is full, your MP4 is ready. If you prefer to keep working while it renders, you can also click Queue in AME to send the job to Adobe Media Encoder.
Do free and premium After Effects templates work the same way?
Everything in this tutorial applies to Typoanim's Premium After Effects templates. Some of these settings may not exist in the Free After Effects templates, because premium templates are built to be more user-friendly: they come with a single CONTROL PANEL layer for colors, clearly named placeholder compositions for your logo and images, more options to customize and a step-by-step Tutorial.pdf in every download.
Quick answers to common After Effects template questions
Which version of After Effects do I need?
Typoanim premium After Effects templates work in Adobe After Effects 2023 or later, on both Mac and Windows. No third-party plugins are needed.
Why does After Effects open the template as an untitled project?
The .aet format is an After Effects template project. Opening it always creates a new, untitled copy, so the original file stays clean. Save your copy with File > Save As before you start editing.
How do I export an After Effects project as an MP4?
Use Composition > Add to Render Queue and select H.264 in the Output Module. This renders an MP4 file directly from After Effects, without Adobe Media Encoder.
Why does my text look different from the preview?
The fonts used in the template are not installed yet. Open Used Fonts.pdf in the template folder, install or activate the listed fonts and reopen the project.
Can I use these templates in Premiere Pro instead?
Many Typoanim templates are also available as a MOGRT for Premiere Pro. If you work in Premiere Pro, follow our guide on how to use MOGRT templates in Premiere Pro.
Want to practice the same steps? The template from the videos is the 3D Box Logo Animation with Tagline for After Effects, a clean logo reveal with an editable brand name, tagline, logo placeholder and color controls.
Ready for your next project? Explore more logo animations, animated titles, lower thirds and transitions in the Typoanim library.