Adobe After Effects Just Got Its Biggest Performance Boost Ever

Along with some major AI-powered tools and features coming to Premiere Pro, Adobe is rolling out perhaps the company’s single biggest performance update in the history of After Effects. For years, Adobe reports, the amount of work AE users could play back in After Effects has been dependent on the amount of RAM in your computer.This made it difficult for users to preview longer compositions without pausing and waiting for After Effects to re-cache. (If you’ve ever tried to use AE on a laptop or older, slower computer, you know this pain.)However, Adobe’s new caching system is now able to utilize your computer’s RAM and local disks together so that After Effects can cache and preview your entire composition. The promise is that now any user, on any computer, can play back more of their comp than ever before.Let’s look at this new high-performance preview playback and the other new features set to hit After Effects with this latest update.Adobe After Effects UpdateAlong with the high-performance preview playback update, which is pretty significant itself, Adobe is also releasing more 3D tools to enhance the motion design and VFX compositing capabilities in AE. 3D should now be faster, easier, and more fun for any 2D motion designers or video editors looking to venture into 3D for the first time. A new Animated Environment Lights feature will let users wrap their 3D comps with moving lights made from any video or animation. Users can also use background plates, 360-degree videos, selected layers, or even entire comps to illuminate their 3D models with reflections and shadows that move. After Effects will also now allow editors to use 3D FBX models natively in After Effects, which should unlock millions of 3D models for editors to consider using from online marketplaces.More Features and UpdatesIn addition to importing and exporting HDR content in After Effects, Adobe is also introducing new HDR monitoring. So, whether you’re working on an HDR-enabled laptop or transmitting your video signal to an HDR reference monitor, as an AE user, you can now view new levels of vibrance, saturation, and brightness in After Effects. Adobe is also rolling out some other new features for After Effects, which they report come directly from requests from within the professional motion design and video editing communities, including:Custom fallow colors and transparency gridsNew preference to maintain workspaces when opening projects from another userNew null commands for precise animation control3D model animation controls in the Properties PanelAvailabilityAll these new features and updates are out and available now, which you can find on Adobe’s After Effects page.

Apr 2, 2025 - 18:13

Adobe After Effects Just Got Its Biggest Performance Boost Ever

Along with some major AI-powered tools and features coming to Premiere Pro, Adobe is rolling out perhaps the company’s single biggest performance update in the history of After Effects. For years, Adobe reports, the amount of work AE users could play back in After Effects has been dependent on the amount of RAM in your computer.

This made it difficult for users to preview longer compositions without pausing and waiting for After Effects to re-cache. (If you’ve ever tried to use AE on a laptop or older, slower computer, you know this pain.)

However, Adobe’s new caching system is now able to utilize your computer’s RAM and local disks together so that After Effects can cache and preview your entire composition. The promise is that now any user, on any computer, can play back more of their comp than ever before.

Let’s look at this new high-performance preview playback and the other new features set to hit After Effects with this latest update.

Adobe After Effects Update

Along with the high-performance preview playback update, which is pretty significant itself, Adobe is also releasing more 3D tools to enhance the motion design and VFX compositing capabilities in AE. 3D should now be faster, easier, and more fun for any 2D motion designers or video editors looking to venture into 3D for the first time.

A new Animated Environment Lights feature will let users wrap their 3D comps with moving lights made from any video or animation. Users can also use background plates, 360-degree videos, selected layers, or even entire comps to illuminate their 3D models with reflections and shadows that move.

After Effects will also now allow editors to use 3D FBX models natively in After Effects, which should unlock millions of 3D models for editors to consider using from online marketplaces.

More Features and Updates

In addition to importing and exporting HDR content in After Effects, Adobe is also introducing new HDR monitoring. So, whether you’re working on an HDR-enabled laptop or transmitting your video signal to an HDR reference monitor, as an AE user, you can now view new levels of vibrance, saturation, and brightness in After Effects.

Adobe is also rolling out some other new features for After Effects, which they report come directly from requests from within the professional motion design and video editing communities, including:

Custom fallow colors and transparency grids
New preference to maintain workspaces when opening projects from another user
New null commands for precise animation control
3D model animation controls in the Properties Panel

Availability

All these new features and updates are out and available now, which you can find on Adobe’s After Effects page.