How do you create glitch effects in After Effects?

After Effects provides powerful tools for animated glitch effects, from subtle texture to aggressive corruption. Both native features and third-party plugins offer different approaches.

Native techniques: The Displacement Map effect with animated noise creates organic warping. Posterize Time reduces frame rate for stuttering. Fractal Noise generates static and interference patterns. The Wave Warp effect produces scan line distortion. Combine with Venetian Blinds for slice displacement.

Color glitches: Separate RGB channels using Shift Channels, then apply different Position keyframes to each. Add Set Matte effects to limit separation to specific areas. The Colorama effect creates harsh posterization.

Procedural animation: Use expressions to randomize properties -position jitter, opacity flicker, scale pulsing. Link values to Audio Amplitude for reactive effects. The wiggle() expression creates natural-feeling randomness.

Third-party plugins: Data Glitch, TV Distortion Bundle, and Twitch provide dedicated glitch tools with extensive presets. Red Giant Universe includes glitch effects. These offer faster workflows than manual techniques.

Workflow tip: Build glitch elements as precomps, then layer and blend them. Create a library of reusable glitch elements -static overlays, displacement maps, color effects -to combine in different projects. Our After Effects glitch tutorial provides project files and detailed walkthroughs.