Features summary | After Effects (August 2022, May 2022 and April 2022 releases)

Keyframe Color Labels

Now assign colors to keyframes in your composition. With visually separated keyframes in the Timeline, organizing, identifying, and locating critical components of your animation becomes quick and easy. You can also use the color labels for a quick selection of keyframes with the same color group.

Also, you can see keyframes label color even when the keyframes are selected. With the updated keyframe selection highlights, selected keyframes have blue outlines to avoid any visual clash with label color labels you've assigned.

For more information, see:

• Keyframe Color Labels

Separated Dimensions preference

When enabled, the Default Position Properties to Separated Dimensions preference (available in Preferences > General) automatically separates the Position property into X, Y and Z when a layer is created. 

Native Apple silicon support

After Effects allows you to take advantage of the latest technologies, including new Apple silicon machines. Experience shorter launch times, improved UI responsiveness, and faster rendering on Apple M1 devices.

For more information, see:

• After Effects for Apple silicon
• Do Adobe apps work on Apple computers that use the M1 chip?

Frame.io integration

Frame.io is now built into After Effects. You can log in to Frame.io inside After Effects using your Adobe ID. You can access review and approval with Frame.io within After Effects in the new Review workspace. You can now share work in progress and receive feedback without leaving your composition. Frame.io for Creative Cloud includes 100 GB of Frame.io cloud storage, up to five projects, unlimited reviewers, file sharing, and Camera to Cloud with support for uploading via Teradek, Atomos, and Filmic Pro.

For more information, see:

• Install and activate Frame.io
• Use Frame.io with Premiere Pro and After Effects

3D Extended Viewer

Move the slider to see the how the content shows outside the composition frame with and without Extended Viewer

The Extended Viewer extends real-time 3D draft previews beyond the composition's frame boundaries. See what your off-camera 3D content contains, then bring it into the scene with ease. Hide or dim the area beyond the frame to get a look at your final shot.

For more information, see Extended Viewer.

Scene Edit Detection

Powered by Adobe Sensei, automatically detect scene changes in an edited clip and create markers at edit points or split scenes into individual layers for faster project setup.

For more information, see Detect edit points using Scene Edit Detection.

Binning indicators for 3D layers

Binning Indicators for 3D Layers show which 3D layers render together in the same 3D space, enabling them to intersect and cast shadows on each other. This gives you a visual map of how After Effects composites 2D and 3D layers together.

For more information, see Binning indicators for 3D layers.

Coach marks

After Effects automatically displays Coach marks when you launch After Effects for the first time after installing or updating it. They provide short descriptions about the different functionalities within After Effects. In this release, Coach marks are available for:

• Frame.io: Displays on first launch to let you know where the new Review workspace is.
• Binning UI: Points to the new UI when you create or modify a 3D bin in your workflow.

Constrained shapes

Now create perfect squares and circles more easily by holding the Shift key when you double click the Rectangle or Ellipse tool. This enables you to create commonly-used Shapes quickly and efficiently.

Now in After Effects (Beta)

Properties Panel

Use Properties Panel to quickly access the important properties of selected layers in the Timeline without the need to twirl open multiple layer hierarchies or open a different panel. It improves the accessibility of layer and object properties that speed up your workflows. The current Beta build brings the Properties Panel feature for the Shape layer. The panel displays Layer Transform, Layer Contents, Shape Properties, and Shape Transform of the selected Shape layers.

For more information, see Properties Panel.

Selectable Track Matte Layers

Make your compositions simpler and flexible by using any layer as a track matte using the new Track Matte drop-down menu in the Timeline panel.

Now, you don't have to position the matte above the target layer. Use any layer in your composition, no matter where it sits in the layer stack as a Track Matte source for any other layer. You can even have multiple layers all reference a single layer for their matte.

You can also use the matte layer's Alpha or Luma channels and invert them if necessary.

For more information, see:

• Convert a layer into a track matte
• After Effects Community Post

Native H.264 Encoding

With H.264 as an option in the Output Module Settings, you can encode H.264 directly from the After Effects Render Queue. 

This integration uses the Adobe Media Encoder (AME) UI along with AME’s backend encoding system, all without leaving After Effects.

H.264 export also supports both Hardware and Software Encoding modes. The same accelerated export you have in AME and Premiere Pro is now available for H.264 export in After Effects.

For more information, see Exporting H.264 from the After Effects Render Queue.

Refreshed Presets

Animation Presets

Get over 50 new animation presets created by our After Effects community. Designed for modern motion design workflows, these presets save you time on the techniques you use most, so you don’t have to start from scratch or can create quick animations.

For more information, see Effects and animation presets overview.

Composition Presets

Plus, the Composition Presets list has been overhauled to make it easier to find the more commonly used presets. The presets also include sizes for social media output.

For more information, see After Effects Composition basics.