Comments We really appreciate it when you submit bug reports and feature requests. Thanks to all of you who have ever done so.
Here’s a quick summary of the most common feature requests that we’ve gotten over the past year or so, with some commentary on each. These aren’t necessarily listed in order of the number of requests; I listed them in order of how interesting they are and how much I wanted to talk about them.
If you have any questions about these or want to give feedback, the best thing to do is to talk with Steve Forde, the After Effects product manager. You can most easily contact him through his blog or Twitter account. For ways to communicate with the After Effects team, see this page.
- import of AAF files: We had to remove the AAF importer from After Effects CS5, and quite a few people let us know that they wanted this functionality back. Now that Automatic Duck Pro Import AE is free, you can use it to import AAF files into After Effects.
- keyboard shortcut editor: Currently, the most direct way to edit the keyboard shortcuts is to edit a text file. (Yuck!) The most convenient way is to get the KeyEd Up script from the Adobe website and use its relatively convenient interface. See this section of After Effects Help for a link to that script.
- Vector Paint effect: When we ported After Effects to be a 64-bit application, we had to rewrite large parts of just about every feature in the application. This meant that we had to look at each feature and consider whether it was worth the effort of bringing it forward into the next version. Of the relatively small number of features that got left behind, the UI for the Vector Paint effect has been the one that the most people have told us that we should have kept.
See this article for some more context.
So, here’s our question to you: Which parts of the Vector Paint effect do you miss? Is it just the ability to paint in the Composition panel? The ability to wiggle the stroke/path? If you’re going to submit a feature request asking for the functionality of the Vector Paint effect to be brought back, please let us know exactly which pieces are important to you. There are many, many parts of this effect that are redundant with the existing paint tools, shape layers, and other features, and we think that we may be able to satisfy this request by just adding back in the specific features that are still missing, without resurrecting the entire Vector Paint effect–which would be a huge amount of work and would displace much other feature work.
- grouping layers in the Timeline panel: I consider this feature request to be a sign of success.
A year ago, we were getting requests for grouping layers in the Timeline panel, but it wasn’t at all clear how people really wanted this to work: We didn’t know whether people wanted a) just the ability to collapse/hide/shy contiguous layers, or b) the ability to precompose layers but still be able to expand the precomposition within the containing composition. The former can be thought of as “layer folders”, and the latter we call “über-twirl” in our internal conversations.
Now, after trying to communicate this difference on various forums, and asking people to give feedback, it seems pretty clear that most people would be happy with just the relatively simple layer folders feature. See this post by Paul Conigliarno (and the comments) for a sketch of how such a feature might work. So, thanks to everyone for being patient with us and participating in this conversation so that we could better determine what you actually want.
In the meantime, consider that there are a couple of features built into After Effects and at least one inexpensive script that can be used for grouping, showing, and hiding sets of layers; see this article for more information.
By the way, the main reason that we added the features to more easily open and navigate compositions within a hierarchy of nested compositions was to mitigate the need for something like über-twirl.
- variable-width mask feather: We definitely hear you on this one. You can use variable-width feathering for masks brought in through mocha shape, and you can also use the reasonably priced PV Feather plug-in… but those methods aren’t as convenient as just having variable-width mask feathering built in. Feel free to submit more feature requests to let us know how much you want this. But we already know that it’s important.
- saving projects backward so that they can be opened by a previous version of After Effects: I’ve got to assume that people who are still requesting this didn’t notice that we added this feature in After Effects CS5.5. Or perhaps people want to be able to save further back than the current version allows. If you’re requesting this feature, be sure to let us know how far back (to which version) you need the feature to be able to save projects. Note that the further back we go, the more development and testing work it requires–which subtracts development and testing resources available for other features and fixes.
- scopes (waveform and vector): Many of the people who submitted this request mentioned that they are aware of the scopes in Color Finesse, which is included with After Effects, but they wanted the scopes to be built in–more like they are in Premiere Pro.
- better handling of image sequences: I collapsed three feature requests here, all of which get quite a few requests.
- ability to see each image sequence as a separate item, not as a gazillion files
- report showing exactly which frames are missing from an image sequence
- auto-creation of a folder to hold each exported image sequence
Yes, there’s some work that we need to do to make handling of image sequences more convenient. There are a lot of good reasons to use image sequences, but these inconveniences are getting in the way.
In the meantime, the Immigration script from Lloyd Alvarez takes a lot of this pain away.
- extrusion of vector graphics: It’s encouraging how many people don’t just write in feature requests like “Make After Effects a full 3D application!” but instead write in very specific and focused requests like “Give me the ability to extrude text and logos in 3D.”
To see proof that we are certainly thinking along these lines, see this article, which refers to some demonstrations of research that we’re doing into ray-traced 3D renderers and motion graphics.
In the meantime, see this article for various plug-ins, scripts, and workarounds to use extruded 3D items in After Effects now.
- GPU/CUDA acceleration: Premiere Pro has done a terrific job of using CUDA processing to speed up a lot of things. Clearly, people want After Effects to do the same.
- scaling: better algorithms and ability to choose: This is in a way related to the CUDA item above, in that the way that Premiere Pro was able to accomplish much higher-quality scaling was by performing scaling on the GPU using CUDA. See this article for how Premiere Pro is handling scaling. If you have Premiere Pro, you can use it to take advantage of its superior scaling algorithms. Or you could use a third-party plug-in like Instant HD, UpRez, or Resizer.
- nodal compositing: This one is tricky because most folks don’t say what aspects of nodal compositing they are referring to. The few folks who do make some good points, though–largely to do with the relative difficulty of reusing the same item (like a matte) for multiple layers or multiple purposes. We do want to get to the bottom of what people want here–so, please, if you are going to request nodal compositing in After Effects, give a specific example of what you’re trying to accomplish.
- custom zoom values: I’m hoping that we can treat this as a JDI (“just do it”) feature rather soon. Personally, I’m annoyed at having to choose between 100% and 200% for my zoom value, when 150% would do much better.
- import of 3D objects: After Effects can’t import 3D objects (such as .obj files), though there are some ways to do so indirectly, such as through 3D object layers from Photoshop or with certain third-party effects. When asking for the feature to import 3D models, please give details of what you want to be able to do with these 3D models in After Effects. Do you just want to be able to relight them? Scale and rotate them? Edit them?
Of course, After Effects can already import image files from 3D applications, as well as camera data, depth data, and more.
- After Effects for Linux: A lot of us on the After Effects team wish that this were more feasible, but the truth is that it just isn’t realistic in the foreseeable future. Porting an application to another operating system, and then testing, maintaining, and supporting it on that OS is a tremendous amount of work. We just haven’t been able to make a business case for being able to fund that tremendous amount of work given the size of the likely return on that investment. We are still looking into this, but we want to be honest and let you know that it isn’t likely to happen soon.
- bones and inverse kinematics within Puppet effect: This tutorial series from Daniel Gies does a great job of showing where we could make character animation a lot more convenient with bones and inverse kinematics. In the meantime, be sure to check out the resources that already exist–such as the Duik inverse kinematics script–to achieve these results.
Grouping layers in the Timeline Panel: Please don’t just settle for “layer folders”. “Uber-Twirl” would be my number one request. There are so many reasons why motion graphics artists would need to pre-compose. It would be so mind-boggingly handy to be able to expand a pre-comp layer in the main comp timeline. While “layer folders” would be more than welcome, having too many layers doesn’t slow me down anywhere near as much as having to open a precomp and place its timeline beside the main comp’s timeline. With motion graphics it’s so often necessary to have animation in both the main comp and any number of precomps. The ability to see everything in one timeline and see how all of the keyframes from all comps line up would be… wow. If you take the time to figure out how the UI would work with “layer groups” then you’d already be halfway there! Just make the Uber-Twirl look and behave the same way yet have some subtle distinction to it. UBER-TWIRL!!
Sorry but I almost laughed when I read your suggestion to use the scopes in Color Finesse. Those scopes are hidden away in a separate window. We need scopes that are out in the open, in their own panel, so we can see our comp and the scopes at the same time. I guess we’re “getting by” with Scopo Gigio, Test Gear and now Boris but it’s just odd that AE can do it on its own. Scopo is often buggy, and I had to wait an entire year for Test Gear to be compatible with CS5.
Looking forward to being able to use 3D in AE. But 3D from PS is only half-baked. My biggest concern there is that there is no interaction with AE lights.
I just spent 20 minutes writing a comment. Where’d it go?
I see both of your comments.
Sorry, it must have been my browser acting up.
Hello Todd!
For me, there are three main thing, what should be pretty good to be done in AE ASAP (sorry, I really hate this expression too)…
1. Mocha-features integration to AE. So built-in planar tracking. (The Remove module of Mocha Pro should be a nice feature in AE, it is an amazing feature to make clean plates.)
2. ÜBER-TWIRL-like layer grouping. That should be the best new feature of all! And that would be the proper handling of the PSD-files using folders… That would be a dream come true!
3. GPU/CUDA acceleration should be your main focus, because this feature can generate the most of the new users, and the most of the sales (like Mercury Engine in Premiere Pro…). As you written, it can solve the problem of scaling qualities too.
So I think these 3 areas should be the main focus of the development. Of course, the other requests should be nice too. Like:
- saving projects backward to CS3, the last 32 bit AE-application
- variable-width mask feather should solve a lot of problem in roto, when you want to use motion blur on animated mask, and of course nothing calculated properly, as you wanted
- built in extrusion of vector graphics, because there are a lot of third-party solutions on the market, but all of them buggy, and make project sharing difficult. This should indicate a material editor too…
- import of 3D objects is the ‘oldest’ feature request I think, and nothing changed in this since years. Of course there is a lot of advantages of a real 3D environment, like the proper particle handling, proper reactions with other layers. I don’t know what have to happen to be realize this, because it’s seems impossible, while Fusion and Nuke solve this years ago…
BUT, if someone wants the nodal compositing, why on Earth he use After Effects? The main goal of this program is the layer-based, timeline-based architecture. I don’t get it.
And thanks for this request commentary! It is the most useful thing to develop this cool program! This should be useful to share with us every month or so…
“We do want to get to the bottom of what people want here–so, please, if you are going to request nodal compositing in After Effects, give a specific example of what you’re trying to accomplish.”
Well, people who use flame, digital fusion or nuke, all have hard time when they have to/ want to use AE. Layer base compositing is so messy, thanks to the precomps. Want to reuse matte? good luck. want to see what happen with the compositing, some one will have to dig every precomps. pain.
I’d like to see Pixel Bender to have a GPU acceleration as it has in Photoshop.
I’d like to see improvements in the PB API to allow more advanced algorithms.
I miss the wiggle setting that Vector Paint had. It was great for creating organic background animations.
Oh and I still can’t believe After Effects doesn’t have a decent Color Swatch panel!
Color Swatch panel is definitely way high on my list too. I’m also in disbelief that there isn’t one. And I wish the Curves graph was bigger and more like PS’s.
Nodal Compositing.
Anyone that has used a proper compositor knows that it is absolutely core to getting a lot of things done quickly. I don’t think more specifics are needed. Just go do it and see what a pain After effects render order and constant pre-comping is. I think the benchmark should be,
“Can I do everything I can do in Shake?” and then Nuke. I say this because as After Effects artists we are often used in place of a different compositor because of the accessible freelance talent pool but workflow and image quality are still compromised by a lot of elements (motion blur? colour concatenation? spatial filtering? time?!).
In some ways AE does have it’s own trees contained in each layer’s effects window. So a first GUI step could be to see multiple effects windows in one screen so you could see what was happening where, and copy and paste the required elements quickly.
The next step would be to be able to show a visual schematic of the render order.
This would demystify some of AE’s processes.
The next step would be to allow inter-tree connections, so points in the procees effecting one layer could be used as source inputs for other stages.
I think breaking it into achievable transition steps makes sense. Though I have no idea of the code. I am assuming that this is the real issue and for nodes to work the whole renderer would need to be re-written. But it does anyway doesn’t it?
What we really DO NOT want is a hidden confusing Flame style node system. There is something very empowering about being able to spread your project out in front of you like a map.
On a more abstract level, I don’t think anyone has found a good GUI way of linking nodes and timelines. A breakthrough/opportunity here would be amazing. Am thinking about streetview and map windows in Google maps. Or timeline snapping to selected node.
PS. Though I have trained in Shake and Maya I have never really been able to use them professionally so this from a day to day After Effects perspective. I also have very little 3d compositing experience. I feel that After Effects is trying to grow up into a high quality linear compositor but the transition is hard. Now is definitely the time and I am very excited about upcoming developments. Thank you
Tris
I agree with everything here. I, too, am trained in Shake, but use AE most, because it has all the other features I need more often.
GPU acceleration – Maybe support not only NVIDIA/CUDA, but AMD OpenCL too.
Also, grouping layers would be nice… just like Adobe Flash works. It doesn’t need to be super fancy, just need to be practical.
It would be great if you could switch from using cuda to opencl. Being locked into NVIDIA graphics to use GPU ACC. is a real bummer.
As a 2D animator it would be great to be able to import AI files into shape layers. I know there’s a workaround, but it’s not very practical.
True. What is it with that?
I have a script that I downloaded that does the translation, but why doesn’t AE just load it in as a shape layer?
It’s like I have to go through these extra steps just to trim the curves.
Some sort of ‘demarcation thang’ going on with the Illustrator team???
I can just see the discussions now.
Photoshop team don’t like vector paint cause people will stop using PS.
Illustrator team don’t want AE vectors to be too useful other wise folk will stop using Illustration.
I think the main things required in AE are much the same as all the other Adobe products; it’s not about big, flashy plugins and game-changers, but just tweaking and refining what’s already there. It is the little things that make all the difference.
For example, you may have 50 layers in a timeline and need to add a marker – how?
If you have one layer selected, it is impossible to deselect it without having to hit the shy switch and make some space at the bottom in order to click in a blank area. It’s things like that that drive you bonkers. A good layer control, something along the lines of Photoshop CS2 would be so helpful, along with a layer selection preset manager in order to turn various elements on and off with a single click. Also keep the ability to add a global effect to the folder and set a track matte layer above it.
My other big personal gripe is the ability to import markers in WAV files. This is essential when cutting videos to music.
As any good compositor will tell any software programmer, the devil is in the detail.
Usuallyi need to focus in few layers only, so i would like to shy all others with a single click. I would like a Solo botton that works as “shy all deselected layers”.
Then i would like a shorcut for “preview from current time” instead of the check box.
You can hit Shift+Cmd+A to deselect your layer.
I would like a one click solution. Now i have to select all layer and the deselect the few layers i’am modifing, then i apply the shy botton.
I would like a Solo botton or an inverse selection option at least.
you can also use F2 do deselect anything.
WAV files are import markers…
Sorry? I mark out BPM, along with key points in tracks like choruses, verses and downbeats. I can make them sample accurate in Soundforge or whatever, as that has far better accuracy, so then I should be able to import that audio into AE so I can set my keyframes accordingly. Surely this isn’t rocket science?
Then i would add: saving in previous version, as CS5.5 does, is enought. The only issue i can get is when i work for studios that have not yet upgraded to last version or viceversa. But every serious compositor/animator does upgrade to last version first or then.
In may opinion is not necessary to “subtract development and testing resources available for other features and fixes”. Just my opinion.
I too am coming from a compositing standpoint and much of my issues deal with masking and render order. for instance: the locked mask bug has been there for 3 versions of AE and needs to be fixed.
Nodal compositing: I love the way it works but I think that much of it can be solved by layer and effects instansing. the script panel ff-Effect Instance does this beautifully for effects, but it’s linked via expressions and it can be difficult to find the master instance. the “Project Flowchart” in AE is very confusing and doesn’t display a nodal rendering order, and I find it completely useless. There’s been times where I’ve had to try to track down where a specific missing effect or typeface was used and thought that the flowchart would be an excellent way to find it, but is there even a way to search in it? In my opinion, Nuke and Shake are awesome at what they do, but AE is a timeline based application that would be better served staying that way.
Vector paint: my main use for vector paint is to paint directly on the alpha of a layer to clean up chroma keys and roto, so I need to do this in the footage window anyway. It’s so much easier to just paint out a couple frames that had stray tracking maker or a hole that needed filling rather than drawing masks. Having the vector paint as a filter allows me to place the effect between a keying effect and an effect that can help improve the alpha, therefor allowing the vector paint to be treated exactly like the alpha from the key.
3D objects/extrude vector objects: I see a lot of potential for AE to implement some kind of 3D object creation or importing scheme. the main thing id like to see is to extrude vector graphics like masks, shapes, text and AI files. the kind of rendering method may take a bit of figuring out for shadows, reflections and the interaction between 2d and 3D planes. 3D primitives is another thing that I’d love to see but placing them in the rendering order is a problem. this is where nodal compositing has an edge with something like the scanline renderer in Nuke. having Simple 3D shapes would be great for a variety of AE uses, but personally, I’d like to use them for the creation of projection maps, Matte painting, and quickly creating image textured objects to place in comps in conjunction with 3D tracking. Also, I’d love to see the ability to create 3D splines and paths with the pen tool.
Keyboard shortcut editor: Yes please. It’s in Photoshop and Premiere Pro, why not AE? I want my key command for editing the scale property back! Long live Command-Shift-S.
Grouping Layers: don’t care anymore. If anything the über-twirl seems like the most useful, but there’s a few questions about how expressions and parenting would be displayed and would start getting really confusing once you start adding in comps that have different dimensions than the main comp. to me this seems like a photoshop feature that if implementing in AE is more trouble than it’s worth.
Variable width masks: this is another feature that would help me immensely with roto, but there are many other mask improvements that I’d like to see.
• I’ve already mentioned the locked mask bug where you can alter a locked mask and create key frames on it when you use the select all command when another ask is already selected.
• I want to move the position of a mask over multiple key frames by selecting all the key frames and moving the mask ( like you can with the position key frames)
• the ability to keep the masks shapes in their current shape and size when altering the dimensions of a solid layer through the solid layer properties window.
• I want the option to place a mask as an effect to change the rendering order.
• mask instancing for easy use in another comp or on another layer.
• Visible Feather indicator.
• Opt+M creates a keyframe for ONLY the currently selected mask or masks, not every single mask on the layer. Opt+Shift+M can do that.
• Mask Parenting based on overall shape center.
• Easily attach masks to tracking data
Backwards compatibility: I regularly get projects from CS4 from freelancers and my work computer has to have every version back to AE7 to ensure that I can create and alter a project from a client or vendor. that being said, CS4 is as far back as I’d need for the next version of AE: 2 full release versions back.
Scopes: oh dear god please. with the acquisition of Iridas I truly hope that a good unified color workflow will be implemented for all of the production suite, but it would still be fantastic to have scopes in AE. I’ve used Test gear since CS4, but something changed in the update to CS5 and it causes lag in interactions in AE.
Image sequences: I’d like image sequences to be represented in the project window like a folder item. I could drag it in a comp just like a footage item, but twirl down an arrow on the item in the project window and see a folder list of all the images that make that sequence. in the timeline, it like to see an option to see source frame number in a time display like there is in time remapping. this actually goes for any piece of footage. Right click on an image sequence has the option to not only “reveal original in Project window”, but also “reveal original frame in project window.” the prior one will select the image sequence, the latter will select the image in the image sequence content folder in the project window.
GPU/CUDA: Have some of your engineers go to nVidia and scream at their developers until they code a driver for the ONE Mac graphics card they make so it doesn’t kernel panic a Mac Pro every 20 minutes. Then the Mac community could use this fabled CUDA acceleration you speak so highly of.
I don’t think the uber-twirl should have anything to do with the comp window. I think it should just show you the layers and switches and most importantly the keyframes. There’s a ton of useful things uber-twirl could let you do. Like I said before, if the precomp has keyframes, you could see how they line up in the main timeline. You could parent and reference main comp properties to precomp parents with uber ease. Etc. I think if you need to do any sort of heavy work in a precomp then you should go directly into the precomp itself.
That’s a good point about seeing the keyframes in the main timeline. I can see it’s usefulness, but my problem is just how to implement a solution that doesn’t go haywire when referencing something like (thisComp) or parenting to a layer that is in a comp of differing dimensions. Is the child’s parameters now relative to the where the Parent would be in the Child’s comp or where the parent is in the main comp relative to the child’s comp? I guess to me it sounds great on the surface, but it runs into problems if you need to go deep into it. This makes my head hurt just thinking about it and it scares me that After Effects might try it and accidentally divide by Zero.
I don’t think any of that would be an issue. The way I imagine it would work is precomp layers revealed in an ‘uber-twirl set’ inside the main comp don’t really exist there. The precomp is still a “flattened” layer and all the usual AE rules would still apply to it.
I think Uber-Twirl layers are just a “window” into the precomp. They would just be a “remote control” for the precomp, but conveniently located in the main comp.
If you were to add an expression with thisComp onto a layer inside an uber-twirl of a precomp, then it would be added to the precomp, not the main comp. Know what I mean?
I second Nate Fosters suggestions on Masks, especially those 3 Points which often gives you trouble:
1) I want to move the position of a mask over multiple key frames by selecting all the key frames and moving the mask ( like you can with the position key frames)
2) the ability to keep the masks shapes in their current shape and size when altering the dimensions of a solid layer through the solid layer properties window.
3) I want the option to place a mask as an effect to change the rendering order.
Shortcuts
AE has no shortcut management – which is bad. But what bugs me the most is the different shortcuts in the whole CS Suite: For example duplicating in AE is cmd+d in Photoshop cmd+j in Premiere I guess it is not set at all. It would be great if there where a shortcut profile available in every app of the package which is based on the favorite app of the user. I know, this probably would only work to a certain degree. But at least the basic tools and commands should be the same shortcuts:
1) Duplicating
2) Pathtool
3) Renaming and deleting
Cuda
is a must have for After Effects. Seriously if Premiere or Blackmagics Davinci weren´t so clunky with their compositing tools I would have send AE to hell
I understand how difficult über-twirl is to implement due to the time issue (you can retime a precomp for example, which would be difficult to display in an über-twirl).
Layer groups themselves, though, are kinda useless.
Now, think of what you are doing 99.9% of the time when you do a precomp: It’s because you:
- want to add an effect to an entirety of a set of layers
- you want to mask across a set of layers
- you want to apply a transformation to a set of layers
What I suggest is something between “dumb” layer groups and hard-to-do über-twirl:
It would be a layer group that would act as a layer, meaning, you can
- add effects
- mask it
- transform it
I.e. it WILL function just like a precomp BUT it is absolutely locked frame-to-frame timewise (which is the really hard part of über-twirl to get right)
In a sense you can think of it as adjustment layers applying to a layer set…
Wow, I hadn’t thought about time remapping. Well, in that case if a precomp gets time remapped then the keyframe feature of the uber-twirl can just be disabled. (If you time remap a precomp then seeing its keyframes in the uber-twirl wouldn’t be necessary anymore (in most cases)).
Or, the layers in the uber-twirl could expand or contract to mimic the time-remapping, though that may get confusing. Still, even if the precomp is re-timed there’s still a ton of useful and convenient up-front functionality still available.
This may not make much sense from a compositor point of view, but it would be heaven for a motion graphics designer.
If implemented well it may even encourage more precomping. Designers may use the new precomp/uber-twirl combo just so that they could add adjustment layers to groups of layers.
I think this is mainly just an interface issue. AE is coded to work a certain way and I doubt they’re going to change any of that just add a feature some people will like. I think uber-twirl can be purely an interface tweak. E.g. dragging a layer from the main comp into an uber-twirl group would be the same as cutting a layer from the main comp, opening the precomp and pasting.
For me the top 3 would be:
Scopes. Scopes. Scopes.
As mentioned before, in a floating panel would be great!
Thanks for all you do and listening to the feedback
I would love to have flexible locking features for the layers. I would love to be able to lock layer’s in/out point on the timeline without locking the ability to resize or apply effects, also the ability to lock 2d position. Perhaps similar layer lock paradigm to that of the Photoshop + timeline position lock.
Just getting the basic UI elements would make AE such a pleasure to work with:
1. Uber-Twirl – This is my #1 request. This would make AE so much easier to work with. It’s obvious that the keyframes should just adjust based on the precomps time remapping (as was mentioned).
2. Layer/effect instancing – A clear method of doing this without expressions/scripts. This would again be so powerful. having one effect on 20 layers, and adjust it once. Of course being able to break the connection would be required.
3. Having “global layers” – This would solve/hack away at a big part of the node based workflow people want. Basically to be able to use an affect like set channel to take an alpha from a “global layer.” You could set layer 1 in comp 1 to be exposed globally, and then every layer that wants to set it’s alpha to that layer’s could do so through set channel. In conjunction, maybe having an effect that did alpha/luma masking of multiple layers would help as well. Basically, we have all precomped a layer to track matte it to another, and then used that combined alpha as a track matte for a third layer because you can’t track matte a track matted layer to get comboed alphas.
I could keep going, but I think you get the point. These more advanced workflows would be a blessing!
First I’d be happy If the team is showing interest in solving the small things, like: copy/paste masks and retaining their copied position. Not pasting the mask somwhere anywhere in the canvas :/
Let alone the list of redefinery scripts show what we are missing INSIDE Ae natively in terms of workflow.
And a reall biggie one: Support AMD/ATI GPU TEchnology if you wanna show some love to the Mac user. It’s is a bummer that still no real support exists as Nvidia gets from Adobe.
Making me mad!
I know what you mean.
It’s always struck me as a bit weird that I have to copy/paste Illustrator curves into AE.
An Mocha copy/paste is a total pain!
Why is it that only Premier and AE have the ‘hot link’ ?
Why don’t all Adobe products ‘hot link’?
An publish the standard so Mocha can too????
(hay, just remembered that Illustrator and Photoshop have that weird and not quite useful ‘hot layer’ thang going on???)
I hope this hasn’t been stated, and I’m just throwing this out there. But it seems like things would get pretty crazy in the timeline with these additions. I DEFINITELY have desired layer groups, but I don’t think the end of pre-comp is a good idea at all because it’s more than just an organizational tool (I realize not everyone is saying that).
SO, here’s just a thought; what about a second layers panel that has no association with the timeline (looks like Photoshop), where changes made in the timeline’s layers are reflected in the separate layers panel and vice versa. Basically, yes, install a layer grouping feature but also a layers panel like Photoshop with no timeline. That way, I can have my layers with my timeline, but also for organization have a separate panel on my crappy “tools” monitor. Just as an option to keep everything organized.
And as far as seeing the keyframes for the pre-comp in the timeline with your other layers, absolutely true, and I have no idea how this fixes that. lol I just think the timeline itself already has a LOT going on, and if layer grouping is added, having a separate panel just to keep track of layers Photoshop style might be pretty handy. Maybe a hide and show outline feature in it that shows who is parented to who… Maybe layer grouping is added for better parenting organization and pre-comping is still necessary for adding multiple effects and masking… Thinking out loud… Thinking out loud…
Oh, and a killer 3D motion tracker plug-in like Boujou or PFTrack at no extra cost. K, thanks.
I am very, very sorry for chiming in almost every time someone mentions uber-twirl, but it would just make life so much easier and free me up to be more creative.
Just wanted to say that uber-twirl is twirl. We would still see precomps as one layer… unless we twirl them down. If you don’t want the clutter, or don’t need them, simply don’t twirl them down. They would act like Photoshop folder/groups.
Whatever interface solution they come up with either layer groups (which should also be twirl-able) can also be used with uber-twirl with some sort of icon or other differentiation.
These scopes should work seamlessly with RAM Preview. While we are on the topic of RAM Preview, when are we going to see fields? When are we going to see no speed hit when using a Video/SDI I/O card? When will RAM Preview work at full frame rate at 16-bit and 32-bit modes? When will you ensure that color values via the Video I/O/SDI cards are accurate?
Which leads to ensuring that QuickTime color values can move in and out of After Effects accurately.
Thus, I am for walking before running.
I’ve always said, that the main reason I haven’t gone Linux is cause Adobe isn’t on the platform.
That said, some very interesting open source is popping up these days.
I don’t understand why Photoshop has become Adobe’s flagship 3D product???
AE has much better cam/timeline support.
Seriously, let raportee, raport, (hell what every that silly name for 3D the PS team have called it) just die a death.
Heck even Illustrator does 3D better then PS and that hasn’t been upgraded in yonks.
Is anyone else tired of the tiny little ‘effect’ panels??
The ‘curves’ operator is beginning to disappear, what with the rez of screens these days.
It would be nice if the ‘effects’ controls scaled as the panel was re-sized.
Have to say, that Illustrators colour select panel has the same problem.
Dragging boarders should expand the physical size of the contents.
One last thing.
Illustrator bolted in 3D and then didn’t touch it again (and you know it wasn’t perfect!)
AE did the same thing with Puppetmaster.
Puppetmaster needs some sort of constraint system for the pins. IK would be a good start.
I thought it could have evolved to have some 80′s morph tech built in? and it could replace most of the ‘warp’ and ‘pinning’ effects.
OK, here’s how I think it could be done…
All bitmap editing is done in PS (so cut out all the animation junk in there)
All motion is done in AE (so cut out all the vector stuff)
All vector is done in illustrator (I get the impression that these guys are at the bottom of the pecking order cause they don’t seem to have spread out into anyone else’s patch)
OK, they all get a proper (documented) hot link facility stitching them all together.
You want to animate paint, then PS appears in AE comp window.
You want to draw masks, then up pops Illustrator within in what ever application called it.
How would I implement 3D?
Objects are built in Illustrator, textured in PS, and animated in AE.
That way, everyone gets to concentrate on what the’re good at.
oh wow I almost forgot. My true #1 is true multithreading. This whole launching 11 instances of after effects to ram preview 25 frames is silly. We have these amazing 12 core machines now, and AE will often use only 1/12th if their power.
This is a MUST!
I think Stu had some good thoughts about node based compositing in AE a few years ago:
“[...] Most of my wishes for the Flowchart View are for features that help me use it instead of the Project Window – updating its context menus to match, some drag-and-drop action. Simple things that would facilitate using the Flowchart as the principal navigation tool for the project, but not necessarily as a way to edit a Comp. [...]”
(http://prolost.com/blog/2004/7/12/nodes-vs-layers.html http://prolost.com/blog/2007/1/17/more-nodes-vs-layers.html)
In AE i would like:
1 Nodal – layer compositing like Combustion.
2 Editing Illustrator vector shapes like Combustion (its a shame AE doesn’t do that)
3 Graph view and curves manipulation like Combustion. I have been using AE for 10 yrs now and to this day i still can not understand how the graph works.
4 Layer folder, or Uber-Twirl like Combustion
5 Simple video editing in single line like Combustion with transition effect like Premiere.
6 3d manipulation like Combustion and Fusion
7 On-screen controllers for masks, effects, text, etc, like AutoCad, replacing the need to go down for every change in the text animation controls.
8 Zaxwerks Invigorator like module inside AE
9 Layer grouping
10 IK for puppet
11 Better handles for animation like Combustion
12 Better Camera tools, icon and selection. The camera is to small and gets to quickly out of control. Best example are 3d software like 3ds max that have wonderful camera tools and options, including the axis controller.
13 Motion Controllers like 3ds max
14 Bigger audio wave view and import of markers for bits.
15 Right click menu for layers that has options to open directly masks, effects or text in the timeline, like quads>sub objects and track view filters in 3ds max to show animated only, text only, masks only, etc.
16 scale controller like 3ds max
17 3d perspective grid with 3d coordinates for reference like Fusion or 3ds max
18 better light handling and options like all 3d software
19 better wave effect with many more options
20 link hierarchy view like 3ds max
21 outliner that shows, comps, solids, masks, sequences, audio files, effects applied, etc. like 3ds max for direct selection.
22 separate window that shows the key frames of selected layers or attributes for animation synchronization like track view in 3ds max..
AE is an animation software and yet 3d software like 3ds max are much better at doing that.
23 duplicate layers like 3ds max duplicate object
24 solids or objects arrays like 3ds max
25 layer randomization tools for scale, position, opacity, etc. (select a few layers and randomize them in 3d space)
26 spherical environment bg like 3ds max
27 solid with texture map option in special window
i would enjoy very much working and animating on screen and using the timeline only to adjust keyframes and parameters, much like i do in 3ds max.
I’d love to see better implementation of the layer styles; especially as it relates to motion blur and depth of field. Attributes get really chunky and do not behave as expected.
Also, I’ve often had to use an adjustment layer to be able to separate 2/5 D objects when they do not respond properly in 3D space.
Would love to see some bicubic functionality with 2.5 D layers.
A visual indicator (slightly thicker line, say) to indicate hidden layers
Collaborative workflow
Nodal or Data buffers- as in, being able to reuse mattes say without having to pre-comp things to reuse.
It would also be great if you would add after effects to the cs review list. right now we have to import the AFX Comp into PP to get this feature
and please give PP the same color managment features AFX has. Because everytime I enable Color Managment after Dynamic Linking to AFX the Picture is way darker in PP. (but I’m not entire sure if this is even possible)
Marker handling:
Every program of the suite does it differently. And exchange is a pain. If Audition, AE and Premiere could unify the marker handling that would be great.
- Show marker text (comment) actually on the timeline as in AE. Not just as a mouse over like in Premiere
- edit markers: select/drag/delete multiple at once
- categorize (keywords and/or colors), filter
- copy markers, e.g. between layers and comps. And also transfer layer markers onto the comp/sequence timeline. E.g. having a ton of markers on a layer but need to use them in the uber comp. Currently, only comp markers get communicated up in the precomp workflow (where they show up as layer markers).
- an option to de/activate layers for the J/K marker navigation (AE). Currently you have to shy that layer away or get it out of the visible area. Which hinders a fluent workflow.
- an option to de/activate the comp markers for J/K marker navigation
- please: import Audition markers correctly into AE and PrPro
- search and filter markers
Agree with this one.
Premiers markers are not nearly as useful as AE.
And like mentioned above:
- swatches, please
- über twirl, especially for keyframing and timing tasks in subcomps. With realtime visual feedback in the main comp, e.g. dragging parameters and seeing the result without havin to let go. Currently subcomp handling is clumsy and slows you down.
- nodal, especially to re-use elements, precomps, mattes, effects, etc. (without having multiple copies, which makes later adjustments a horror and clutters the project)
- 3D for camera mapping tasks.
- Generally, a good camera mapping workflow (e.g. geometry, projector/texture/object bindings similar to C4D. I.e. have indiviual projectors/textures tied to individual objects). AE should assist you in setting up camera mappings. Something similar to Projection Man in C4D would be great. Also Projection Man’s interaction with Photoshop is well done.
Warp Stabilizer: Inverse Transformations
For VFX work it is necessary to stabilize > modify > inverse stabilize the footage. Currently this is not possible with Warp Stabilizer and has to be done e.g. via Mocha. It would be exremely helpfull to have this kind of control with Warp Stabilizer.
At least position, scale, rotation should be able to produce keyframes that could be manipulated by the user. For the warp operation this seems more difficult.
But what should be possible is the introduction of additional options/parameters to either save the transform data in a file and load it from there. Or to save it to keyframes (which can be copied between instances) and then a mode parameter like ‘stabilize” and “invert stabilization”.
The main feature I would want from nodal compositing is the ability to set any layer as a track matte. I often have to use many duplicate track matte layers. Something as simple as a having a pick whip for designating which layer to use as the track matte rather than just the layer above it would work wonders.
I would second the extrusion request. I would rather it be a property of “transform” that defaults to 0 rather than an effect. An option to change the color of the sides of the extrusion, and bevel options would be nice too.
The other feature I would really like to see that was not in your list, is a vector native image sequence output format. I could really use the ability to export an AI, EPS or PDF sequence or some other common still image format that keeps all the vector information (shape layers, text, mattes) in vector format. The flash exporters are a start, but they rasterize too much. If I have a completely vector AE comp, I’d really like to be able to export a completely vector image.
One last feature request would be a console window for expressions. It would be nice to be able to print variable values to a console for debugging.
Never had the pleasure to work with nodes, but reading these comments is revealing benefits. What about a “Node Effect” which could be applied to “Node Layers”?
File/New/Node Layer creates one which can accept the Node Effect (or it’s applied immediately.
In the Effects Panel you can reference other “normal” layers which its properties would get applied to. You would pickwhip from the Effects Panel to the normal layers in the timeline. The “normal” layers get listed in the “node layer’s” effect. And the normal layers indicate they’re being influenced by the node layer by adding the property (mask, matte or other normal effect) when you twirl that layer open, only they’re italicized indicating they can’t be adjusted from there. Twirling down again would reveal the name of the node layer which is projecting something onto them.
This way AE can stay the same and node-users can get some of the convenience of nodes.
I know this is only half-baked; just trying to provide another way of looking at it.
You could also create a second instance of the Flowchart, only this one is functional. There are no connections at first, just nodes representing layers. Node layers would have a visual distinction. After creating a Node Layer, you can open the Node Chart and get to work and pickwhip here instead of from the effects panels to the timeline layers.
Normals layers would still indicate the influence pressed upon them by the Node Layers as mentioned above.
And people who don’t use nodes would be none the wiser.
Here’s you’re nodes as effect, not too shabby
http://www.dvgarage.com/conduit/
@ Nodal compositing – look at how Nuke, Shake and Fusion do it
@ GPU Acceleration – go OpenCL
@ Scaling – yes please
@ Custom zoom – yes please and have the Auto RAM preview setting keep up
Allow all cameras to be accelerated and remain connected to cached RAM preview
@Scopes – add them as a layer effect and adjustment layer effect
While you are at it make layer styles actually work in adjustment layers and add
copy/paste function to layer styles.
@ Import 3D objects – fully support the FBX format similar to Flame
combine that with your raytracing engine
Others:
- Rewrite all remaining 8 and 16 bit plugs to 32 bit and all made additive
- Make all processes but at least the render engine fully multithreaded
Allow the use of multiple networked machines to contribute to both preview
and final render processes – look at the Mental Ray Satellite system for guidance
In this case up to 8 machines support preview rendering to viewport and final render
to disk
Where’s OpenCL?
I belive this is (once more) a decent (request) wave going on here.
sadly it still contains mostly of the ever, forever requested changes since ever i can remember for the time being not only a devoted Adobe Product user with a bit too much hope on the horizon.
*sigh*
They’ll never understand our problems and they’ll never make it because the don’t want to.
Painting in the Comp Window with Vector Paint is really useful. One example is track matting an adjustment layer to a solid with Vector Paint on it to act as the mask – paint in a hue shift or whatever directly over the comp. I don’t see an easy way to do that any more.
Thanks for listening to feedback!
- Jance
You could duplicate the layer and use the existing paint tools in the layer window. By setting the paint option to transparent once your done with painting you also have an alpa matte.
I think as a professionnal and everyday user of after effects that it is a great piece of software.
But it is really time consuming, and all that can be done to save time and energy while working with it is more than welcome.
For example when you have repetitive tasks to do like let’s say a sequence of several minutes with a man and woman talking. They are both in front of a blue screen.
And it has been shot and edited this way close up on the guy then on the woman then on the guy and so on…
How do you do to quikly apply complex setups of effects on those shots specially when you have to precomp some of your layers or to deal with several track mattes to achieve your goal. It’s really mind consuming and tricky because ffx are great but can’t store everything you do. So for those cases nodal can be clearer and faster to use than the layer based ui, another solution can also be to develop an action based and more user friendly script editor with maybe a recorder like in Photoshop like the duac script from duduf.
Another thing that is according to me a strength and a strong weakness of ae.
Is its way of reading videos, the ram preview is a great feature because it allows ae to read almost every kind of seqence format with no format, size or codec restrictions. But it takes most of the user’s time and eventhough it has been greatly improved since the 64bits it is still limited in time which means you can’t be sure you are going to be able to watch the end of whatever you are trying to preview. So why don’t introduced a second timeline which is not ram preview based but more like the premiere timeline would be a codec based one with a limitless realtime playing ability for wathing the renders of ae. I know that it’s already the idea of the prmiere dynamic link but the thing is that launching another app and keeping going from one to another always and always is firstly ram consuming and when you work on ae you want to keep your ram as much as possible for it)(and it doesn’t work well with video cards because of this ram consuming) and it is strongly time consuming.
It should included BG render which is really a time saver.
As a freelancer I think ae is not mutiuser friendly. As AE is becoming a standard used by millions of companies it should have like avid or flame the possiblty to save and load a user profile for each ae user. This profile should contain personnal shortcuts, ui pannel scripts, language, workspaces, fx presets, preferences settings, render settings, output settings etc…which are usefull tools to work faster and be more focused on the creative side.
It should also as it is a timeline based system be easier to use when you have to use it for sound editing or just editing.
A better 3d space with 3d objects and the ability to simply remodeled those a bit would be so great and the ability to do true 3d camera mapping on less or more objects would be so useful for compositing.
A useful feature should be to be able to control which property is keepen by collapsing a precomp and which is not (between for example 3d, motion blur, rasterisation etc…
Another useful thing would be when you choose cycle mask that the app choose the inverted color of the color which is under your first vertex because what is often happening to me is that I choose this option and then I start a roto and my mask color is really closed of the color of the thing I am rotoscopping which sucks.
thx for reading this
robb
more color labels, more expression control effects like a comp controller for selecting another comp or an other comp’s layer, a more accurate tracker, the possibility to use photoshop abr brushes,
Visibility switches for masks on an individual basis.
This should be easy to implement and would increase usability quite a lot. Right now it is all or none. As soon as you have a number of complex masks on one layer it becomes really difficult to edit on a precise level.
The switch could go right next to the mask lock switch.
you can already hide the masks by activating their locker, but first you have to go under layer/mask and choose hide locked masks
Vector Paint had an option to animate all strokes over time which was a great way to do quick reveal animations. It remembered the order in which you drew your strokes and animated them one after another. There was a slider to adjust how quick the draw on occurred. The current paint system offers good control over each individual stroke but animating a lot of individual strokes is time consuming. It would be great to have a way to group the strokes together and animate them all at once.
I Agree with these request;
- scopes (RGB parade) and swatches as a floating window
- variable-width mask feather
- extrusion of vector graphics and text
- Better scaling (especially in half resolution, footage look crappy)
- GPU/CUDA acceleration
Whish list
From my type of work, I would like to see After Effects moving a bit from a Motion graphic app toward an Online tool. So;
- Better handling of audio: Multichannel Quicktime are downmixed on export, 24bits, Export OMF (the workflow from Premiere merge audio from composition)
- An editing timeline merge with Iridas Speedgrade (I can’t wait)
Thanks
Hi,
About nodal compositing and 3d objects import, I think the main advantages of AE is precisely being the only one software not neing nodal. Wanting to mix both workflow may make AE even more cumbersome to you. Toxik/Compositing have all you request about nodal, mattes, 3d importing, 3d matte painting etc, but doesn’t have layer based workflow and hopefully, each software have its strengh. We use Composite and AE, both are a lot more efficient in their domain, and mixing both would not result in a better app than having both. If you have maya, max, softimage, you ave Toxik/Composite (or buy Toxik, you have maya for free). Use best of both world. Combustion was a mix of nodal and layer based, and it was a pain in nodal as we still have to do nested comp like in AE, and its layerbased wasn’t as powerfull as AE.
Well, here is my point of view about features requests for AE CS6…
1- Saving projects backward :
I think it would be good to have a retro-compatibilty with AE CS4 (the latest 32 bit release) so it would be possible to use older 32 bit plugins onto CS5 projects.
2- Extrusion of vector graphics:
It would be great to do it right in AE of course, but with the ability to get bevelled edges and assigning different textures/shaders on that (one for faces/one for sides/one for bevels). And of course with AE lights integration, Cam, shadows and occurate Z positionning.
3- GPU/CUDA acceleration:
Of course I agree with any enhacement…
4- Nodal compositing:
Here’s my thought… Compositing “Big Boys” in AE is tooooo heavy, to complex and time consuming. Too much precomposing, too much duplicated layers and duplicated mattes…
“the relative difficulty of reusing the same item (like a matte) for multiple layers or multiple purposes” : is the key !
I have 3 ideas about it, into 3 levels of AE features integration complexity (Due of my poor english i’ve modified AE user interface and put it in images, and get it online, rather than making long sentences… I hope it would be possible to see these pictures into this blog).
a/ The first one is about Reusing item for multiple layers and purposes INTO THE TIMELINE :
http://sevenset.free.fr/data/track_matte_level_01.jpg
b/ The second one is about Reusing item for multiple layers and purposes WITH A NEW PANEL :
http://sevenset.free.fr/data/track_matte_level_02.jpg
In addition of this example, it would be great, when you’ve selected an element into the “Track Mattes Active List” panel, to be able to see in a “Exclusive Links Map” …a map of
exclusive mattes/layers links…
c/ The third one, i’m going to try to say it into words, is much a “NODAL” approach, with a global map of the project, with INPUT/OUTPUT OPERATORS for linkable elements/nodes.
You must fill the gap between AE and Nuke !
5- Import of 3D objects:
“Do you just want to be able to relight them? Scale and rotate them? Edit them? ” YES i want it all !!! And more… AE Lights, Cam integration, cast Shadow, Z positionning, Shading… I want it all ! The biggest sofware of the world, all in one ! Flame+Nuke+Katana+DaVinci Resolve into AE…I’m dreaming!
Best regards.
Separating dimensions messes up animation curves
I’m an animator, and I would very much prefer, that AE wouldn’t change the shape of the graph editor animation curves when separating the dimensions of an already animated property. Also, it would be great to be able to use the handles of the curves in the graph editor without separating the dimensions.
On a related point, it would be really great not to have to chose between using the graph editor curve handles or the path handles in the comp viewer when animating. Would there be a way to make the two work alongside each other? I feel it would make a fantastically powerful animation tool if, since they are both really good for certain kinds of movement, but not for others, and it would be so great not to have to choose either or. As it is now, you don’t get the handles on the curves in the graph editor when you have them in the comp viewer and vice versa.
I feel that these improvements would drastically help animators feel more comfortable with the graph editor and so make more and better use of AE. As it is now, most of my colleagues don’t really like using the graph editor. They feel quite uneasy with it. I suppose partly it’s because they will have to give up on an intuitive way to handle the paths in the comp viewer. To be able to make real use of the curves you have to separate the dimensions. It’s rather discouraging to see your painstakingly constructed animations being thrown to chaos when clicking the separate Dimensions button. That is probably why the graph editor feels more like the enemy to many an animator, and not like a friend, like it should be.
1) Audio playback in real time and on scrubbing, mixing capabilities just like in Premiere.
An easy to use build in 3d camera tracker, like PFHoe and Cameratracker by the Foundry.
2) Ability to do single layer editing (split into multiple parts), just like in Premiere.
3) Paint in composition, ability to do frame by frame animations with multiple frame onionskin support.
4) Ability to easily create paths as helpers/null objects within 2d/3d space.
5) Real 3d view, just like in 3ds Max or HitFilm! Right now the 3d viewing system is terrible, I am always struggling to peep trough the fixed composition framing.
6) Better camera animation – manipulation. As it was mentioned before, 3ds max system with a universal manipulator will be great!
7) Inverse Kinematics tools
9) Build in particle systems like Particular or those found in HitFilm.
10) Import 3d objects. As it was beautifully stated before “AE Lights, Cam integration, cast Shadow, Z positionning, Shading… I want it all !”
11) Better ram management. I am on 16Gb and still feel like I don’t have enough and I work relatively low rez projects. There was a plugin called Nucleo Pro that supposedly addressed those issues. A similar approach might help.
12) True multitreading support and GPU support, not Nvidia exclusive though.
13) A curve/graph editor that makes sense. As it is now it’s just frustrating.
“it seems pretty clear that most people would be happy with just the relatively simple layer folders feature. ”
NO, NO, NO and again NO!
We want “b) the ability to precompose layers but still be able to expand the precomposition within the containing composition.”
AND
work with them aslike with precompositions. Animate, Mask, Apply filters and Effects.
“We didn’t know whether people wanted …” bla, bla.
You guys make me sick. We are talking about this feature CLEARY since a couple of years, even in the “old forums” and feature requests.
Don’t play stupid Adobe and get your job done. This is way overdue!
AND: make masks being copy pasted properly into place! This is just ridiculous that it’s still there!
Why do you never release my comments? Are they too nasty?
Really, do not fail with the nested layers feature as described in my previous post.
Forgetabout my post about my last comment. I saw them too late :/
Delete the last one as of 5:02 PM and this one here.
Please make CS 6 a groundbreaking releses, please!
feature requests = Don Quixote’s attack on windmills …
Any questions?
Just been working with Gopro files.
Be nice if AE had a function like PS where lens info could be entered and saved. Then lens distortion removed more effectively then using the current AE ‘remove distortion’ filter.
Also the ‘remove grain’ function could be improved. I get a lot of red/green colour noise in some files and the current AE filter isn’t up to the task of removing the noise.
I have not read all the comments here, so sorry if this is redundant. And I am NOT just shilling for Avid. But if you are interested in seeing how a layer based nodal compositor can work, down load the educational version of Avid DS. It has a bit of a steep learning curve but it shows just how great this combo can be.
Where DS fails (because of Avid’s decisions) is that it has no 3D workspace. That is the main reason I come to After Effects (plus better use of expressions).
You can use it many ways, but my most simple and common use is to control timing in the layers and compositing in the node tree. And I love the node tree because there is never a question about render order. It is right in front of me.
Plus DS has one other thing that I find annoying in After Effect. DS plays back from disc, not RAM and is brilliant at managing renders! I can cache elements right in the tree ( say proxy) with a couple of clicks.
I use AE for what I can’t do in DS. I would use AE more if it did some of these things.
Great thread by the way!!
Jef
How to give after effects nodal compositing features…
without having to re-write after effects.
Nodal compositing is- I’m sure- one of the most requested features made by visual effects artists for AE. I know on my part I would more than appreciate it. I have given this some thought and here is how I believe Nodes can find a place within the layer based program.
Option 1: “Selective Adjustment Layers”
This doesn’t necessarily provide all the features of a nodal work flow, but it does provide some of the great advantages nodes do. This would be an adjustment layer that will only effect the layers it is tagged to. This way, for example, I can apply only one instance of a light wrap plug-in to all of my separate layers of keyed elements… without pre-composing, duplicating the background etc. Or I could use the “set matte” effect on a Selective AL and have only one layer that controls the matte of several layers- irregardless of their layer order. The effect/s held by the Selective AL would be rendered after the effects in the layer itself… like a standard Adjustment Layer does now. The only layers that would be available for tagging would be layers below the SAL and effects would be rendered according to the layer stacking order in the event of multiple SALs.
Option 2: The “Nodal Layer”
Take everything above about “Selective Adjustment Layers” but now imagine that the stacking order doesn’t matter. When a Nodal Layer is created you again choose which layers it will effect. Upon doing so a “Nodal Effect” is automatically applied to each of those layers. That “Nodal Effect” can now be moved up and down the stacking order of the individual layers effects. So on one layer I can have my Nodal Layer’s effects happen after my individual layers effects… but on another they can happen before.
For example: Lets say that I want to apply the exact same glow effect to layers 8, 9 and 13. However on layer 8 I want it to happen before my levels effect but on layer 9 I want it to happen after its curves effect. Then on layer 13 I want it to occur after its Keylight effect but before its lens blur effect. All that needs to be done is to adjust the placement of the Nodal Effect in the stacking order in the effects panel for each of those layers. Now if I need to change the over all glow… it’s REALLY easy to do with far less setup than creating individual effects for each layer and linking them with expressions. I simply alter the effect/s in my corresponding “Nodal Layer”.
But Nodal Layers can go further…. by simply having channel and blending options within the individual layers “Nodal Effects”. So now layer 8′s glow can be set to the alpha channel of layer 3 and set to add mode. While layer 13′s glow can be set to the luma channel of layer 8. All while maintaining different render orders within their layer’s effects panel.
Finally, ideally there would be a check box within the “Nodal Effect” that would say something like “Pre-compose above effects”… again in an effort to reduce pre-composing, the option is there for those situations where it would be helpful.
Option 3: “Node Graph Panel”
Everything in option 2… but add a Node Graph to help us visualize, easily rearrange, and alter the Node Layer’s and Node Effects.
Please give all of the above some careful thought. I believe it could add a lot of power to an already amazing program. If you have any questions, let me know, I would love to help.
Curtis Hickman
Creative Designer, VFX Artist
Layer names visible on the whole timeline – from in to out point:
When having a broad timeline with many layers, it helps to use the the label colors to identify layers faster. But the manually given layer names are always only to be seen on the left side. I thought about having a mouseover function, which slightly shows up the layer name, when i move the cursor over it, somewhere in the timeline. this could really speed up the whole layer navigation!!! and i think it must be a simple thing to build this.
CURTIS said is perfectly!! Those things alone would change AE forever! Those are the same things I have always wanted and would save sooooo much time. Plus opening AE to a whole new world of options!! Thanks Curtis! Adobe please look into this:)
-Aaron
I haven’t seen this mentioned here, but I would like to see the following features added to After Effects expressions:
– A built-in function that allows you to query the absolute world-coordinates for an object in object-space (i.e., not camera or image/composition space). This would greatly ease some problems I’ve encountered with extracting the position of an object when it’s parented to another object. Right now I have to create a bunch of expressions down the entire hierarchy to calculate the offsets needed to get the absolute world-coordinates of a child-object relative to the root of the hierarchy. It would be nice if there was a built-in expression function that simply returned this world-coordinate position value irrespective of any parented hierarchy the object may belong to.
Secondly, I would *love* to see some matrix-related functions. These would include:
– An arbitrary shape matrix-type up to 4×4 so we can work with homogeneous coordinates … “arbitrary” in this case would mean we can also create non-square matrices whose dimensions do not exceed 4-elements in either the row or columns
– Matrix-related functions such as multiplying two or more matrices and taking the inverse of an invertible square-matrix
– I think there should be a way to easily “include” or “import” external functions into the scope of the After Effects expression editor on the timeline. In other words we can write expression libraries, and then place these javascript files in a designated folder. Then when we write expressions in the timeline, we can simply write one line to import the entire script with it’s functions, types, etc., rather than having to cut-and-paste possibly hundreds of lines of code into the relatively small expression editor on the timeline. While I know you can extend the timeline expression editor interface, it’s not really convenient for too many lines of code, and this becomes even more cumbersome when you have to repeat this multiple times for each layer. It then becomes a nightmare if there is an error in a function, etc. since you have to now cut-and-paste the new code back into many different layers on the timeline. Having a source file you can simply update and keep re-sourcing without having to restart AE each time you change elements in the source file would greatly benefit this dilemma.
You must Add 3d layer warp (like flame bicubic)
I need easy 3d navigation like nuke or fusion or other 3d aplications
Improvements I would like to see:
- 1000X yes to über twirl!!! My optimum solution would be: just make it like twirling down layer properties, that solves everything – and regarding time remapping: time remapping changes keyframe positions, just like it would be with precomps
- make the shape layer editing more intuitive, right now, when I switch from Illustrator to AE it`s frustrating as hell not being able to select and manipulate points and handles like we`re used to
- fix the render queue: I don`t know how many times I did set up something incorrectly because everything was split into those three subsets – and please (PLEASE!) make the template setup process easier and generalized, so that we can define one preset for all settings (render settings, file settings and name settings) – in my case, I only have 3 or 4 formats that I need regularly and would love to have them perfectly setup
- please integrate nodal compositing, my idea would be like this:
a node tree is automatically built in the background while the artist is editing his comp (should be no problem, each effect is a node and each layer is a merge operator, just like it is now) – only when someone wants to pipe off some data (alpha/color/misc) he goes into the node tree (or could do this by pickwhipping in the layer view) and puts his pipe conections where needed
- PLEASE is it possible to change the timeline from the current “one clip only per layer” to something like premiere? I have this situation a lot of times when I only need certain parts of a clip or use something over and over in the sequence that I must precompose or edit externally. some may argue that I am lazy, but in fact it makes everything more complicated, time consuming and error prone – and 1+ for the suggestion regarding “fluid, no render preview” like in premiere
- update all plugins from 8 to 32 bit, please
I’d like to be able to set memory and processor usage on a per comp basis.
Mainly in the render queue, as I’m finding I have comps with very different resource requirements.
I get away with 2gig per processor onlow rez test renders, but find I have to wind the resources up to 3gig per processor on a final render.