TECH TIPS
Lucky Number 7.0?
New After Effects Upgrade a Mixed Bag
by Ben Bardens
 Figure 1: AE's new interface. What were previously windows and palettes are now "panels" within one large unified "application window." Panels can be "undocked" from the application window, and can also be arranged and grouped in a variety of ways. |
Change can be good. Change can also be scary. And sometimes change can be bad too. In the world of computer software, I have come to believe that change is usually a good thing. New versions typically fix bugs, and introduce new features based on user experience. But sometimes software changes aren’t so great. Most artists and editors have a story or two about the time they upgraded something on their computer and it didn’t quite work out as expected. The upgrade might have introduced new bugs or incompatibilities. Or maybe the program become bloated with redundant and overlapping features, or was too radical of a departure from previous versions, making for a difficult transition. With this in mind, upgrading one’s software can be a scary prospect, especially an application as important as After Effects. So which of these scenarios does the new 7.0 version fall into?
Get Ready for Some Changes
If you’ve used After Effects before, the first thing you’ll
notice is that even the app’s icon has changed radically. Usually,
when an app is upgraded, so is its icon. It helps us to tell the versions
apart and contributes to that feeling of having a new and exciting
product. Well, say “bub-bye” to the old broadcast tower
that was the AE icon for the past several years (since 5.0), and say
“hello” to the, well, circle of overlapping squares. I
guess it’s supposed to be a visual representation of “compositing,”
or maybe just an abstract icon designed to integrate with the other
Adobe Creative Suite apps (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.).
It does match them nicely. In any case, once you get past the new
icon, double-click and prepare for the big changes inside…
Welcome New Users
It’s not exactly fair to write a review only from the perspective
of someone who has been using the program for years. So I’ve
taken off my “AE glasses” and am looking at the program
with the eyes of someone who has never used it before. And I must
say, I like what I see. That’s nice, though not new. It’s
what’s behind that looks modern, fresh and new. A steely gray
workspace is made up of several panels, all neatly arranged together
within one large “application window” that takes over
the entire screen. Gone are the independent windows loosely arranged
with large areas of the desktop still visible in the background. I
can tell you from my experience teaching After Effects, much time
was wasted teaching beginners how to arrange AE’s windows and
make efficient use of their computer screen. “Yes, we want to
see the Comp window and the Timeline simultaneously, not one on top
of the other.” “No we don’t need to see so much
of the desktop in the background.”
This version is the version for new users.
 Figure 2a: Not all the interface enhancements are for the best. Version 6.5's time control palette on the right and version 7.0's time control panel (when undocked) shown on Figure 2b. The same thing takes up a lot more screen space in the new version. |
A Smooth Transition?
Ok, that’s great; the new version has a re-designed, sleek new
interface, reminiscent of DVD Studio Pro. That’s good for beginners
and new users, but what about the people who have been using After
Effects for years? What about people who are in the middle of a job
or are still figuring out the last version? Should they migrate forward
or hold off? I say a bit of both.
The interface has been completely redone. In most cases for the better; but it is not without a few quirks too. It is very flexible and can be customized to suit many preferences. All the windows and palettes are now “panels” within a large application window. They can be “undocked” and dealt with as independent floating panels. The ability to group and size all the panels in many different ways is fantastic. You can click and drag any dividing line between panels to dynamically re-size and go from one to the other. This is great for working on a single monitor and being able to work fluidly between the composition window and timeline window.
But it can be a little frustrating too. For example, if you are used to having the time control palette floating above the comp window on your second monitor, you may be disappointed. The palettes, or rather “undocked panels,” no longer stay in the foreground above the composition window when it too is “undocked.” Clicking in the “undocked” comp window sends the time controls off to the background, hidden behind the comp window. You can group the time controls within the same window as the composition, but it’s not the most efficient arrangement. The palettes feel bigger, taking up more valuable screen space to display the same arrangement of buttons that took up such little space in the last version.
 Figure 2b. |
Older versions of AE were maybe a bit on the minimal side in terms of the interface. This probably made for a steeper learning curve, but also allowed for a great deal of flexibility in terms of set-up once you were familiar with the components. Now it feels a little to the other extreme, maybe a bit too “user-friendly.” For example, closing the application window quits the program. Not a big deal; lots of apps do this. But if you are used to opening and closing lots of projects in a work session, you might get sick of waiting the moments it takes to re-open the program. You can choose “close project” from the File menu and the program will stay open, with its large application window full of blank panels. I suppose most programs are like this, but the old After Effects was one of the few that wasn’t.
Other than a few quirks though, any experienced smart user will be able to figure out the new interface within a few work sessions. And whether you find the new interface a bit clunky, or a huge improvement and a wonderful example of efficiency, it’s all a bit superficial. After all, it is just the interface. Get over it. It’s what’s under the hood that counts.
It’s Still a Hemi!
The fundamentals are all still there, although you’ll find that
there has been a bit of shuffling about and renaming of things in
the menus. For example, Time Remap now resides in a “Time”
submenu under Layer, next to its new cousin, “Freeze Frame.”
This new Freeze Frame command enables Time Remap and sets a Hold Keyframe
at the current time location, basically combining a few steps you
could have taken previously. There’s lots of this kind of stuff,
going back to that “making the program easier” type of
an upgrade.
Another area that can take a little getting used to is the new “Graph Editor.” The value/velocity graphs and speed graphs available below the layer properties have been replaced with a new graph editor allowing for more precise control over how you in-between your keyframe values. This is probably the most different area of the program for veteran users, but ultimately it is worth learning for the increased precision it gives you.
 Figure 3: The new graph editor offers a much greater degree of accuracy for in-betweening keyframe values. This is one area of the program that was overdue for an upgrade. |
Great; so it looks different and a bunch of stuff has been streamlined and moved around. But what about new features that will make previous users drool? If that’s your question, I have two words for you: Animation Presets.
Where The Real Upgrade Is
Animation Presets aren’t new, they were there, though often
overlooked, in 6.5, but what is new is the dazzling variety of available
pre-sets that come with the program. These pre-sets make it so easy
to bust out amazing graphics––complete with backgrounds,
effects and amazing text animations––that both seasoned
and new users will be impressed. View the presets in the new Adobe
Bridge by choosing “Browse Presets” from the Effects &
Presets fly-out menu, and prepare to be amazed! There’s other
new stuff too, like better OpenGL support and a new Timewarp filter
in the Pro version, but it’s hard to out-do the awesome power
of the Animation Presets library.
Backwards (in)compatibility
As great as this version (and all versions for that matter) of After
Effects is, there is one thing worth mentioning. After Effects is
still not backwards compatible. That is to say, projects created in
7.0 will not open and be editable in 6.5, or any older version of
the software. However, projects created in 6.5 or older versions will
open in 7.0. I’m surprised there still isn’t some kind
of “After Effects Legacy” format like there is in Illustrator,
or some way of exporting .aep files with older version compatibility.
But given how much After Effects has grown over the years, maybe this
just isn’t possible. There are probably too many features in
6.x and 7.0 that just didn’t exist in versions 5.x and earlier.
Final Word
Over-all, After Effects 7.0 is a significant upgrade, mostly in terms
of its new interface. It doesn’t introduce as many new tools
or features as 6.x did, but those new features beyond the interface
are well worth the upgrade. AE 7.0 refines and brings to the forefront
features that were there, but were largely unused or misunderstood,
and also builds upon areas of the program that hadn’t seen development
in many years.
I strongly recommend this version as the best introduction to the program for those who are new to AE. And for experienced users, I say this change might be a little scary, but ultimately worthwhile. I suggest making the transition; but don’t delete 6.5 off your hard drive just yet. You may want to switch back and forth between the two versions until you are completely comfortable with the changes.
Ben Bardens teaches After Effects at Glendale Community College and works as a freelance graphic artist. Learn more about his classes by visiting www.glendale.edu/~bbardens or by e-mailing him at bardens@glendale.edu.
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