Adobe’s promo for the new betas of its video apps. The section on After Effects starts at 01:25.
Adobe has released a new beta build of After Effects that makes it possible to preview High Dynamic Range projects within the compositing and motion graphics software.
The beta release also features a new caching system that is not restricted to the RAM on a user’s machine, making it possible to play back longer compositions.
Other current beta features include the option to customize the color of the software’s transparency grid and panel backgrounds.
Preview comps in HDR with support for two common HDR formats
The current beta reflects the increasing availability of HDR displays, even in non-specialist laptops, making it possible to preview compositions in HDR.
Artists can now import HDR media, place it in a composition, and preview the result in HDR.
The beta build displays HDR video in a range of standard formats in HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) and PQ (Perceptual Quantizer) color spaces.
Users can preview HDR output on a local display, or an external display via Mercury Transmit.
The changes should make it more practical for editors and motion graphics artists to work on HDR projects within After Effects, although many artists still rely on Adobe Media Encoder to export HDR content, as discussed in this thread on Adobe’s Community site.
New caching system makes it possible to preview longer projects
The beta also reworks After Effects’ caching system to use the disk cache for rendered preview frames, rather than storing them solely in RAM.
The resulting increase in cache capacity should make it possible to preview longer projects without having to wait for frames to render, and to preview projects at higher resolutions.
Adobe also says that the change improves performance on less powerful systems.
Other current After Effects beta features
The current beta also includes features added before today’s update, including the option to change the color of panel backgrounds, and the color and size of the transparency grid.
Other beta features include Quick Set Anchor, a new UI feature for setting the anchor point in 2D layers to common locations, including the corners and edge centers of the layer.
Price, system requirements and release date
Beta builds of After Effects are available to subscribers via the Creative Cloud desktop app. Adobe hasn’t announced when the beta features will become available in a stable release.
The current stable release, After Effects 25.1 is available for Windows 10+ and macOS 12.0+ on a rental-only basis. Single-app After Effects subscriptions cost $34.49/month or $263.88/year.
Read more about the new beta features in After Effects on Adobe’s blog
Read a full list of the current beta features in After Effects
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