Download Summon.

One installer for everyone. The installer includes the full panel with a free 7-day trial; a Summon license key keeps it generating after the trial. No Summon account is needed. Generating needs a fal.ai account and API key, billed separately by fal.ai.

1. Install and open Summon

Summon is a panel inside After Effects, not a separate application. It needs After Effects 2025 (version 25.0) or later, an internet connection, and the free ZXP Installer from aescripts + aeplugins.

For illustrated setup and usage instructions, every tab and every button, open the User Guide (PDF, 7 MB). The quick steps are below.

1. Save your work and quit After Effects.
2. Download Summon-v1.0.1.zxp above. Do not unzip it and do not rename it.
3. Get ZXP Installer from aescripts.com/learn/zxp-installer and open it. It is free and works on Windows and macOS.
4. Drag the downloaded file into the ZXP Installer window and wait for the message that Summon was installed.
5. Open After Effects and choose Window › Extensions › Summon. Dock the panel wherever you like; it adapts to narrow and wide layouts.
6. The first time, a short intro walks you through the panel. Its last step asks you to confirm the acceptable use terms. Nothing generates until that box is ticked.

Updating later

When a new version is out, Summon shows a notice inside the panel, and Settings › About › Check for updates checks on demand. An update is the same kind of file: save your work, quit After Effects, install the new file with ZXP Installer and open After Effects again. Your settings, keys and history live in your Documents folder and stay where they are.

2. The 7-day trial and your license

The trial starts the first time you open the panel and lasts 7 days. Everything is available during the trial. When it ends, generation stops until a license key is entered. Files you generated stay on your disk.

1. Choose a plan on the purchase page. Checkout is handled by Freemius, our merchant of record.
2. Your license key is sent by email, usually within a few minutes. It starts with SMN1-. If it does not arrive, check the spam folder, then write to the Summon team.
3. In the Summon panel open Settings › Account, paste your full Summon license key and click Activate.

Each Summon license key works on up to 2 computers. To move to a new computer, click Deactivate this computer on the old one first. If you cannot access the old computer, write to the Summon team for help with the activation. Your Summon license key unlocks the panel; your fal.ai API key connects Summon to your fal.ai account, where generation usage is billed.

Every purchase comes with a 7-day money-back policy, under the terms of the refund policy.

3. Create a fal.ai key and add credit

Summon runs every model through fal.ai on your own account, so you pay fal's prices directly and see every charge on their dashboard.

1. Go to fal.ai and create an account.
2. In the fal dashboard open Keys and create a new API key, named Summon for example. Follow fal's current instructions; the key is shown once, so copy it right away.
3. Open Billing and add credit or a payment method. Without an available balance, generations fail with a message from fal.
4. In After Effects open Settings › Account, paste the key into the fal.ai API key field, click Save, then Test. A passing test means the key works; if it fails, read the message before trying a generation.

Never send your fal.ai API key by email, not to the Summon team and not to anyone else. If the key is exposed, delete it in the fal.ai dashboard and create a new one.

4. Your first generation

1. Save your After Effects project first. Summon saves results next to the saved project.
2. Open a composition in the Timeline panel: double-click one in the Project panel, or create one with Composition › New Composition.
3. In Summon click a tab: Image, Animate, Edit Video or Lipsync. For a first try, Image.
4. Choose a model, type a prompt and provide any inputs it requires. Check the estimated cost, then click Generate. The job runs in the background; you can keep working in After Effects.
5. When it finishes, the result appears in the panel. Drag it into your composition, or find it later in the Activity drawer with everything you generated for this project.

Frame capture: with the playhead on a frame, Capture renders that frame and uses it as the input for image-to-image, animation or video edits. Check the captured image before generating.

5. Privacy and diagnostics

• Your prompts and the media you send go to fal.ai and to the model provider fal routes them to. That is how the generation happens.
• The license check and the update check talk to our server, license.summonfx.com. Once, after installation, the panel sends an install report with a machine hash, the Summon version, the operating system and the trial start. The machine hash is an installation identifier used to detect trial abuse; it carries no name, email or project data.
• Usage statistics are off by default. Turn them on under Settings › Options if you want to help; the privacy policy says what they contain.
• The panel Log is also written to Documents/Summon/logs and kept for 7 days. Keys are redacted from it. Look through a log before you share it.

The full privacy policy has the details.

6. Troubleshooting and support

Summon is not under Window › Extensions.

Restart After Effects after installing. Check that your After Effects is version 25.0 or later; older versions do not show the panel. If it is still missing, install the file again with ZXP Installer.

My license key is refused.

Paste the key that starts with SMN1- from the license email, the whole line, with no spaces around it. The order confirmation from Freemius contains a different code that the panel does not accept. If you already used the key on 2 computers, deactivate one of them first.

Generation fails with a message about credit or balance.

That message comes from fal.ai. Add credit under Billing in the fal dashboard and try again.

The panel says there is no active composition.

Double-click a composition in the Project panel so it opens in the Timeline panel, then try again.

Frame capture reports an error.

Open the Log at the bottom of the panel; the error text says what After Effects reported. Try Composition › Save Frame As once in After Effects, then capture again. If the message says a file could not be written, open Edit › Preferences › Scripting & Expressions and tick Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network, then try again.

Not covered here? Read the guide (PDF, 7 MB), which has a chapter on every part of the panel.

Need help? Write to the Summon team at support@summonfx.com. Include your operating system, your After Effects and Summon versions, the exact error text and what you did before it. The Copy support info button under Settings › About collects the technical part for you. Please never include keys or confidential media.