What’s new in Alvar Suite

New caption style: Alvar Aesthetic

Wide white capitals with hard shadows and a soft glow. A small row sits above a big key word. Some key words are red, blue or gold. Pick it in Auto Captions. It needs Deep Glow, Sapphire and Continuum.

Face Track gives your credits back when it finds no face

The plugin opens faster on Windows

Improved sidebar design.

New Auto Edit style: Smooth Hardstyle

Every clip gets a smooth zoom or slide. The cuts get shakes, flashes, light rays and glitches. A small shake starts each clip, and CC Grain sits on top. Pick it in Auto Edit and press Apply.

Choose your caption font

Alvar Subtitles, Alvar Shorts and Hardstyle now have a Font setting under Style options. Each style remembers your font. On After Effects 2023, you type the font name.

New caption style: Alvar Eclipse

It's a really clean and advanced style which I believe you'll love. It also brings us 10+ manual styles to the plugin - so a really great addition to the plugin! :)

Reward credits have their own meter

Credits from Discord rewards now show in a Rewards meter on the Account tab. It shows the date the next ones expire. They are used before your own credits.

A card opens when you run out of credits

It lets you add credits or upgrade your plan. After you pay, press one button to run the job again.

Add credits opens the right currency

A fix to a previous minor issue when trying to buy credits from within the plugin.

Every Manual look shows what it needs

Click the small i on a look to see its plugins and fonts, which ones you have, and where to get a missing font. Film cover, for example, uses The Macabre. If something is missing, Insert tells you before it puts the caption in.

Alvar Shorts' info card is complete

It now names Sapphire and Black Ops One for its plasma and stencil looks, and no longer stops Generate over Montserrat ExtraBold when you have Red Hat Text Bold.

AlvarAI applies presets again

Asking it to put a preset on your clips no longer ends in "the preset library is still loading": it waits for the library itself, and it no longer asks you to open a tab before it can see your caption styles.

A clearer update strip

It sits just under the header with plain Update now and What's new links, shows the download the way it shows a running job, and if an update doesn't finish it says why, with Try again right there.

Film cover, a new look in Manual captions

Clean film-style cover for character names right before the beat-drop, for example.

One progress bar for everything

Captions, tracking, a render or anything else that takes a while now shows in one bar under the header, on every tab, with its Stop. Click it to go back to the job.

Caption styles show up straight away

When you open the panel, and no longer go missing when you come back after a few days away. The first time, you see them load; if they can't, the panel says so and tries again.

Signing in after asking for too many codes is easier

The code field stays open so you can enter the code you already have, and the panel tells you exactly how long until a new code can be sent.

Auto Tracker says when a problem is ours

If our tracking service has a hiccup while finding the shots, the message now says so and that nothing was charged, instead of blaming your clips. Press Start tracking again.

Alvar Abyss, a new caption style

Small smoky serif captions for dark cinematic edits, with the key moment of a line drawn big between the words around it. In Manual captions it brings three looks: Stacked (click the word to make big), Serif and Serif red.

If your antivirus blocks the video tool on Windows,

The panel now shows exactly how to let it through, with a button that copies the folder to allow.

Manual captions

The plain Bold look is gone (Default and Clean cover it), and Color words is now the last of the Basic looks.

Two new caption styles

Alvar Shorts is the signature viral YouTube Shorts look: bold words that pop in as they are said, with the key words in colour. Alvar Subtitles is a clean, simple style for aesthetic edits or regular subtitles, with a few options to make it yours.

Manual captions

Auto Captions now has a Manual mode: type your words, pick a look (Fire, Burning word, Default+ and more) and insert one caption at the playhead. Star the looks you use most. To change a caption, select it and click Edit caption. You can also ask AlvarAI, for example "add ONE SHOT at the playhead in something fiery". Unlimited on All Access and Complete, 3 a day on other plans.

The header stays put

The logo, your credits and your account stay at the top while a tab scrolls, and the sidebar scrolls on its own, so every tab is reachable in a short panel.

Style options

Alvar Subtitles has its own options under the styles: choose how the words arrive (all at once, smooth, or snap, where each word appears the instant it is said and the box grows to fit), turn the box on or off, and pick yellow or white text.

Captions ignore leftover Character panel settings

If faux italic or other settings were left on in After Effects' Character panel, Alvar Tempest, Alvar Slanted and the burning word no longer pick them up.

Missing your daily credits?

The Account tab now tells you why, and which account to sign in to.

If an update fails, the panel tells you to restart

Instead of an error page, it says the update was undone and that restarting After Effects brings back your previous version.

AlvarAI does a lot more for you

Put a transition on every cut, take an effect or the face tracking off the clips you select, caption just the clips you select, balance the brightness with your own strength, or run a full Auto Edit in a style you name.

AlvarAI uses about 34% fewer credits per message,

And a simple request is now done in one step.

New things you can ask AlvarAI for

Add an effect, restyle text (font, size, colour), change a clip's speed, select every second clip, and copy one clip's effects to the others.

It asks with buttons and shows what it will touch

A question comes with buttons to click, and before anything runs it names the layers and the price. If you change your selection while it asks, nothing runs.

Auto Edit works with pictures

A photo used as a clip counts as a clip; a logo laid over your edit is left alone.

The panel works behind a firewall on Windows

If a firewall blocks After Effects from the internet, the panel finds another way through. You can switch it off under Account.

Alvar Tempest, a new caption style

Pretty advanced, very clean.

Auto Tracker skips still images and sound layers in your selection and tells you,

Instead of failing. Just a minor improvement.

Auto Tracker holds the face as steadily as After Effects' own tracker

It follows the face itself from frame to frame, so the face stays in place without floating or lagging behind.

It keeps tracking when the face is hidden for a moment

If something passes in front of the face, the tracker picks the face up again when it is back in view. A short gap is smoothed over. A longer one holds the shot still, and the panel tells you which shot and for how long.

Pick the face at any moment of the shot

Under the picture there is now a timeline. Drag along it to a moment where the face is easy to see, and the faces there are boxed for you to click. The picker also opens on a moment where the person is in view.

Track again and Remove tracking

Select a tracked shot. Track again lets you pick a different face or point. Remove tracking gives you the plain clip back.

Tracked shots are named and kept together

Each one is called Face-tracking 01, 02 and so on, in an Auto Tracker folder in your project.

The panel finds new updates right away

It checks every time it opens, and the refresh button beside "Latest version" in Account checks now.

Auto Edit: make your whole edit part in one click

Select the clips of your edit part, choose a style and click Apply. Every clip gets its own pre-comp, speed ramps and effects, every cut gets a transition, and a color correction goes over it all. It comes with two styles as of now, but more will come: Hard Filmstyle and Filmstyle. Paid plans only.

Make your own Auto Edit style

Put your effects on one clip, choose Create new style and Copy from layer, and save it. Your style then works on any edit.

Transitions on every cut at once

In the Transitions tab, switch to Selected clips, select your clips and click a transition. It goes on every cut between them.

Captions work on longer comps

Up to about 5 minutes at a time, and comps with high-quality audio are no longer refused as too long.

More tools work when After Effects is not in English

Balance Brightness, Adjustment Layer per Cut, beat detection and saving a caption style.

Numbers typed with a comma work

"1,5" is read as 1.5, and a sign-in code pasted with a space is accepted.

In General, "Color" is now "Brightness"

It still holds Balance Brightness.

Captioning a very long comp now tells you what to do

It could stop with a technical error instead. The panel now checks before the run starts, says to caption a shorter section, and charges nothing.

The Alvar Cinema and Alvar Default+ pictures now show the real style

Cinema showed only its name, and Default+ was missing the light sweep.

Alvar Cinema, a new extremely good caption style

See a preview video of the caption styles

Hover over the caption thumbnails in the plugin and see how they look before using them.

A caption style that needs a newer After Effects says so before the run starts

You will know before you try to spend any of your precious credits :)

The light sweep crosses the whole word

In wide and vertical comps it could sometimes stop at the first letters.

"Alvar Default" is now just "Default"

The look has not changed.

Library downloads on Windows work when another program is holding the file

Alvar Suite now waits and tries again. If After Effects itself is using the file, the new copy is saved beside it and added to your comp.

Dialogue isolation and sound effects tell you before they start

If a clip is too short or a prompt is too long. No credits are used.

Messages from Alvar can show more

Pictures, lists, a countdown, and buttons that update Alvar Suite or copy a code.

PLEASE UPDATE / REINSTALL

This is the last update you will install manually. From this version on, updates install with one click inside the plugin: click Update now, restart After Effects, and you are on the newest version. Just reinstall the plugin once, only this once, and you will automatically, or at least semi-automatically, get every coming update, such as new caption styles, auto beat markers and all the other improvements on the way.

Try Auto Captions on a sample clip

New to Alvar Suite? One click captions a short sample scene and centers the faces with Auto Tracker. It's free.

See what a caption style needs

Click the i on a caption style to see its plugins and fonts and whether you have them. If something is missing, Generate captions tells you before it starts.

Easier to see your caption style

The selected style has a gold check, and the panel remembers your pick.

Caption animations are easier to adjust

Each caption now has one Fade Up Words animator for all its words, so a change you make there applies to every word.

Smoother text animations

Captions in the Alvar Default and Alvar Default+ styles now animate more smoothly.

Split at Cuts cuts on the right frame

On many clips the split landed 2 or 3 frames before the real cut. It now lands on the first frame of the new shot. This also works on clips you have sped up, slowed down, reversed or time-remapped, and on phone and screen recordings.

Auto Tracker splits and tracks on the right frame

The shots it finds now start on the right frame too, and the tracking lines up with the picture on sped-up, slowed-down, reversed and time-remapped clips.

Clearer help when FFmpeg won't start

The message now tells you what to click on a Mac or a Windows PC to fix it.

A damaged caption style fixes itself

If a caption style arrived on your computer only half-downloaded, every caption run after that failed with an After Effects error and nothing you could do would clear it. The plugin now spots the bad copy, throws it away and fetches a fresh one, so running captions again works.

Caption styles need After Effects 2023

After Effects will not open a style saved by a newer version than yours, and the built-in styles are saved in 2023. On 2022 the plugin now tells you that instead of showing an After Effects error, and everything else still works. You can still caption on 2022 with a style you save yourself into Documents > Alvar Suite > styles.

Captions tell you when a comp has no sound

Running captions on a silent comp used to spend credits and come back with a confusing message about output modules. It now says the comp has no audio, before anything is sent.

Captions say when After Effects is blocked

If a dialog is open in After Effects while the audio renders, the plugin now tells you to go and close it, instead of just saying it could not render.

Auto Tracker works on the first run

On Windows a virus scanner could hold FFmpeg long enough for the tracker to give up and say it was missing. It now waits longer and tries twice.

Free AI credits every day

Free accounts and Complete owners are now topped back up to 25 AI credits every day. It does not stack: an unused 25 is still 25 the next day.

Bigger subscriptions

All Access now includes 4,000 AI credits a month and All Access+ 12,000. Subscribers also get a daily bonus that is topped back up to 50 credits every day. If you already subscribe, the difference is added to this month.

Pick the face without leaving AlvarAI

When AlvarAI tracks faces, you now choose the face right in the chat instead of being sent to the AI tab. It asks about your clips in timeline order.

Cuts land on the right frame

Splitting at cuts could place a cut up to two frames late. It now lands exactly on the cut.

Your credits are always one click away

The credit counter at the top now always shows, even at zero. Press it to top up, with a link to the plans.

AlvarAI has one model

We removed one of the models, so there is nothing to choose.

A limited AlvarAI allowance on the free plan

If you have never bought anything, AlvarAI tells you when your allowance is used up. Every other AI tool keeps working, and buying any credits or a plan brings AlvarAI back.

A bonus on your first renewal

On a monthly plan, your first renewal adds 1,500 extra credits to that month. The Account tab shows it before it happens.

See only what is new

"See what changed" in the update notice now shows just the versions after yours.

Captions now work when After Effects renders the audio in a different format

Depending on which output settings your After Effects has, the render could come out in a format the plugin could not read, and captions failed every time with a message that did not say why. It now converts the audio itself, and if it still cannot read it, it tells you exactly what to change.

The plugin tells you when it cannot reach the internet

A strip at the top says so once, instead of every tool failing separately with its own message. Open it for what still works and what to try if your connection is fine. It disappears by itself when you are back online.

A reminder if you skipped the scripting access step

After Effects keeps that setting off until you allow it. If it is still off, the plugin now says so and shows you where to turn it on.

A clear answer when your credits are missing

The free starter credits are given once per computer. If yours were not given because the computer already had them, the Account tab now says so instead of showing an empty balance with no reason, and tells you how to reach Alvar if that is wrong.

The free plan now starts with 200 AI credits

Double what it was. Existing free accounts have been topped back up to 200.

AlvarAI Pro is part of All Access and Complete

On the free plan AlvarAI answers with the Fast model. The picker shows both and says which plans include Pro.

A clearer note about credits in AlvarAI

The note under the greeting says that AlvarAI spends credits faster than the AI tab, and links you there.

Messages from Alvar inside the plugin

Occasional notices, such as credit top-ups, appear in the panel and in the Account tab. Each can be closed.

Buy credits without leaving After Effects

Top up now opens inside the panel. Pick an amount, payment opens in your browser, and the credits appear in the panel straight after.

When you run out, there is a way forward

The message that stops a run for lack of credits now has a button that takes you to more.

A clearer Account tab

Your full email address is shown, the plugin tells you whether you are on the latest version and links to the download when you are not, and Log out has moved down under Plan and billing.

AlvarAI can now make new layers

Ask for a null, a solid, an adjustment layer, a text layer or a shape layer and it adds one to the composition you have open, then leaves it selected so you can carry straight on.

Face tracking now works on everything you have selected

It used to insist on one clip at a time. Select six shots and it will work through all six. It is charged per clip, and the confirmation box now says how many it is about to do before you agree.

Better error reports

When something goes wrong the panel now sends the full message rather than a shortened one, so a problem you report can actually be found.

Improved how your AlvarAI chat history is stored

It is now kept per account, so each account signed in on a computer sees its own conversations. Chats you already have stay where they are.

Clearer message when a sign-in code cannot be sent

If your inbox is full, or the address has a typo in it, the panel now says which of those it is instead of just saying it did not work.

Sound effects added by a transition stay in your project

They could show up as missing the next time you opened the project. They are now saved in your Documents folder, under Alvar Suite, where they stay put. A project you saved before this update still shows them as missing, and the troubleshooting page has the steps to point it back at the files.

Your files and tutorials are one click away

The panel's Account tab now links straight to the extra files your plan includes and to the tutorials. Both used to sit on the website with nothing in the panel naming them.

Saving your own caption style is gone

Styles you already saved still show in the style grid and still work, so you lose nothing you made. After Effects gave the panel no way to tell whether your save had worked, so the button could not tell you when it had not.

Fixed a crash in Balance Brightness

Clicking it could fail with an error instead of running. It now works.

Alvar Suite is here

The first release, so everything in the plugin is new and there is nothing to compare it against yet. From this point on, every update lists its changes here, and the plugin shows them to you the first time you open it after updating.