After Effects CS6 / Features

Isolate foreground elements from backgrounds in a fraction of the time it would otherwise take using this revolutionary tool.

Control which parts of a 2D or 3D layer are visible by adding and animating a virtually unlimited number of masks on any layer. Individually control their feather and transparency.

Precisely specify feather values at any place along a mask, not just at its vertices. Control falloff and shape of feathering, resulting in a big boost to creative flexibility.

Use Academy Award–winning Keylight from The Foundry to create mattes of green screen and blue screen footage, even for difficult situations such as reflections, semitransparency, and hair.

Animate the shape of masks over time as well as their parameters, such as feather and opacity.

Copy paths in Adobe Photoshop® and Illustrator® software and paste them as masks in After Effects. Use the Shape effect to import masks tracked in mocha for After Effects CS6* from Imagineer Systems Ltd.

Create RotoBezier masks from scratch or convert them from Bezier masks.

Use any layer's pixel data (alpha channel or luminance) to determine the visibility of an adjacent layer.

Combine masks using Add, Subtract, Intersect, and Difference modes.

Employ Difference, Color Range, Color Key, Linear Color Key, Extract, and Luma Key effects as needed for a specific job.

Control mask transitions when mask points don't transition properly to replicate natural motion.

Remove unwanted color spill from any footage quickly and easily.

Replicate the method used to key color footage on many landmark films with the Color Difference Key.

Spread or choke the selection area of any alpha channel with a subpixel level of control.

Derive a key from border pixels that you select by creating a rough mask around the edges of an object.

Apply intelligent edge tracking, dechattering, and motion blurring capabilities to any layer with a problematic alpha channel, such as keyed footage.

Produce animated vector masks automatically from any layer's pixel data, including alpha channels.

Track 3D elements with complete control over depth of field, shadows, and reflections. Automatically analyze and place 3D track points onto 2D footage in the background while you work.

Extrude fully ray-traced text and shapes natively and take full advantage of reflections, environment maps, and more.

Work in 2D or 3D, or freely combine 2D and 3D elements in the same composition without having to change modes or redo your work. Default cameras and lights let you add dimension to a layer with no additional setup.

Import 3D camera and other 3D data from any 3D tracking software that can export Autodesk Maya ASCII (MA) files. Extract camera information from an RLA/RPF sequence. Export After Effects camera data via third-party scripts.

Cut between multiple cameras in the same composition. Define unique cameras by angle of view, lens length, image area size, aperture, depth-of-field blur, and a host of other keyframable parameters.

Work in 3D space using tools including Camera Lens Blur; light falloff; 3D camera data input; multiple 3D cameras per composition; and the ability to keyframe x, y, and z values separately.

Add multiple lights to a scene and animate them. Choose from different light types, set their color, and define their shadow darkness and diffusion individually.

Define how each 3D layer in a scene responds to lights, including control over size and intensity of the specular highlight.

Work with parent and child layers. A child layer inherits all transformations applied to the parent, including anchor point, while maintaining its own local animation.

Define individual layers to cut out all the layers below. Or have layers above honor the transparency of layers underneath.

Set a 3D light to illuminate a subset of layers in a composition.

Project light through a layer to create colored shadows, stained-glass effects, and the look of projected slides.

Use a complex composition as a single-layer source. Feed multiple compositions into one, or use a single source comp multiple times, so that upstream changes ripple throughout a project. Easily navigate through nested comps.

Take advantage of three-button mice for more intuitive, immediate 3D control with the Unified Camera tool. Keyboard shortcuts make it easy to look at all or selected layers.

Create adjustment layers, similar to those in Photoshop, to apply effects to any layers that appear below them.

Combine the transform properties of nested compositions with higher level comps to reduce the number of times the pixels of a layer are processed, preserving their fidelity.

Easily add and extract content from the timeline in your compositions using basic editing tools, such as Overlay and Ripple Insert Edit; Lift, Extract, and Trim Comp to Work Area.

Get bidirectional support for the transfer of cameras, lights, null objects, plane objects and solids, footage, blend modes, opacity, and effects. Iterate more effectively and reduce rework.

Type, edit, and customize characters, words, and paragraphs. Animate text along a path, randomize or wiggle text, and more in 2D or 3D space. Add depth to your text by casting shadows and moving, rotating, or blurring.

Create and animate vector graphics easily with shape layers. Add properties such as stroke, stroke type, fill, and gradients to shapes and animate those properties.

Export animated text as vector-based SWF files to create innovative, web-friendly animations.

Convert text into editable paths — either as shape layers or masks on solids — so you can animate the individual vertices of each character.

Maintain sharpness at any scale by setting Illustrator artwork, text, shapes, solid layers, and vector components of PDF and SWF files to be continuously rasterized.

Create simple solid shapes that can have effects applied and that can be masked and animated.

Modify and animate hand-drawn or parametric shapes by applying shape effects, including Merge Paths, Offset Paths, Pucker & Bloat, Repeater, Round Corners, Trim Paths, Twist, Wiggle Paths, Wiggle Transform, and Zig Zag.

Typeset text professionally and then set it in motion. Use more than 250 professional 2D and 3D text animation presets, or create custom text animations from scratch.

Edit color with a wide variety of effects, including Color Finesse 3 LE to create LUTs, Photoshop based color-correction and tinting tools, access to broadcast colors and gamma/pedestal/gain, and tools to isolate/change hues.

Create soft-focus effects with Camera Lens Blur. Set iris shape, blade curvature, and diffraction fringe characteristics for beautiful bokeh. Use these settings for depth-of-field control with the After Effects 3D camera.

Animate and composite stereoscopic projects easily. Quickly set up stereo camera rigs. Save time with simplified rendering of multiple cameras, and work with an updated 3D Glasses effect.

Create blur effects customized to the needs of the shot, including compound and edge-preserving "smart" blurs, as well as standard sharpening effects.

Warp and distort footage with effects like Liquify, Bezier Warp, Wave Warp, Corner Pin, Reshape, and Displacement Map and with the unique Puppet tool. Simulate real camera lens distortion.

Generate imagery ranging from simple fills and gradients to realistic lightning bolts and electricity, as well as lens flares, strokes, grids, circles, scribbled lines, and animated graphics based on audio.

Enhance existing imagery, ranging from subtle textures and hot-looking glows to stylized edges, brush strokes, and other effects. A dedicated Cartoon effect gives live footage the look of cel animation quickly and easily.

Use advanced plug-ins to generate realistic wave reflection and caustic effects as well as to break up 2D layers into 3D pieces, which can then be exploded or further manipulated.

Perform 3D post-processing of RLA and RPF files, extracting Object and ID Matte channels and normals and adding Depth Matte, Depth of Field, and Fog 3D effects.

Manipulate the individual color and alpha channel information of your images, including borrowing channels from other layers and performing advanced operations to combine channels or create grayscale images.

Add shadows, bevel the outline of a layer, and even create a single 3D image by combining a left and right 3D view.

Match camera grain perfectly, automatically, and with full manual control, or remove it from footage entirely. Add or eliminate dust and scratches.

Process footage based on other layers or adjacent frames using Time Difference, Displacement, and Echo effects. Timewarp offers extra control over the built-in Pixel Motion for precise retiming of footage.

Generate numbers and timecode with text effects that supplement the powerful text engine already built into After Effects.

Customize Cineon log color conversion, alter assigned color profiles, manage HDR images to prevent clipping, and artificially grow images beyond their normal boundaries.

Use classic video-style transitions without the need to re-create them step by step.

Preserve information about the settings used by each missing effect.

Create natural phenomena such as clouds, lava, glowing water, and gas using the fast and efficient Turbulent Noise effect. Create looping animations of similar elements using the Fractal Noise effect.

Enhance your creativity with 90 new and updated built-in effects, including the complete 16- and 32-bit CycoreFX HD suite.

Smooth handheld footage, or lock a shot automatically. Warp Stabilizer removes jitter and compensates for motion-related irregularities.

Remove rolling shutter artifacts such as skew and wobble without forcing stabilization.

Launch mocha for After Effects CS6 directly within After Effects CS6*.

Gain precise graphical control over keyframe values, interpolation speed, and how properties and keyframes relate to each other over time.

Slow down and speed up footage with smooth, crisp results and minimal artifacts. Timewarp analyzes pixel motion to create more accurate in-between frames with user-adjustable parameters.

Separate the Position path from the time it takes to move from one point to another.

Enable the position of each object to be calculated to finer than 1/65,536th of a pixel for extremely smooth motion.

Choose between traditional Frame Mix and intelligent Pixel Motion modes to create new intermediate frames in speed-shifted footage.

Use the luminance of one layer to control the timing of individual pixels in another layer.

Quickly draw an animation path for any layer and set its velocity with Motion Sketch; then fine-tune the shape and speed of the path with the Smoother. Integrates with the Puppet tool to create natural animation.

Specify an auto-orientation option for each layer. Layers and cameras can easily auto-orient along 2D or 3D motion paths. 3D layers can also auto-orient toward the camera.

Use the Puppet tool to animate text or images naturally with organic, pin-based deformations.

Separate bundled x, y, and z value keyframes into their own curves that can be edited individually. Also recombine these streams back into standard bundled keyframes.

Link the behavior of a property to that of another to easily create dynamic relationships, using the convenient pick whip or mathematical expressions. Simulate physical behavior realistically with minimal need for keyframes.

Animate motion or properties quickly and easily for smooth and elegant eases; linear paths; or sudden, stepped motion. Edit velocity and ease interactively in the Graph Editor or numerically.

Create natural-looking zoom effects by scaling exponentially instead of linearly.

Adjust motion blur on a layer-by-layer basis to produce more realistic animations. You control how the motion blur is calculated to customize its look and enhance its smoothness.

Keyframe time itself — produce effects such as variable slow motion, freeze frames, and backward playback.

Track or stabilize with as many individual points as you like, or use standard one-, two-, and four-point settings to track x and y value, rotation, and scale and to create corner pins.

Introduce organic randomness to static or smooth animated properties. Apply smooth or jagged changes to color, motion, and most any property with keyframes.

Start a composition in 8-bit color mode, and then finalize and output it to 16-bit or 32-bit color for optimal quality for film and HDTV.

Perform digital intermediate work in a full-featured color-correction environment with high-end telecine-style correction tools, using Color Finesse 3 LE from Synthetic Aperture*.

Get consistent color using industry-standard 3DL and CUBE lookup tables. Create your own color LUT files as exports from Color Finesse. The Apply Color LUT effect supports .Look files from Adobe SpeedGrade™ CS6 software.

Specify a color intent with an ICC profile. Any profile can be linearized or allow color blending with a 1.0 gamma. Recognize ICC profiles assigned by applications such as Photoshop on import, and apply them on output.

Simulate formats that cannot be previewed in real time, such as film projection, as well as those that can be, such as broadcast and HDTV monitors, directly in the Composition viewer.

Produce cool animations from scratch right in After Effects by creating layers, adding masks, and applying effects.

Enhance your creativity with 90 new and updated built-in effects, including the complete 16- and 32-bit CycoreFX HD suite.

Jump-start projects quickly with hundreds of fully customizable animation presets for transitions, color treatments, picture-in-picture effects, backgrounds, and numerous other animations.

Use Adobe Bridge to quickly preview and apply more than 250 professionally designed, fully editable text animation presets, or create and save your own.

Browse and apply Shape Layer sprites and animations. Download hundreds more on Adobe Exchange, a central resource for finding third-party tools, services, and innovations that extend your Adobe products.

Take advantage of special behavioral presets to create animations without keyframes — just set a few parameters and preview results, simple or complex.

Jump-start text animation, synthetic background creation, and more with animation presets. Learn fast with help, tool tips, and training resources on the web.

Use expressions to link individual parameters, effects, and layers in a variety of ways — even across compositions. Also add custom capabilities to After Effects and automate repetitive tasks with robust scripting support.

Reduce keystrokes and eliminate the need to memorize code with an extensive library of functions and commands available in a convenient contextual menu.

Isolate specific functions and statements in complex scripts by interactively managing breakpoints.

Access all scripts in the Scripts menu instantly. Includes a JavaScript Console and Call Stack, Breakpoints, and Data Browser palettes.

Organize and edit scripts using numbered lines, user-defined text formatting, and colored text.

Profile individual functions or lines within scripts for individual timing and hit count information to understand how and when individual parts of the script are called.

Export a project to an XML file, making it easier to write external scripts that modify the project file.

Write compressed audio formats such as AAC and MP3 for Adobe Flash® Professional software and H.264 video using Adobe Media Encoder. After Effects reads and writes multiple audio formats at multiple sample rates and bit depths (up to 32 bit).

Generate customizable visuals based on audio elements that animate dynamically along a frequency spectrum or that behave like an audio waveform.

Resample audio automatically using sampling rates from 8kHz to 96kHz.

Convert audio in a composition into a stream of keyframes that can be used directly or by expressions.

Manage an audio mix in After Effects. Equalize, echo, reverberate, modulate, and process audio with 32-bit effects. Generate audio procedurally with a Tone generator, and then link to animations with the expressions pick whip.

Control the audio levels of any layer. Manage balance, mix, and fades with built-in Levels and a Stereo Mixer effect.

Import and work with files created in Apple Final Cut Pro 7 or earlier versions, as well as Avid Media Composer and Symphony, letting you integrate After Effects with professional production workflows.

Use high-definition source formats instantly. RED Rocket card and RMD metadata dramatically improve the performance and look of RED footage. Import footage in the open CinemaDNG format.

Work natively with tapeless footage from Panasonic cameras thanks to AVC-Intra 50 and AVC-Intra 100 support.

Edit up to 5K footage shot from RED EPIC® cameras without transcoding or rewrapping.

Render in the XDCAM HD format using multiple bitrates, pixel aspect ratios, and frame rates. Roundtrip footage shot on popular Sony cameras so that your output is consistent with files being edited directly from source.

Install render-only versions of After Effects on multiple computers and harness them to render frames in large projects using a centralized Watch folder.

Queue multiple compositions inside a single project to render in sequence without user intervention. Have one render create a proxy or source to be used by a later composition.

Import and output files in QuickTime, FLV, SWF, AVI, MPEG-2, Windows Media (Windows® only), CinemaDNG, PSD, Camera Raw, OpenEXR, ProEXR, Cineon, SGI, TIFF, and others. Import files in Panasonic P2, Sony XDCAM HD, and RED.

Assign multiple output modules, each using a different size and output format, to a single item in the Render Queue.

Deliver virtually any format, including DPX, FLV, H.264, MPEG-2, QT, WM, and more, with Adobe Media Encoder. Batch encode multiple versions of source files and sequences, and control each item individually.

Specify resolution, frame rate, scale, and bit depth. Add interlacing; pull-down; individual layer switches; and RGB, alpha, or both (plus audio). Assign multiple output modules with different specs to one Render Queue item.

Create multiple FLV files with minimal effort by using the After Effects Render Queue. Manage renders for multiple compositions and export formats, including FLV and F4V files.

Create, import, and paint on 3D models in Adobe Photoshop Extended software, export as a layered PSD file, and animate the After Effects 3D camera. Export Vanishing Point 3D planes from Photoshop and animate in 3D with cameras and lights.

Save 32-bit HDR and 16-bit color values in PSD files. Text remains editable, and layers, layer effects, blending modes, masks, and transparency are preserved when PSD files are imported as compositions.

Import Adobe Premiere Pro sequences with edits, markers, keyframed effects, transitions, and more. Share effects between applications via drag and drop or copy/paste. Export compositions to Adobe Premiere Pro.

Drag and drop compositions from After Effects directly into Adobe Media Encoder to encode immediately, and continue working in After Effects while rendering.

Instantly convert Illustrator vector art (AI and EPS format) into shape layers. Easily animate vector art in 2D or extrude to 3D.

Export After Effects compositions and vector graphics as layered XFL format rich media projects for Flash Professional. Import and encode FLV files, batch rendering with embedded cue points.

Import layer effects available in PSD files as a separate layer property. This yields greatly enhanced shadows, bevels, shading, and other treatments, which can also be animated.

Create DVD motion menus and buttons. Export movies with markers that Adobe Encore® software reads as chapters. See After Effects edits in Encore without rendering with Adobe Dynamic Link in Production Premium.

Organize, preview, and employ your assets using Adobe Bridge, a centralized media management utility included with After Effects.

Leverage your knowledge of other Adobe products. After Effects uses standard Adobe tools, palettes, menus, and keyboard shortcuts, so you can get up to speed quickly.

Use web search tools to find answers on Adobe's website or on the web. Help files for all Adobe products are available online, are constantly updated by Adobe and a global community of users, and can be read offline.

Use the latest digital camera formats and share media with Adobe Premiere Pro, thanks to native support for tapeless formats in After Effects. Convert film, video, and web content to the correct format for your project.

Export composition or layer markers as cue points in FLV files. Easily convert keyframe values into markers, allowing you to use motion tracking data and other After Effects keyframe values in Flash Professional.

Work easily on projects with colleagues still using After Effects CS5.5: Save projects in After Effects CS5.5 format to take advantage of new features and performance improvements without the need for colleagues to upgrade.

Define brushes to control size, spacing, and angle, and save them for ongoing use.

Use Wacom tablets for more precise control when painting in After Effects.

Remove unwanted distractions like dust and scratches or replicate elements for a desired effect, such as filling a stadium with people. The Clone tool offers multiple presets and onion skinning of the source frame.

Animate individual paint strokes over time to change their size, position, or shape and to create write-on and write-off effects.

Control whether the Eraser tool removes paint strokes only, the last stroke only, or paint strokes plus the underlying background footage.

Take the guesswork out of source footage edits. See timecode data in QuickTime, AVI, Broadcast WAV (BWF), DPX, and some variations of MXF, and use the Timecode effect to display both source timecode and composition frames.

Animate quickly by setting starting keyframes automatically.

Use convenient tools to quickly align layers with each other or with the overall composition.

Easily rearrange workspace panels and customize user interface brightness to suit the task at hand and your work environment. Tinted panel tabs make it easy to track project elements.

View individual sources in context or on their own with View and Render switches, which allow you to see a layer before or after masks or at any point in the effect chain.

Resolve duplicate sources, delete unused sources, and collect your project and sources into a new folder for easy backup, handoff, or transport using simple menu commands.

Take advantage of convenient, searchable tool tips, context-sensitive menus, the Adobe.com website, the Community Help Client, numerous third-party books and training videos, and an active user community.

Place layers precisely with grid patterns, safe areas, and guides you can position by hand.Title/action safe areas have programmable safe zone margins; widescreen compositions display 4:3 center cut safe areas.

Create multiple views for the same composition to see how layers interact in space, and manipulate them with confidence. Lock views so you can edit a nested composition while seeing the results downstream.

Specify layers that are visible only in a local composition without being rendered. Perfect for scratch audio tracks, guide overlays, temporary graphics, and more.

Define a set of rules that allows specific media types to be given predetermined default frame rates, aspect ratios, alpha channel types, and color profiles.

Use QuickSearch to instantly locate any element or all used or missing footage in a comp or project. Navigate quickly between nested comps using the Composition Navigator and Mini-Flowchart.

Add project-, comp-, and layer-level metadata to streamline project tracking, and automate asset auditing plus many other tasks that were previously handled manually.