After Effects 25.0.1 is the current version, with no big recent announcements. The October 2024 (25.0.1) release includes important fixes. 

After Effects didn’t get AI at Max 2024 in October. Here are the newish features, described in Is that really it? After Effects updates | Adobe MAX 2024 from Tom Graham for Envato Video:

* Leaner 3D model import
* GPU-accelerated UI on Windows
* New Adobe Spectrum interface look (for reasons now unclear 1,  2), 3, etc.)
* Per-character text and paragraph styling expressions
* Color management improvements

Top beta features are now:

• Accepts Lights switch in Advanced 3D,
• Customize Transparency Grids,
• Customize panel background colors,
• Quick Set Anchor Point, and
• 8 Blend Modes Receive 32-bpc Blending Support on GPU.

Here on PVC, Chris Zwar continues his series with Color Management Part 23: HDR tone mapping in practise. Chris says that the preferred way of compositing HDR video is using ACES. But ACES isn’t just a button we can click – we now have three different ACES options in After Effects, as well as the original Adobe Color Engine.

SternFX asks Untapped Potential or Obsolete? when looking at 10 After Effects tools that reflect its evolution. Some still have niche uses, but most are relics of the past. Which are hidden gems or just obsolete after maybe 30 years?

After Effects Basics posted 5 Hacks Every Motion Designer Needs!

SternFx also shared Mastering the Shatter Effect: Exploding Text Made Easy, on how to make your text come alive with the Shatter effect, which was introduced in the mid-90s as a 3rd party plug-in and later folded into AE.

Brian Maffitt’s original Total Training videos have disappeared again, so various subtleties of custom shatter maps may be out there somewhere. Jake In Motion has a general overview of the filter in Shatter | Effects of After Effects.

Manuel does Motion took a look recently at several uses in Incredible Noise Tricks in After Effects | Tutorial.

My favorite AE noise tutorial is a revived classic text by Chris Zwar, Fractal Noise: Advanced analysis of After Effects most versatile plugin. If you want an overview of the Fractal Noise effect and its update Turbulent Noise, see After Effects Classic Course: Turbulent Noise by Crish Design.

There’s more noise effects in AE covered by Jake in Motion in his series on AE’s built-in plug-ins. More scattershot in application is an old AEP roundup, Fractal Noise in After Effects.

This demo is fun… A Dynamic deforming Spiral of Text using Adobe After Effects and Newton4 by the tool vendor Motion Boutique.

Stephan Zammit moves away from reactive projects to box animations in A Better Way to Animate | After Effects Animation Tutorial.

olly creates some Automatic Proximity Reactions in After Effects.

Here are some basics on using 3D in After Effects. ProductionCrate has blending success in Start Using 3D in After Effects – Beginner Tutorial! Flomotion soldiers on in ADVANCED 3D COMPOSITING in After Effects.

Yanobox plug-ins make it easy to produce stylish complicated animations. There’s a Black Friday sale ending soon, so check out Nodes 3 for AE, Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro & Motion.

AE competitors are not caput, especially when they have a free version, so check out What’s new in Cavalry 2.2? by Chris Hardcastle.

In Dear Adobe…addressing your concerns, Premiere Gal discusses missing features for social media editors. Avid is still the king of Hollywood, so services for the actual user base makes sense.

Gal also posted Dreamy Film Haze and Halation in Premiere Pro (Free vs Paid).

If you don’t use Premiere (or DaVinci, etc), you might consider Ruby Helyer’s I read through CapCut’s privacy policy… and it scared me away. TikTok is a sister company.

Apple purchased Pixelmator Pro, an Adobe competitor, and also finally released a new version of Final Cut Pro. See Final Cut Pro 11: Why now? by Tyler Stalman.

If you’re not using Adobe Premiere and Photoshop, or you want to explore beyond the ranch, check out The Best AI Tools for Video Editors by Johnny Elwyn.

Theoretically Media has news that’s already old after a week, and other newer stuff, but see NEW AI Tools & BIG Updates for AI Video & Audio!

Meanwhile Matt Wolfe has a newer roundup with AI News: OpenAI’s Sora Gets Exposed! And, Matt Wolfe & Nathan Lands build a tier list in Ranking 22 Of The Most Popular Ai Tools (Q4 2024 Ai Tier List).

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Don’t miss out on project files and presets often found at the original postings of the news items. And remember, the story of Pantera is just more propaganda!