New features in depth (PDF, 1.1M)

Shape Layers

Easily create and animate vector graphics with new Shape Layers. Add and animate strokes, fills, gradients, and vector effects. You can convert text into shapes and animate them just like any other shape type.

Puppet tool

Puppet tool

This new, fast, and intuitive animation tool lets you squash and stretch images or text to bring it to life as an animated character. Use Motion Sketch to record the position and speed of your puppet movements, the Starch tool to stiffen areas of the character, and the Overlap tool to control the depth of elements of your puppet.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended integration

Enjoy a streamlined workflow with support for importing layered Adobe Photoshop® images including video layers. Sophisticated Photoshop Layer Styles can be easily modified or animated within After Effects. Import Vanishing Point data from Photoshop into After Effects to build 3D compositions automatically.

Per-character 3D text animation

Tight integration with Adobe Flash CS3 Professional

Work more efficiently to create and edit animations for playback on Adobe Flash® Player software. Preserve vectors from animations created in After Effects for lean and clean delivery, and encode FLV files more easily. Import SWF files as vectors with alpha channels preserved and batch render FLV files with embedded cue points.

Per-character 3D text animation

Explore new text animation possibilities by making individual characters in your text — or an entire phrase — move and rotate in 3D space.

Brainstorm

Brainstorm

Jump-start animations with Brainstorm, a new user interface that offers variations based on selected design and animation parameters. Choose which properties and effects you want to explore, and Brainstorm will propose animated variations.

Complete color management workflow

Enable color management simply by selecting a Project Working Space. Doing so maintains the color accuracy of imported files as they are displayed and rendered and allows you to preview how footage will look on other devices.

Adobe Clip Notes

Streamline the review and approval process. Render your work into an Adobe PDF file that enables anyone with Adobe Reader® software to make timecode-accurate comments. When you import the comments into After Effects, they appear as markers on the Timeline.

Enhanced performance

Harness your computer's processing power with new multicore and graphics acceleration plus disk caching so you can spend less time waiting and more time creating. Distribute rendering across your entire network to maximize output performance.

Video for mobile

Use new rendering options and preview in Adobe Device Central CS3 to help ensure your video will look great on an array of supported mobile devices.