GPT 6 Astra + After Effects = INSANE Video Editing

The setup is simple but not free

The Higsfield plugin is free. It works with After Effects, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro. You install it, open After Effects, and a Higsfield window appears. If it doesn't, you can find it under Window > Extension > Higsfield. But After Effects itself is not free. There's a 7-day trial, then you pay monthly. The team hadn't used Adobe since 2021, but this plugin was fun enough that they subscribed to Creative Cloud Pro again. They're not sponsored by Adobe.

Who is this for? If you need total control over your visuals and want every element saved as an editable layer, this is for you. You talk to your agent from Codex, and it works with you inside After Effects. If you're happy with random outputs from text prompts, this isn't necessary. But if you've ever generated a video and gotten a fire too big or lips that don't match the line, you know the problem. After Effects is how you fix it without spending more credits on edit video.

Three workflows that actually matter

Step-by-step guides

The team builds things with AI on their own machines. When they want to share a workflow, they have to recreate it on the filming computer. That setup is time-consuming and often impossible with local workflows. So they wondered: since AI builds everything, why can't it also screen record the steps? Then when they shoot the video, they just talk, and AI plugs in the right screen recording to support what they're saying.

They tested this with a Hermes agent setup guide. They asked Astra to show the actual UI, not default to a presentation look. They gave Astra their VPS, and it screen recorded the process, searched the web for official documentation, and ran the commands in a separate sandbox. That's not animation; those are real terminal outputs. The hard part is packaging that into a nice video. After Effects added simple motions and underlines to highlight the right line at the right time. It's not fancy, but it's clear, and that's what matters when teaching.

News videos

Think Fireship or Two Minute Papers. Astra can research news, write a script, and build on-screen visuals and b-rolls around that script. The team tried it two days after an article came out about Hermes refactoring its own infrastructure. They asked for a three-minute video in that style. They read the script without looking at the camera, and Astra built the visuals. It wasn't pretty, but it was fluid, with motions, animations, and zooms. Compared to static presentation slides, it's a big improvement, especially for viewers with ADHD.

A useful tip: don't ask the agent to edit a whole video file at once. Workshop first. Brainstorm. Have it create an interactive storyboard. For this video, it made a 27-scene storyboard for a three-minute video, then animated one segment at a time.

Creative fun

This is the chill part. The team tried to copy a dollhouse cutaway effect from the Netflix show The Residence, where you see the building exterior and interior at once. They asked Astra to find a well-known building with photos of both. It suggested Villa Savoye in France. The output wasn't impressive, but it showed the concept. Astra then explained they needed photorealistic VFX and suggested Blender as well. The team already uses Blender, so this fits their theme: give AI access to professional creative tools, and you stay the director.

For VFX like the fireball intro, the team gave Astra a YouTube link to an old After Effects tutorial. It used ffmpeg to watch the whole video. The first try looked fake, with a clear outline where the fire got cut off. They asked Astra if it actually watched the full 40 minutes. It said no, so they made it watch the whole transcript. The second try was better. Astra then found the tutorial creator's project zip file with fire assets and layers. One six-second clip has many layers; imagine a longer video. It's a lot of work, but that's part of the fun.