Adobe introduces 3D & motion design upgrades for Adobe After Effects

For IBC 2024, we’re thrilled to introduce a major set of improvements and upgrades to our 3D workspace in Adobe After Effects that make it easier for motion designers and video editors to animate and blend 3D objects seamlessly with real-world footage and 2D elements.

Customers have been blending 2D and 3D assets in After Effects for years through integration with 3rd party apps. Now you can do a lot of that work right inside of After Effects, helping to streamline workflow and making the use of 3D elements far more approachable.

The response from the motion design community has been full of excitement, followed by a number of meaningful feature requests. We’ve heard the community loud and clear, and these updates are a direct response to the enthusiasm and passion of After Effects users.

While motion designers and video editors love working with 3D models, they can sometimes appear ultra “digital” and sharp. In order to make it easier to work with 3D models and have them seamlessly blend into 2D environments, we released a number of tools and controls to make it easier than ever to design in 3D and 2D at the same time. Additionally, many After Effects users are new to animating and compositing in 3D. With endless 3D models available from Adobe Substance 3D, Adobe Stock, and online marketplaces, motion designers want to be able to craft their work with the embedded animations that come included with their models as they dive deep into the 3D world.

Now in After Effects, motion designers have an expanded range of tools when working with native 3D objects in the 3D workspace. Three major new features allow designers to make their 3D objects blend seamlessly and photo-realistically in real-world environments:

• Embedded 3D Animations: After Effects now supports embedded 3D animations from imported 3D models. Artists can breathe life into characters and objects created by external animation software. Seamlessly import 3D models (GLB or GLTF) with embedded animations such as skeletal rigs. Keyframe animations and bone-based deformations are natively supported and can be smoothly retimed. With embedded 3D animations, After Effects becomes a great place for motion designers to get started working in 3D in the motion design app they already know and love.
• Ultra-Realistic Shadows and Color Shadows: After Effects introduces shadow catchers, allowing 3D objects to interact realistically with video footage. Shadows cast by virtual objects onto the environment are accurately captured. Color shadows enhance realism, since shadows cast in the real world are rarely a pure shade of black or grey.
• Depth Mapping for 3D Models: Depth maps are essential for compositing 3D elements into live-action footage. Extract depth maps from Advanced 3D scenes just by precomposing. These maps encode the distance information for each pixel, enabling post-processing effects like depth-of-field blur or fog.

New animation presets

With over 30 all new animation presets and number counting presets for infographics, designers in After Effects can spend less time keyframing a wide variety of animations and spend more time on creative motion design.

Camera and light support in the Properties panel

The Properties panel accelerates workflows by placing frequently used controls in one contextual panel. New for Fall 2024, designers can now adjust and control their cameras and lights in the properties panel to fine-tune their motion designs.

Faster performance and a fresh new design

After Effects is also getting faster with hardware accelerated UI/UX performance on Windows that’s up to 4x faster than before, making the application snappier, more modern feeling, and more interactive.

There’s also a fresh, new design in After Effects (Beta) that’s modern and more consistent so designers and editors spend less time re-learning how to use tools in our different apps and more time creating.

After Effects and Adobe Substance 3D

As After Effects expands its 3D capabilities, its workflow connected to Substance 3D becomes even more powerful. Together these tools can significantly enhance the visual quality and output of After Effects’ growing 3D toolset:

• Substance 3D Painter: Now featuring a connected "Send to After Effects" function, allowing you to precision-texture your 3D models and import them directly into your compositions with a single click.
• Substance 3D Sampler: Quickly create seamless materials with normal maps or generate IBL environment lights from photographs, perfect for harmonizing 3D elements within your After Effects scenes to customize environments and match locations.

Substance 3D Assets: Gives motion designers access to over 20,000 fully licensed, ready-to-use parametric materials, 3D models, and environment lights to jumpstart your 3D projects in After Effects.

Adding Substance 3D to your motion design workflow will make your 3D content in After Effects look better than ever. Any materials and textured models you create with Substance will shine in After Effects and look great across other 3D applications like Maxon’s Cinema 4D, creating visual consistency throughout your workflow. Learn more about Substance 3D and After Effects for 3D motion design.

Availability

Check out these new 3D and animation features now in After Effects.

Our refreshed, modern UI is available in beta now. For more information on how to access the beta apps, please visit the After Effects (beta) page.

Also, check out the latest new features in Adobe Premiere Pro (beta) here.