If you watch television at all, you've seen After Effects at work. Of the thousands of software applications in existence, there are a handful that have changed or spawned industries. Adobe's After Effects is one of them, and version 5 boasts some very exciting features that will again change the look of motion graphics.The big new addition to After Effects 5.0 is "3-D layers." If you've never done any 3-D work, 3-D layers can be a whole new concept. Imagine being able to create all your After Effects layers in a virtual 3-D space, then create and position cameras and lights and fly through the scene. Not only can cameras and lights be animated, but any layer or layer property can be keyframed, and its value changed over time. This opens up exciting new design possibilities that were previously unavailable to the After Effects artist.
Lights support features like soft shadows, and available light types include spot, ambient, parallel, and point. After Effects cameras offer control over angle of view, focal length, and can render with varying degrees of depth of field blur.
If you're an old After Effects user, fear not: the AE you know and love is still here, only much improved. There are numerous interface tweaks and additions you are likely to notice, but the award for Best Improved Feature must go to RAM Preview for its improved cache management. No longer does making a change to one layer require re-rendering the entire preview--AE now renders only the frames that have changed, storing those that haven't. This is an enormous time saver.
Another great enhancement goes to AE's handling of masks. Masks no longer need to be created and edited in a Layer window; you can now create and edit masks on any visible layer right in the Composition window. This becomes an invaluable timesaver when the position of a mask on one layer is dependent on other layers.
After Effects is a powerful and versatile tool, and AE 5 includes some exciting features. If you're an After Effects user, you won't regret upgrading, and if you're thinking of joining the ranks of After Effects artists, this is a great time to start. --Mike Caputo
