I talked with Victoria Nece of Adobe to learn about the updates in After Effects 2021. We centered around real-time events, and a new feature in beta: Real Time Rendering.

Multi-Frame Rendering

The new redesigned render queue for After Effects will show the render in different states. The Exported frames, the frames ready to be exported, and the frames currently exporting. This uses the multiple cores in your CPU to help see things in closer-to-real time.

That can help get graphics, or whole scenes ready for export, as an editor will be able to review the changes as quick as possible.

A computer with 4-6 cores and 16GB RAM will see a speed improvement of 1.2-1.4x, whereas a higher end system with more than 16 cores will have a 2-3x faster performance boost. Since this feature is still in beta, these numbers could change upon release.

Anyone with Creative Cloud can download and test the latest beta. The software does not interrupt your regular workflow, as the current stable version stays installed.

Get Adobe Creative Cloud here.

3D render engine

3D Render Engine

Adobe also had a big March release. Victoria showed a couple cool new features, including a real-time 3D gaming-style engine for workflows. She showed us how to navigate cameras in a 2D animation. You are also able to move around camera tools in 3D space, instead of around the center of the screen. The selection tool can even be done via keyboard and mouse.

Media Replacement for Graphics

Media replacement for motion graphics is another feature that lets you create one template, then make changes to use this in a different composition. This composition can also be used in Premiere Pro in the Graphics tab.

These features are available now. Get Adobe Creative Cloud here.