https://www.goodboy.ninja The many words of Good Boy Ninja about tech, software and design en-us https://www.goodboy.ninja/favicon.png https://www.goodboy.ninja https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/how-i-created-skew https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/how-i-created-skew I get really excited talking about UI and UX, and I would love to share some of my process behind my most successful product: Skew. My goal with Skew was to reimagine the After Effects timeline and explore what it could've been if it was subjected to less constraints. Fortunately I documented every part of its development story obsessively, and today I'm going to share those screen recordings with you. Let's go back in time. My biggest problem with the After Effects timeline An action ever Wed, 23 Sep 2026 13:38:50 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/i-hate-screen-studios-most-loved-feature https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/i-hate-screen-studios-most-loved-feature Screen Studio is one of the most popular screen recording apps on the Mac, and for good reasons. When released in 2022 it delivered on its promise to be a one stop shop for creating pretty screen recordings that are instantly sharable. One of the ways Screen Studio established a certain style for its recording was by allowing users to change the size, shape and visibility of the cursor during the editing phase, all before exporting the final video. But there is one cursor related feature that Fri, 18 Sep 2026 14:39:26 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/i-spent-years-not-knowing-about-this-macos-shortcut https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/i-spent-years-not-knowing-about-this-macos-shortcut Coming from Windows Alt + Tab has always been my favorite way to switch between open windows. MacOS wasn't too different, you quickly learn that Cmd + Tab is the alternative for Alt + Tab, which at first feels like a 1:1 experience. But you quickly find out it isn't. On MacOS, Cmd + Tab lets you switch between Apps, not windows. This means that if you have multiple Finder windows open for example, Cmd + Tab will won't let you switch between them. Instead, it will try to switch to a different Wed, 16 Sep 2026 13:10:29 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/hot-take-mark-zuckerberg-will-not-help-you-make-money https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/hot-take-mark-zuckerberg-will-not-help-you-make-money Today Meta announced Muse: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mark Zuckerberg (@zuck) On its announcement on Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg said: "Today we are launching Muse, a personal agent that understands your goals and works 24/7 to help you achieve them, whether it strengthening your relationships... ...or helping you make or save money". I'm gonna use the famous quote from Succession: "I hate to be a party pooper, but I have poop." The poop is that Mark Zuckerberg wil Tue, 08 Sep 2026 20:30:55 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/can-cleanshot-x-dethrone-screen-studio https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/can-cleanshot-x-dethrone-screen-studio In this article we're gonna go hands on with the new "Studio Mode" and try to answer the question: Should you get CleanShot X or Screen Studio? But first, some history: If you are someone who is even remotely interested in the screen recording apps these days, the term "clean screen recordings" most likely immediately makes you think of Screen Studio, a screen recording app that got famous for making screen recordings look, well, clean. In 2026 it's almost impossible to not be able to tell wh Tue, 08 Sep 2026 17:44:33 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/i-released-new-sets-of-icons-to-give-your-creative-cloud-apps-a-refreshing-new-look https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/i-released-new-sets-of-icons-to-give-your-creative-cloud-apps-a-refreshing-new-look Hey all! I'm excited to announce that my store has a few new products: Sweet Cloud Icon Pack Sweet cloud was designed in Figma using a super pleasant pastel color palette. It looks great paired with lighter wallpapers and macs such as the MacBook Neo or the iMac. Check it out here: https://www.goodboy.ninja/sweetcloud Next up... Creative Juices Icon Pack This pack is a punchier version of Sweet Cloud with stronger colors that look great with saturated wallpapers. The increased contrast i Thu, 03 Sep 2026 21:05:13 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/the-new-mac-studio-m5-motion-graphics-video-makes-me-feel-old https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/the-new-mac-studio-m5-motion-graphics-video-makes-me-feel-old A few months ago I wrote in depth how Apple absolutely nailed the pacing in its Creator Studio motion graphics introduction video. The intro in Apple’s video, which is by any means really fast-paced, is actually the slowest part of the video. It’s just fast enough to tell you “Oi! Sit down and focus, or you’ll miss it” yet slow enough to give you time to prepare for what’s coming. And they are not kidding. Immediately after the introduction, we are ramping up the speed with the title “Make a be Tue, 25 Aug 2026 18:39:40 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/die-youtube-ambient-mode-please https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/die-youtube-ambient-mode-please Recently it feels like Ambient Mode keeps on turning on by itself, I'm not sure whether YouTube is trying to push this feature aggressively to users or it's just a settings persistency issue. I am not the only one either: I have the same problem with the desktop website experience. Both ambient mode and annotations constantly turn themselves back on. My best guess is that if you have multiple tabs open, even if they're across multiple devices where you're signed in that this setting gets record Sat, 01 Aug 2026 15:09:52 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/how-to-change-the-icons-and-cursors-of-after-effects https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/how-to-change-the-icons-and-cursors-of-after-effects 🏴‍☠️Warning: advanced hacking, possibly illegal! More information at the end of the post. It was one boring and warm afternoon. I was enjoying an iced latte with my MacBook on my lap, trying to come up with new ideas for future projects, fiddling around with all kinds of files. All of the sudden, my oversized coffee mug that I got for my birthday slipped through my now sweaty fingers and shattered in slow motion on the hard wooden floor of this rental apartment. "I cannot believe it" I remem Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:56:30 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/try-my-after-effects-tools-for-free https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/try-my-after-effects-tools-for-free Hey everyone. Since 2019 I've been busy making After Effects scripts and extensions. I try to put extra emphasis on design and ease of use. For example, Skew Pro was originally released on September 2022 and gained a lot of traction, with a full review on School of Motion receiving over 200k views. Skew Pro was so successful in fact that some of its core features has been eventually adapted into After Effects years later (see Quick Offset in After Effects 25). A similar thing happened with Ka Sat, 25 Jul 2026 22:27:25 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/i-didnt-vibe-code-it https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/i-didnt-vibe-code-it vibe coded slop. "claude make me a game where you guess photoshop filters" learn a real skill chum. You didnt even change any layout or icons or anything its all default what claude AI uses. have some heart brother. Its like the facebook banners you see but now everyone is making bad slop games that all look idenetical. I recently posted a new version of my game "Oh No My Menu" to support the Photoshop Filters menu. To get some people to play it I posted it on some subreddits and Discord server Sat, 25 Jul 2026 13:59:56 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/noodle-is-turning-6 https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/noodle-is-turning-6 Noodle (Good Boy Ninja’s first After Effects script) is turning 6 years old this year! That’s 6 years of wobbling shapes and images in After Effects into oblivion! During its development, Good Boy Ninja was toying around with all kinds of ideas to name the script, thinking: “What’s something I love that bends and wobbles as it moves?” And just like that, Noodle was almost released under the name... SCHNITZEL SHAPE! Named after Good Boy Ninja’s favorite after-school lunch, Schnitzel Shape al Tue, 16 Jun 2026 11:24:30 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/wiggle-on-one-dimension-in-after-effects https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/wiggle-on-one-dimension-in-after-effects If you're here from a google search and you just want the final expression, there it is for the X axis: // wiggle only on the X axis let wiggleX = wiggle(1,100)[0]; let valueY = value[1]; [wiggleX, valueY] And here it is for the Y axis: // wiggle only on the Y axis let wiggleY = wiggle(1,100)[1]; let valueX = value[0]; [valueX, wiggleY] But if you want to learn how to write it yourself next time to impress your boss, keep reading! Position properties are slightly weird. Position prope Sun, 15 Mar 2026 17:20:10 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/how-to-start-writing-expressions https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/how-to-start-writing-expressions First of all you must know that expressions in After Effects must follow this rule: They must end with a value. We'll start by creating a Text Layer and finding its "Source Text" property. To apply an expression to it, alt + click the stopwatch icon and type: `I am 30 years old` 💡Notice that we are using the backticks (`) to write a piece of text. This will become important soon! You can usually use the Tilde key (~) on your keyboard to write a backtick. Okay so this works! The text in A Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:41:00 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/lets-analyze-apples-creator-studio-motion-graphics-video https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/lets-analyze-apples-creator-studio-motion-graphics-video Using a motion design launch video, Apple recently announced their competitor software suite to Adobe’s Creative Cloud called Creator Studio: There is a lot we can learn about pacing and intent by analyzing this video, so let’s take a close look at what makes it so satisfying! Pacing When pacing is too fast Staring at a computer screen for hours at a time can really cloud our judgment when it comes to how long it takes to read a given piece of text. Over the course of spending hours starin Wed, 25 Feb 2026 19:01:52 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/dynamic-island-in-after-effects-with-noodle https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/dynamic-island-in-after-effects-with-noodle In 2022, right after the introduction of the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro, motion-design-twitter immediately started popping, with a lot of talented animators praising the Dynamic Island’s bouncy animations and smooth transitions between different states.  0:00 /0:06 1× I don’t think that the Dynamic Island’s appeal to motion designers was coincidental. We, as motion designers, spend a lot of time thinking about what motion means. The way somet Sun, 15 Feb 2026 14:53:14 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/everyone-loves-this-one-after-effects-trick https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/everyone-loves-this-one-after-effects-trick A few years ago, I posted a thread on Twitter, asking: “What’s a super powerful effect combo in After Effects you can’t go without?” And in the first reaction, I gave one of the tricks I learned earlier in my career: ”Fast Box Blur x Matte Choker. I use it all the time. Makes it extremely easy to blobify random shapes.” Combining the Fast Blur and the Matte Choker effects makes creating “blobby” shapes super easy (these are also known as Metaballs or the “Jelly Effect”). How does it work Sat, 14 Feb 2026 12:54:23 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/attach-3d-shapes-to-a-path-in-after-effects-x-railway https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/attach-3d-shapes-to-a-path-in-after-effects-x-railway After Effects is getting a lot of 3D features as of 2026. We can use Railway alongside those features to create some really interesting graphics. In this short guide, we’ll create this little 3D necklace made out of individual metal pieces that are attached to a moving path: 0:00 /0:07 1× It's super easy and take only a few minutes. Step 1: Create a new composition with the "Advanced 3D" renderer. Start by creating a new composition. From the Compos Thu, 12 Feb 2026 14:42:37 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/after-effects-needed-a-swatches-panel-so-i-created-one https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/after-effects-needed-a-swatches-panel-so-i-created-one Earlier last year (2025), I started working on a redesigned version of one of my older tools, Colors, which, while still rocking strong by famous creators such as deekaymotion, could use a fresh new coat of paint. When it came to rewriting Colors, I made it pretty far into the project when I realized that while Colors is a great Palette manager, very often people (and especially me and my scattered brains) wanted to save single colors for later use, even if those colors are not related to each Thu, 05 Feb 2026 14:49:21 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/you-can-no-longer-change-the-ui-color-of-after-effects https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/you-can-no-longer-change-the-ui-color-of-after-effects From time to time you'll stumble upon an After Effects tutorial where the UI has a different "accent color". The option to change it from the default blue was hidden by default, but possible to reach using a secret console window inside After Effects. However, since After Effects 2025 (v25.0), the console workaround for changing the theme color no longer works. 🫡Update: It turns out customization is not dead just yet! Check out my post about how to change the icons and cursors of After Effect Wed, 04 Feb 2026 20:54:57 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/before-you-download-fx-console-for-after-effects https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/before-you-download-fx-console-for-after-effects After Effects ships with over 290 effects that can be found in the "Effects" menu. So let's say you want to generate Fractal Noise, you open the Effects menu and wonder: Is it under Effects > Generate > Fractal Noise? Or rather Effects > Noise > Fractal Noise? Or maybe even Effects > Simulation > Fractal Noise? This, almost by design, makes navigating the "Effects" menu extremely difficult. FX Console (by Video Copilot) solves the headache problem by literally letting you search all 290+ effe Wed, 04 Feb 2026 14:10:15 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/rip-adobe-animate https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/rip-adobe-animate Adobe just announced that Animate (formerly Flash) will go end-of-life on March 1, 2026, after over 25 years of existence. As technologies evolve, new platforms and paradigms have emerged that better serve the needs of the users. Acknowledging this change, we are planning to discontinue the sale of Adobe Animate effective March 1, 2026. Source: Adobe Full disclosure, the last time I used Adobe Animate was way before the name change in 2016, so a lot of my ideas about the state of the software Tue, 03 Feb 2026 15:50:22 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/adobe-launches-new-adobe-community-forums https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/adobe-launches-new-adobe-community-forums Adobe just launched their redesigned “Adobe Community”. The most notable change for me is being able to see what the After Effects team could currently be working on, as feature requests in the forums can now show an “in development” status tag before being released to the public. From Adobe: Hi everyone. The new Adobe Community experience is officially live! You’re now looking at a reimagined space designed to make it easier to connect, share feedback, and see how your ideas help shape Adob Fri, 30 Jan 2026 12:23:48 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/after-effects-is-getting-3d-meshes https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/after-effects-is-getting-3d-meshes After Effects is getting "3D shape layers" soon, which I’m super excited about. They are called Parametric Meshes, and you can already try them out in the After Effects beta. To add a parametric mesh, you simply choose one from the toolbar, then in the viewer you draw it as you would draw a mask. Skew Pro gets a 2026 update I just finished updating my After Effects tool Skew Pro (v.2.1) to make sure it works perfectly with the upcoming Parametric Meshes. Starting in 2026, you can use Skew Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:28:00 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/2025-was-a-good-year-for-after-effects https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/2025-was-a-good-year-for-after-effects For years the internet was flooded with negative posts about the state of After Effects, and that hasn’t changed at all in 2025. After Effects is one of those pieces of software people love to hate, most commonly for its lack of innovation and slow rate of improvement over the years. While endless reports about crashes, bugs, and lost project files were still very common in 2025, I do think it was a year that marked a positive shift in the mindset behind the development of After Effects. The Mon, 05 Jan 2026 14:35:00 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/why-i-made-wiggle-for-after-effects https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/why-i-made-wiggle-for-after-effects The Wiggle expression in After Effects is a great way to make things shake, whether you are trying to simulate a camera shake, or move letters in a word in random directions, wiggle is the goto expression for motion designers for most of these cases. However, there are a few problems with using the wiggle expression: 1. You have to learn a little bit of JavaScript syntax to know how to use it - is the “W” in wiggle capitalized or not? 2. You have to memorize the order of arguments - Is it Fri, 05 Apr 2024 14:38:00 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/using-expressions-to-place-an-object-exactly-in-between-two-other-points-in-after-effects https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/using-expressions-to-place-an-object-exactly-in-between-two-other-points-in-after-effects This quick video tutorial will help you understand how to use expressions to place an object exactly in between two other points. This can be used to quickly create certain rigs and systems. 0:00 /0:17 1× You could try changing 0.5 to a different number between 0 and 1 in order to move the object closer to one of the other points or even connect it to a slider to do this dynamically. Originally posted on Twitter Wed, 16 Jun 2021 14:36:00 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/scripts-vs-extensions-vs-plugins https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/scripts-vs-extensions-vs-plugins It’s not your fault Here’s a little hot take. After Effects can be confusing. To this day there are many built-in workflows that are just upside down 🙃 For example, I am a big believer that expressions should be a power tool for advanced users only. Any basic functionality that is possible through expressions should be taken out of there for sake of accessibility and ease of use. To this day, in order to loop a set of keyframes, you need to dive into expressions. Good luck doing the same with Sun, 06 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/before-you-use-bounce-and-overshoot-expressions https://www.goodboy.ninja/blog/before-you-use-bounce-and-overshoot-expressions Banging your head against the wall from time to time while trying to create the perfect ease will teach you more about motion than any expression ever will. ‍ If you're reading this article, chances are you were looking / actively using one of the famous overshoot/bounce expressions for After Effects. Those expressions in a nutshell automatically interpolate the change of a value over time to simulate a more natural realistic release after the original motion ends. The most common of them a Sat, 15 Aug 2020 13:39:00 GMT