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    Overlord reviews

    Overlord transfers layered designs from Figma, Photoshop and Illustrator into After Effects, keeping masks, text and styles editable.

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    ToolTrim verdict3.4/ 5Average

    Worth it once the $75 one-time license costs less than the time spent manually rebuilding layers on a couple of projects.

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    About

    In practice. What you can do with Overlord.

    Overlord is an After Effects and Illustrator plugin that moves layered artwork from Figma, Photoshop and Illustrator into After Effects without flattening it: masks, gradients, styles, layer names and per-character text formatting come across editable. It also supports bidirectional transfers between Figma and Illustrator, cutting out manual rebuilding when a motion designer animates a static design.

    The plugin is a one-time $75 purchase per single-user license, covering two computers and one year of feature updates; there is no free trial, so testing it means buying it. It fits a solo motion or product designer who regularly moves Figma or Illustrator files into After Effects and wants to skip rebuilding shapes and text by hand.

    Practical uses

    • HandoffBring a finished Figma UI frame into After Effects with layers, text styles and masks intact for a product demo animation.
    • IteratePush an edited Illustrator vector back and forth with After Effects during an animated logo revision without rebuilding shapes.

    Features & use cases

    Illustration vectorielle
    Motion design
    Workflow ae
    Animation 2d 3d

    Pros and cons. What Overlord does well, and what to expect.

    Pros

    • One-time purchase, no recurring subscription to maintain access.
    • Preserves editable text styling and masks instead of flattening artwork.
    • Bidirectional Figma-Illustrator transfer speeds up back-and-forth revisions.

    Cons

    • No free trial, so evaluating the plugin requires paying for it first.
    • Freeform and mesh gradients must be rasterized instead of transferring as editable shapes.

    When it makes sense. Keep Overlord, or challenge it?

    Keep if

    • You regularly move Figma, Photoshop or Illustrator files into After Effects and are tired of rebuilding layers by hand.

    Challenge if

    • You animate only occasionally, or your app versions don't meet the minimum requirements.

    Our verdict. What to know about Overlord.

    Why this verdict

    Average

    Added value

    A one-time $75 purchase replaces repeated manual layer rebuilding across Figma, Illustrator, Photoshop and After Effects.

    Simplicity

    Requires specific up-to-date app versions on both ends of the transfer before it works, which adds setup friction.

    Fit for purpose

    Preserves masks, gradients, styles and per-character text styling as advertised, with only freeform/mesh gradients needing a workaround.

    Performance

    Covers the main design apps used in motion pipelines (Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects) but is limited to layer transfer, not a full animation toolkit.

    Reversibility

    Neutral score: export or data portability outside the supported apps is not covered by the collected sources.

    Overlord$75 one-time
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