After Effects 1.0 was released in January 1993!

Rameez_Khan of Adobe support posted After Effects Community Recap 2022: Year-in-review. He also noted that After Effects 23.1 is now live! — headlined by Cinema 4D 2023 integration and a “What’s fixed” list. By the way, Adobe Says it isn’t Using Your Photos to Train AI Image Generators.

The Entire History of Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects was posted by ‘a funny looking squash.’ It’s well done though perhaps viewed from afar since the app is 30 years old. For a history roundup on After Effects, see AEP’s Celebrating 25 years of Adobe After Effects here on PVC. A great resource for those interested was posted by Matt Silverman in a trip down memory lane with the After Effects Team from the first SFMOGRAPH user group meeting in March 2008. See also the free webinar: Two Decades of After Effects with Chris and Trish Meyer from 2013.

This must be the season to present favorite plug-ins!

First up is 23 After Effects PLUGINS to Use in 2023 is from Boone Loves Video. He presents 23 plugins, extensions, and scripts that may supercharge your Adobe After Effects experience in 2023. He also links to his other annual roundups. This follows the previous month’s My Top 10 (Most Used) After Effects Plugins of 2022.

Duik Ángela is the brand new version of Duik (17.x), the successor of Duik Bassel (16.x). “The comprehensive rigging and animation toolkit for Adobe After Effects just got even better.” Duck has tutorials but Jake In Motion jumped in with DUIK Angela Jumpstart \\ Complete Beginner’s Guide.

5 Essential FREE Plugins You Need For After Effects are discussed by Motion By Scott, who currently favors Easecopy, FX Console, Duik Angela, Buttcapper, and Bendy Nulls.

Best FREE Resources for After Effects in 2023 from Holmes Motion is another favorites list. He expanded his earlier survey, Top 10 Plugins for After Effects 2023.

Most Important After Effects 2023 Updates | Adobe Tutorial, by 7 Minute AE Tutorials, succintly covers new Effects and Presets/Animation Presets/Presets/Behavior on how make stuff blink, trim paths on and off on your shape layers, and lock any anchor point with a double-click. He also covered a recently released free effect filter in Best Free After Effects Plugin | VOID | Adobe Tutorial.

Ben Marriott says that Recreating The Last Of Us Titles Was A Challenge…

In this video he breaks down a process for recreating the title card from HBO’s The Last Of Us, using Adobe Photoshop to create textures and After Effects to animate the veins, create speed ramps, reveal text, and composite it all under a series of effects.

Create Faux 3D Parallax using Faux Parent for After Effects, available at aescripts + aeplugins, uses a new tool for After Effects. Using Faux Parent, your child can be parented with one or more transform properties (Position, Scale, Rotation, Opacity) with settings that break the traditional parenting relationships.

Create Parallax Slideshow Promos in After Effects | Tutorial by SonduckFilm shows you how to bring your photos to life with depth and multiple planes of motion, creating a visually video to capture audience attention. This tutorial is easy to follow and suitable for both beginners and advanced users of After Effects. SonduckFilm also posted Create AI Generated 3D Photos with Any Photo in After Effects. The approach is not new but he uses the Depth Blur neural feature in Photoshop to generate a depth matte for displacement, which may need a little more tweaking than indicated in the tutorial.

Olufemii shared 5 Tricks To Unlock the Power of After Effects:

Power Droste for After Effects, a tool available from aescripts + aeplugins, lets us finally let go of the old Pixel Bender tool. This Droste effect plug-in is a multi-functional effect for spiral deformation, with 3D rotation and unroll animation, individually controlled with textured multi-strands and extra deformation.

Pixflow has at least 2 free kinetic type tools: TypeToon and PX-Kinetype. Is there a catch?! Here’s the most recent tutorial, Bring Your Text to Life with this FREE Kinetic Typography After Effects Plugin!

Film Riot posted yet more approachable realism using practical assets with Making Realistic Fire with VFX.

OK I’m a sucker for Ball Action, so check out 3D PARTICLE LOGO Animation with NO PLUGINS | Easy After Effects Tutorial by Michael Ponch. This one uses built-in effects like Ball Action to help you fake 3D similar to Maxon’s Trapcode Form, with an assist from the Card Dance effect.

3 FAST & EASY MAP EFFECTS In After Effects, by Flat Pack FX, can be useful.

Boone Loves Video shares more of his love for maps in Mapping with ChatGPT🌎💾

I Made ChatGPT Write After Effects Scripts For Me from NT Productions uses ChatGPT to create AE scripts, and discovers some of the strengths and weaknesses of the language model while programming Adobe add-ons. He digs even deeper on an After Effects GPU Plugin Tutorial [CUDA, OpenCL, Metal] to create a GPU Accelerated plug-in using the most recent After Effects SDK.

Editing Challenge: A.I. vs Professional Editor was posted by Cinecom.net. They let the A.I. ChatGPT write a movie script, shot list, light setup and do the video editing. Did the A.I. tool “make” a better movie than a pro filmmaker?

Goodbye Premiere Pro! Why Editors Are Switching To DaVinci Resolve, by Matt WhoisMatt Johnson, discusses 4 main reasons: stability, speed, features, and price. Dear Adobe, please resolve these issues!

Justin Odisho shared his basic but effective How to create Cool Time GLITCH Effects in Adobe Premiere Pro!

Not far afield from that is How To Create VHS Effect in After Effects | FREE After Effects Plugin Tutorial, by Pixflow.

Motion Hatch posted Insane ChatGPT Tricks NO Motion Designer Should Ignore! She asks, can ChatGPT actually help you to become a better motion designer?

Check out New AI Video Editing Tools Beyond 2023 (Mind Blowing!) from Premiere Gal for info on RunwayML – Magic Tools, Timebolt Silence Remove, LaLaLai Music Remover and Noise Remover, Adobe Podcast Vocal Enhancer. Then, you might take a look at Sara Dietschy’s 14 Ai tools creators should actually use. It’s happening now; it’s happening right now!

London-based Flawless AI’s ‘True Sync’ tech is a revolutionary approach to film dubbing might be the coolest use for DeepFakes The Next Web has seen yet. Here’s a more succinct peek:

The crazy stuff I do at work… we use AI change up how films are made! @Flawlessai
This would be why I don't post on here much these days.#Filmmaker #filmmaking #ArtificialIntelligence pic.twitter.com/xYmLAO6MaB

— Sneaky Zebra (@sneakyzebra) January 23, 2023

AI Tools Part 1: Why We Need Them by Jeff Foster here on PVC is thoughtful. Aren’t you already exhausted from hearing “AI-this” and “AI-that” everywhere?

The Next Web wonders How will ChatGPT, DALL-E and other AI tools impact the future of work? We asked 5 experts about the impact of AI on artists and knowledge workers.

Meanwhile Max Maher stresses “prompt engineering” in This Bizarre Skill Makes You RICH With ChatGPT.

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Please note that these roundups are for quick review and comparison. There is almost always vital information from the originating authors at the links provided — and often free presets, projects, or stock footage too.

@aerich suffers from information overload. Feel free to comment or contribute!