Today, the After Effects CS5.5 (10.5.1) update was released.

This update is not available through the automatic update mechanism. You must download the update packages from the download pages for Windows or Mac OS, using the “Adobe After Effects CS5.5 10.5.1 Update” links. The links are not at the top of the page, where I expected to find them.

Important: You must choose the correct patcher based on your original installation type: use the “Electronic Download” update package if you installed from a download; use the “Retail DVD” update package if you installed from a disc. (I found it confusing that the word ‘trial’ appears in the file name of the “Electronic Download” package, but that is indeed the correct package for updating the full version.)

You should also install other recent updates to your Adobe software by choosing Help > Updates.

We have also been working with several providers of plug-ins, codecs, and hardware devices to assist them in updating their software to fix some errors and crashes. Please take this opportunity to download and install updated codecs, plug-ins, and drivers from these providers, as relevant to your work.

If you have any problems with this update, or if you have bugs to report after applying the update, let us know by sending feedback or coming to the After Effects forum. Don’t ask questions in the comments on this blog post, which fewer people will see.

• When entering large amounts of text in a text layer, the text would not appear and the image would not be rendered until you moved the mouse pointer out of the Composition panel. This is fixed.
• Some people were unable to use an upgrade serial number for the After Effects CS5.5 point product (not part of a suite) to activate their software. This is fixed. If you have problems with After Effects CS5.5 accepting an upgrade serial number, install the application, run it as a trial version (i.e., don’t enter the serial number), apply the 10.5.1 update, and then restart After Effects and activate it by entering the serial number.
  If you continue to have trouble with activation or serial numbers, contact Adobe Customer Service

Thought I would post a couple thoughts since I have been receiving a TON of email asking for comment on the FCPX release etc.

First – let me say this:

Before coming to Adobe my preferred tool for editing was FCP. Premiere CS4 was installed as part of master collection. Back then every time I had to use it, I didn’t like it – It wasn’t better than FCP and it did things differently – so I ignored it.

Then jump ahead in time and I am interviewing for the job as AE product manager, and I was honest in my interviews of what I thought about Premiere when asked about it. Where they had me though? – I hadn’t even tried the latest version.

So I tried Premiere CS 5.

Sure it ‘felt’ a little different. There are small things that annoy me such as project settings at the beginning. But then it just worked. OMG. It REALLY worked…fast.

In CS5 Adobe had done a complete rewrite of the guts in Premiere to 64 bit on both MAC and PC, and listened to users about how the application should change – dozens of changes throughout the application to make it ‘just work’.

My point is: If Adobe focus was so clear that it was willing to put that much of an investment into re-architecting an application that was being dismissed or ignored by many – that showed to me that Adobe was VERY serious about winning in the professional market, seat by seat. Frankly, that was what helped me make up my mind to join the company. When I joined I found out how strong the acceptance of Premiere had been in the time I was ignoring it.

To all those asking me for comment on the launch of FCPX, I have none. What right do I have to publicly comment on the hard work any vendor does in creating software and bringing it to market?

What I CAN comment on is our software and how we bring it to market. Adobe has and will continue to focus on EARNING the right to be your tools of choice as you tell your story, and deliver professional content. We know that not all is perfect, but we will LISTEN, engage in dialogue and constantly improve our software. We will also innovate in ways that will continue to streamline workflow and unlock creative potential.

In short – we are here to compete for your business, and we believe we can win.

S.

The last blog post on Warp Stabilizer for sometime – PROMISE!!

That being said – when we launched CS 5.5 at NAB this year in Las Vegas, a number of users were asking for a comparison between AE’s new Warp Stabilizer and the just announced stabilization feature of FCPX.  The great news – both work entirely in the background allowing you to work in the application completely unhindered by the analysis and stabilization of footage.  As you can tell – this is a sign of all things in the future.  Compute intensive tasks being done in the background so it doesn’t get in the way or make you ‘wait’.

I wanted to post the results now that we can test the software in an ‘apples to apples’ fashion (pardon the pun).  The clip is the same as what I used in the warp stabilizer sneak peak on Adobe TV.

Both AE’s Warp Stabilizer and FCPX stabilization were left to the default settings of stabilization and rolling shutter removal. – no tweaking was done whatsoever.

Here it is: AE Warp Stabilizer is the bottom clip, FCPX the top.  The focus of this test is the quality and fidelity of the stabilized image. The clip is looped and should be viewed at full screen.

S.

Right after NAB 2011 and launching CS 5.5, a few of us from Adobe flew from Vegas to the F5 conference in NYC to not talk about tech – but just watch what people actually created with it.  Was very cool overall. (although a couple presentations just didn’t do it for yours truly)

A few of them were absolutely amazing.  Watching the construction of a Rube Goldberg machine for OK Go, and some Dutch guys HONESTLY articulate how they do things (and hope to not get fired), were a couple of real highlights for me.

A real standout though was this swedish movie called ‘Press, Pause, Play’.  Very interesting take on the ramifications that tech has made media creation accessible to – ANYONE.  It’s cool, opportunistic, thought provoking and downright scary as hell for anyone whom has an interest in creating media.  Had a particular impact on me as I work on a small part of the tech that made this radical change in expression and communication possible.  I fall into the optimist category after watching it – but not everyone agrees with me.

• F5
• OK Go – Rube Goldberg Machine
• Press Pause Play

S.

When you send an After Effects composition or Adobe Premiere Pro sequence to the Adobe Media Encoder (AME) encoding queue, you may not be sending the version of the composition or sequence that you intended. There are some subtle but important differences in how the applications behave under various circumstances.

The essential difference is in whether the version of the composition or sequence that is used for creating the output file is a) the current version within After Effects or Premiere Pro or b) the version stored in the project file most recently saved to disk.

In the case of the After Effects render queue, the version of a composition that is used for creating output files is the version of the composition current within the After Effects application at the time that the render operation begins, regardless of what has been saved to disk.

Here’s how it works within Adobe Media Encoder (AME), depending on various circumstances:

• After Effects; all cases involving AME: uses the version of the composition stored in the project file most recently saved to disk
• Premiere Pro; using File > Export > Media commands: uses the version of the sequence current within the Premiere Pro application at the time that the Export command is clicked
• Premiere Pro; dragging sequence to AME queue or importing Premiere Pro project into AME: uses the version of the sequence stored in the project file most recently saved to disk

If you try to drag a composition or sequence from After Effects or Premiere Pro into the AME queue but the composition or sequence doesn’t exist in the project saved to disk, this message appears: “An error occurred while trying to add the selected project to the batch.” If you see that message, save the project and then try again.

In general, to get the most predictable behavior, save your project before sending a composition or sequence off to AME to be rendered and exported.

You may think of these differences as a bug, as bad design, or—once you’ve learned how to use them—as a useful feature. If it’s either of the first two, I encourage you to submit a bug report or feature request.

For more information about rendering and exporting from After Effects and Premiere Pro, see these pages:

• “Rendering and exporting” (After Effects CS5 & CS5.5)
• “Exporting” (Premiere Pro CS5 & CS5.5)

OK – so this blog will not always be about Warp Stabilizer (promise).  But – I just finished reading Vincent Laforet’s sum up of how he used different gear and techniques to really max out his new RED Epic.  A BIG component he felt was how Warp Stabilizer in AE CS 5.5 changed how he shoots – which is dramatically cool from my perspective.

• RED Epic – 5K and HDRx

S.

Several folks within Adobe are discussing the user interfaces for our various applications, and we’d like your feedback.

Do you use After Effects, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Lightroom? Other Adobe applications?

If so, please post your comments on this forum thread comparing your experiences with the user interfaces of these applications.

Regarding the panels, palettes, workspaces, and overall UI paradigms in these applications: What do you like? What do you hate? Do you care that the applications are different in this regard? What differences do you even notice?

[Do not respond in the comments on this blog post. It's much harder to have a conversation in the comments on this blog platform than in a forum thread.]

I really dig mashing things together for purposes that nobody ever intended, and creating something entirely new as a result. Adobe guru Karl Soule pointed me to this older tutorial on AE Tuts+ making a cool use of ‘radio waves’ (that perhaps was never intended).

• Creating an Ethreal Morphing Letter Canvas

It’s a pretty advanced tutorial that can take awhile to ‘get’ – but the result is definitely cool.

S.

Back before CS 5.5 was announced I did a little sneak peak video (found here) on a new feature called ‘Warp Stabilizer’.  Wow – what a cool response.  Interestingly enough, I didn’t cover an important piece of the technology called synthesize edges.  THEN – a user in the UK along with some folks here at Adobe did something with the technology we NEVER intended when we designed it.

Definitely caused some jaws on the floor here on the AE team, and I wanted to show it to you here…

 

S.

Hello World.  Just wanted to ‘finally’ get my blog up and running.  Going to throw on here whatever I happen to find interesting, or driving me crazy.  Obviously, this my home in the Adobe blog-o-sphere so will be posting a thing or two about After Effects as well.

S.