MENTORbot for AE
An AI-powered panel that lives inside Adobe After Effects. Ask AE questions, get answers from Gemini 2.5 Flash, and find the right answer for your project technique without leaving AE workspace. Free. No subscription. No server.
AE knowledge,
inside your panel.
MENTORbot lives inside AE as a native panel. Type your question, press Enter, get an answer inline. No browser tab switching, no copy-pasting. The spinner shows while Gemini processes your inquiry.
The AI is scoped to After Effects only. Off-topic questions are politely declined by Gemini. Five specialist filters keep answers relevant to your exact workflow category.
Uses Google Gemini 2.5 Flash free tier — 250 requests/day, 10 per minute. You supply your own key from Google AI Studio. Stored locally, never shared. Validated live against Google before saving.
Each question and answer is automatically saved as a .txt file in Documents/MENTORbot Logs. Answers aren't truncated, maxOutputTokens is set to 8192 (maximum) for complete, detailed responses.
One question.
One answer.
Run the installer for your OS. It sets PlayerDebugMode=1 in the CSXS registry keys (CSXS.9 through CSXS.12) so After Effects recognises unsigned panels. Then manually copy the MENTORbot folder to the correct CEP extensions folder, path locations are in the Install section below.
On first launch, the setup screen appears. Get a free API key at aistudio.google.com/apikey and paste it in. The key is validated live against Google with an 8-second timeout, if it passes, it's saved locally. Both old AIzaSy... and new AQ. format keys are supported.
Select one of the five filters in the left column. The filter persists between questions and sends a different system prompt to Gemini with every request, shaping the type of answer you get.
There is no submit button. Press Enter to submit. The text's area is disabled during the API call to prevent duplicate submissions. A spinner appears with "Processing your inquiry..." while Gemini responds.
The answer renders below the question field inside the panel. At the same time a .txt log file is saved silently to Documents/MENTORbot Logs (can change in the setting). No pop-ups, no notifications, just the answer.
Five filters.
To Rule Em All.
Each filter sends a different system prompt to Gemini 2.5 Flash with every request. The selected filter persists between questions so you stay in context. All filters are strictly AE-only; off-topic questions are politely declined.
How To
Tools, panels, settings, and workflows inside After Effects.
Step-by-step instructions, workspace setup, render settings, composition workflows.
Native Plugins
Built-in AE effects and tools. How to use them and when.
e.g. Warp Stabilizer, Puppet Tool, Content Aware Fill, and other built-in effects.
3rd Party Plugins
Third-party plugins used in animation, motion graphic, design, and VFX production.
e.g. RSMB, Element 3D, Optical Flares, Red Giant suite, and others.
AE expressions (JS-based), ExtendScript, and automation techniques.
Expression writing, scripting layer behaviour, automating repetitive tasks in AE.
Tricks
Techniques, shortcuts, and best practices for smarter AE work.
Workflow shortcuts, performance improvements, creative compositing techniques.
Every answer
saved automatically.
Each time you submit a question, MENTORbot silently saves a .txt log file to your Documents/MENTORbot Logs folder, created automatically by the installer. No pop-ups, no prompts, no notification. File location can be changed in from the setting page.
Files are named by filter, keyword, date, and time. Over time this builds into a personal AE tutorial and reference library of every technique you've looked up.
Each file: full question at top, full answer below, then category + date + studio credit at the bottom.
Registry keys first.
Manual copy second.
Get your free Gemini API key at aistudio.google.com/apikey. Important: create a fresh default project in Google AI Studio. Do not reuse existing Google Cloud projects. Existing projects may have the Gemini free tier limit set to 0, which means the key will appear valid but return no results.
Install.bat → Run as administrator → click Yes when prompted. Sets PlayerDebugMode=1 for CSXS.9 through CSXS.12 on both HKCU and HKLM.MENTORbot folder to:C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\CEP\extensions\Window → Extensions → MENTORbotInstall.command → Open → Open anyway if blocked by Gatekeeper. Your password may be required.MENTORbot folder to:/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions/Window → Extensions → MENTORbotfrom inside.