# Using Motion Tokens
Inspect, preview, and apply Motion Tokens from Explore and Workspace in the LottieFiles plugin for After Effects.

Motion Tokens expose values already defined inside a dotLottie animation, such as colors, gradients, numbers, positions, and text. In the After Effects plugin, you can inspect those values, try changes with a live preview, switch themes, and insert the customized result into After Effects.

<Callout type="info" title="Create Motion Tokens before using them in After Effects">
  The After Effects plugin works with Motion Tokens that are already defined in the animation. To create new token bindings, use [Motion Tokens in Lottie Creator](/en/creator/12_motion-tokens) or the [LottieFiles plugin for Figma](/en/integrations/figma/04_figma-to-lottie/motion-tokens), then save or export the animation as dotLottie (`.lottie`).
</Callout>

## What you can do

| Action                                       | Explore | Workspace |
| -------------------------------------------- | ------- | --------- |
| View tokens defined in the animation         | Yes     | Yes       |
| Switch between existing themes               | Yes     | Yes       |
| Edit values with a live preview              | Yes     | Yes       |
| Insert the current result into After Effects | Yes     | Yes       |
| Create or rename a theme                     | No      | Yes       |
| Save token and theme changes to the file     | No      | Yes       |

## Preview and insert from Explore

When an Explore animation contains Motion Tokens, expand **Motion Token** below the player. Choose **Default** or an existing theme, then edit a value to preview the change immediately.

Click **Insert to AE** to insert the animation with the token and theme values currently shown in the preview. Explore changes are temporary: they affect the inserted result but do not update the source animation or its themes.

<Image src="https://assets.docs.lottiefiles.com/static/a0a7415b31-640.webp" alt="Two After Effects Explore previews showing the same tokenized animation with its Default and Green themes" caption="Compare a tokenized animation's Default and named themes, then insert the selected result into After Effects" zoom variant="default" srcSet="https://assets.docs.lottiefiles.com/static/a0a7415b31-640.webp 640w, https://assets.docs.lottiefiles.com/static/a0a7415b31-1024.webp 1024w, https://assets.docs.lottiefiles.com/static/a0a7415b31-1920.webp 1920w" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" data-blur="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAgAAAAFCAYAAAB4ka1VAAAACXBIWXMAAAPoAAAD6AG1e1JrAAAAfUlEQVR4nGPwjUj5b2xp91/TyOy/vXfQf11Ty/865jb/QeK+ESn/GECMIN/A/znFpf8tnb3/x5Vl/3cLjYEp+A9WoGJo+l/byOC/hZPXfzVjs//qenqoChR19P8raej8N3Pw+C+nrQfmoyhQdXH/r+zu+d/SKwhMg/gwNwAAlklJG+bE5JMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" />

## Work with tokens from Workspace

Open a tokenized dotLottie file from **Workspace** to inspect the same values, switch themes, and preview edits before inserting. Workspace also lets you add or rename themes and save changes back to the file as an updated version.

See [Managing themes and changes](/en/integrations/after-effects/03_motion-tokens/managing-themes-and-changes) for the complete Workspace workflow.

## Supported values

The plugin supports these Motion Token value types:

- **Color**
- **Gradient**
- **Scalar** values, such as opacity or rotation
- **Vector** values, such as position or scale
- **Text**

For supported non-text values with keyframes, select a keyframe to inspect and edit its value. The preview updates as you work.

## Related

- [Previewing and importing from Explore](/en/integrations/after-effects/02_explore/previewing-and-importing)
- [Workspace](/en/integrations/after-effects/10_workspace)
- [Motion Tokens in Lottie Creator](/en/creator/12_motion-tokens)
- [Motion Tokens in the Figma plugin](/en/integrations/figma/04_figma-to-lottie/motion-tokens)