There was almost nothing strictly brand new for an NAB release of Adobe video products this year, though there are a number of features already in beta in Premiere and After Effects. Okay, there was the announcement of AI video features coming by the end of the year for Premiere Pro. But nothing for After Effects, though 3D features and investments were mentioned on the show floor.

In videos from NAB (here on ProVideo Coalition), Adobe reps expected many of the beta video features will appear in a generally available release in early May 2024. For more from NAB, see NAB: AI + Firefly 3 in Premiere Pro and After Effects from AEP.

After Effects product manager Victoria Nece has noted several release and beta features recently, including the March 2024 release (here at PVC), which presents a workflow improvement and important fixes in After Effects. See also What’s New at Adobe Support.

A number of new Advanced 3D features went live in After Effects Beta to take your 3D composites to the next level. These include new brand new stuff like Shadow Catchers and Shadow Colors (and with the 3D Camera Tracker) and Depth maps and 3D Channel effects. Also in beta is scripting modifications; see Scripting: New API for 3D Model Layers.

If you need to catch up on the many new features of late, see previous AEP roundups like After Effects Roundup March 2024 and After Effects Roundup March 2024 #2.

One recent feature that came out of beta is Per-Character Scripting Public Beta, sheperded by Sébastien Périer. SternFX released a tutorial for the feature, Advanced Typography: Per-Character Styling in After Effects.

Some newer tutorials feature the latest features in AE and the beta app, and serve as a state of where we’re at with 3D. We’ll start with New AWESOME 3D Features in After Effects by flomotion. Lines To Designs also posted; see The BEST NEW 3D Feature in After Effects Beta (NOBODY Talks About This!). He discusses Animation Options for imported models, light, etc in the AE beta app.

Deepening discussion of new 3D features is After Effects vs. Plugins: A 3D Showdown! by SternFX. It’s like a guide to current methods for 3D in AE.

Eran dives into the “epic battle” between the native 3D toolset in After Effects and 4 powerful plug-ins: Helium, Element 3D, Geo, and Cineware. Note that HeliumX Lite is a FREE 3D plug-in for Adobe After Effects. It includes some of the basic tools of the HeliumX 3D toolset – 3D Models, 3D Animated Text , Extruded Shapes, Primitives and Scroll. Eran says it’s the fastest render of the bunch.

And, In 3 Features that Point to the Future of After Effects | 3D System, Master Properties, Libraries SoM’s Johnny Booth tries to predict the future of After Effects a bit. Joey does note that AE’s latest render engine seems to be a port from Substance 3D.

Also interesting is Gaussian Splatting for After Effects, from irrealix. With this plug-in you can import, manipulate, and render 3D Gaussian Splatting (.ply) files inside After Effects, in real-time with GPU.

Adobe Live with Evan and Kyle posted Motion Design Hotline: Animated 3d Assets, with some mention of the latest Adobe developments seen at NAB. Later they posted Motion Design Hotline: Model Behavior, which is long and without accurate description or chapter markers.

It’s been over 25 years since users began asking Adobe for realtime After Effects based on hardware or a 3D engine. Now it appears the game engine side is ready without Adobe, and it’s faster and more advanced for 3D. One YT channel talking about this is fastchaos, in Four Reasons to Learn Unreal for Motion Design (even if you know After Effects).

For more, see also Real-time Motion Design with Unreal Engine! by Aharon Rabinowitz, who demos the new Unreal Engine Motion Design cloner system. Pranjal Choudhary posted something similar with Real Time Motion Design in Unreal Engine 5.4 | Beginner Tutorial.

Jonathan Winbush has even more on Unreal; see for example, Unleash Your 2D Potential with Unreal Motion Design.

You might also check out Animating in Rive for After Effects Users by Jake In Motion.

The Adobe Substance 3D team released Adobe Substance 3D Designer for Beginners | Course Overview. You can watch the 22 tutorials through Youtube or through the webpage Substance Designer Complete Beginner’s course. Unfortunately,Substance 3D costs an extra $50 a month, which might be ok if you’re a success in 3D or hoping to ride the AR wave.

Adobe announced the Firefly 3 beta launch just after NAB. PiXimperfect has coverage in Photoshop’s EPIC AI Update: All New Features Explained.

There will be more AI in the next roundup, but here’s a roundup of relevant AI news: Hollywood is Using AI! Have You Noticed? from Curious Refuge.