Now that the CS4 cat is out of the bag, the good people on the After Effects team have graciously taken the time to respond to most of the top 25 After Effects gripes here on Dear Adobe (a couple were left out as they were misfiled at the time they pulled the report). In their response Michael Coleman, Product Manager for After Effects, also writes:
I know folks wonder where web form suggestions go, but I can assure you that the feedback received here goes directly to a real person on the After Effects team. Here’s the URL: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform
There seems to be a good mix of responses; some have already been addressed in CS4 and others have jsut been deemed ‘good suggestions’. In closing, we’d like to thank Michael Coleman and Ellen Wixted (Product Marketing Manager for After Effects) for taking the time to get these responses together and that we hope that other product teams might consider taking a peek at their own Top 25. Without further adue, After Effects gripes and their responses:
1.) I want to buy After Effects. JUST After Effects. Help me out, willya? #1332
Adobe: After Effects has always been available to be purchased separately.
2.) Multiprocessing that doesn’t slow down After Effects renders as often as it speeds them up would sure be handy. Barring that, AE should be smart enough to detect when the MP overhead is exceeding its benefit. #1339
Adobe: After Effects CS4 has a brand new preference panel to match the number of CPU cores used for rendering with the available RAM. This will help optimize multi-core rendering. In addition, CS4 will also allow you to limit the number of cores being used for rendering in order to leave some processing power for other applications you are using at the same time. There are also numerous small improvements to multi-core rendering under the hood of CS4.
3.) The option to import text layers from PSDs into After Effects as a text layer and not rasterized pixels. #1573
Adobe: Use the “Convert to Editable Text” menu commmand. Available in After Effects 6.0 or later.
http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/8.0/help.html?content=WSB0C11C4A-7F82-4fdf-81DD-3E39B052541A.html
4.) Support OpenFX plug-ins in AfterEffects (and Photoshop), it’s an open standard accepted by almost the entire visual effects industry. #1630
Adobe: We are generally supportive of open efforts, but there are currently far more native After Effects plug-ins available than OpenFX. In addition, virtually all OpenFX effects are already available in a native After Effects version. Looking toward the future, Adobe is developing technology to allow you to use the same effects across multiple hosts and platforms, which offers several distinct advantages to developers and customers. This technology is called ‘Adobe Pixel Bender’. For more info, see http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Pixel_Bender_Toolkit on the Adobe labs web site.
5.) Why do I still have to do RAM previews in After Effects? And why does AE still do pixel aspect ratio correction by dropping or adding columns of pixels? It’s 2008, not 1995, folks. I know you know how to properly scale images without making them look like crap, so why don’t you do it in your viewports? #1310
Adobe: We’re always working on increasing performance. Given today’s computing platforms, though, RAM previews are a fact of life with complex, deep compositions in real-world projects. Better Pixel Aspect Ratio scaling is a good feature request.
6.) more 3D in after effects. #1881
Adobe: Good feature request.
7.) Let us copy text from another app and paste it in After Effects’ text tool. #1568
Adobe: You can currently copy and paste text into After Effects.
8.) Why can Photoshop import 3D models but After Effects can’t? How does that even make sense??? #1979
Adobe: Good request. In the mean time, After Effects CS4 is compatible with 3D layers from Photoshop CS4 PSD files. 3D PSD layers can be animated as real 3D objects in After Effects CS4. 3D objects, therefore, can be brought to After Effects via Photoshop.
9.) why is Actions feature available in Photoshop but not in After Effects? #1280
Adobe: Good feature request.
10.) After Effects is a FANTASTIC application and THE BEST Adobe product. Please let the other teams learn form the After Effects team.
Adobe: Thank you! We work closely with the other teams and we’re always working together to make the best products possible. It’s a little known fact that many great things in After Effects are contributed from all over Adobe, and we’re collaborating more and more with each release.
11.) Make After Effects graph editor more intuitive/usable.
Adobe: The graph editor has recently been redesigned with customer input. Please provide specific suggestions for improvement and we’ll take a look at incorporating more feedback into future versions..
12.) Would it kill you to update the filters in After Effects so that they can all work in all color resolutions? 8 bit is not enough.
Adobe: Most effects have been already updated to work in 32-bit color space. In After Effects CS4 we have also upgraded the 3D Channel effects to 32-bit. Help us prioritize your top plug-ins for conversion by providing a list of the ones you use most frequently that are not already 32-bit.
13.) Can we get inverse kinetics in After Effects already?? #3403
Adobe: Good feature request. (Check out Flash CS4, by the way — it has IK!)
14.) I Love After Effects! #2561
Adobe: Thanks! So do we!
15.) After Effects automatically comes forward after renders are completed. (disrupting work in other applications) #1293
Adobe: Most people are not experiencing this issue, but it is not the intended behavior. Will investigate.
16.) Make the text tools the same for After Effects as in Photoshop… I keep hitting ‘T’ and opening opacity! #1603
Adobe: We’ve given the ‘t’ shortcut to opacity since it’s more frequently used in After Effects. We’d like to have customizable keyboard shortcuts someday, but in the meantime in After Effects, use cmd+T on the mac and ctrl+T on windows.
17.) After Effects: Syncing animation to audio is important. Why must you make so, so hard? #2344
Adobe: You can play audio in realtime while creating timeline markers for animation synchronizing. See this page for more info:
http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/8.0/WS3878526689cb91655866c1103906c6dea-7e62.html
18.) Make After Effects save a shadow copy of the project automatically before rendering starts, OR make After Effects not crash while rendering. Up to you #6617
Adobe: Good suggestion. While crashing is rare, you can also enable Auto-Save in the preferences for additional project backups.
19.) After Effects: Variable feathering on masks. Why I must make sooooo many masks!? In Full HD!? 60 freakin’ i!? #2332
Adobe: Good suggestion.
20.) I love to scroll through hundreds of layers in After Effects. Layer groups or folders I could collapse or turn off would be more 21st century than a frikkin’ nose-over-wall icon!!!! IT’S THE 21st CENTURY!!! #2433
Adobe: After Effects CS4 has a very handy new search field in the timeline and project panels that is a great way to quickly get to the layer or property you’re looking for. This dramatically reduces or eliminates timeline scrolling.
21.) Could you please consider adding Private Use Area access to ligature glyphs and to alternate glyphs in fonts such as Garamond and Arno so that people using non-OpenType applications could use them to produce graphics? Maybe special PUA-access versions of the fonts? #954
Adobe: Good suggestion.
22.) Please let me open “legacy” files—I paid for both versions, why can’t I open old files with new programs without having my paths be all fricked up. #4147
Adobe: All version of After Effects will open and render old project versions. Note that if you have moved the source files, you may have to re-link the source files to the project.
23.) After Effects: I’d like use of vast amounts of RAM I’ve purchased. Why can’t you see it? Love- OSX #2320
Adobe: After Effects can currently use 3-4 GB per core for RAM previews and renders. More RAM per core is a good suggestion.
Tags: Adobe responds, After Effects, responses
[...] So there is hope that the most popular of the gripes will be addressed in the future, and we have a voice that we can use to help Adobe to better meet our needs. Today, they’ve responded to the top 25 After Effects grips! [...]
Wow, thanks for the post! And thank you, Adobe, for responding to the gripes! I look forward to reading future columns with more response from Adobe!
Now, for a suggestion for the DearAdobe.com homepage, how about on those gripes, setting the vote options to “off” and having the gripe followed up with “Official Adobe Response” linking to this post. Or some kind of “Addressed Gripes” page. I don’t want to take away the simplicity of the website at all, I just want to see it improve. There should be a way to get a new “Top 25″ for After Effects, now that they’ve responded. If only there was some artificial intelligence built in that could check posted gripes for duplicates.
Either way, well done! I’ve blogged about this site today as well.
Hi there , Your blog post about photoshop 3d is absolutely great. Easy to understand it and with excellent value. I just stumbled up and dugg your site to digg as good news article about photoshop 3d on Wednesday . Cheers, Mike Brown , keep up the good work !
kudos
Considering the way some of the “dear adobe” suggestions are worded, After Effects probably has the safest and intelligent suggestions. Kudos to Adobe for taking time out to actually hear the voice of the their machine operators.
[...] I downloaded the top 25 After Effects gripes and the considerate folks at Dearadobe.com have published my response to each one. Many suggestions were already in the shipping version of After Effects, or soon to be addressed in After Effects CS4. Of course, there were also some great feature requests in there. You have to know we want to do these as much as you need them. You can check out the official After Effects comments on their blog. [...]
How did the lack fo 64-bit miss this list. It is the top gripe. AE screams for being a 64-bit app (more than Photoshop) yet it looks like now it’s at least 18 months before we shall see it. I do love AE, but this is embarrassing and huge workflow problem for me especially for the constant problems with the “unable to create image buffer error” when using larger bitmaps.
The world is now HD, 2k, 4k (and in my case 8k) and if you turn on 16-bit or heaven help you, 32-bit at higher resolutions, you are in serious trouble, even running AE CS3/4 on a 64-bit OS.
I would have far, far preferred AE C3 3.5 with zero new features but 64-bit with the image buffer error finally fixed.
It’s not too much to ask for. My NLE of choice (Sony Vegas) did exactly this. Instead of Vegas 9, I just installed Vegas 8.1. No new features, but true 64-bit app. Unlimited RAM previews, much better speed with complex files. Lovely stability.
Adobe just generally has an issue with 64bit. Flash isn’t 64bit either.
[...] within the company. Now the After Effects team has worked with the site creators to address the top 25 comments posted there. If you’re interested in AE, you might find the list a worthwhile [...]
Regarding the comments about using Photoshop 3D layers in After Effects as opposed to native 3D support. The fact that PSD 3D layers will not respond to lights set in After Effects, nor will have motion blur applied to them, make this feature of limited use.
The comment about After Effects not having IK, but Flash does, is as idiotic as saying if you want to edit greyscale images in Photoshop do it in Dreamweaver. Why should I learn another app when the capabilities *should* be in After Effects?
And to think, the resources that could have implemented that went into giving us the cartoon effect. *sigh.
After Effects is definitely my fave Adobe product at the minute, its so much more responsive than the others despite being so much more powerful.
And the only one where the custom interface doesn’t feel sluggish or buggy, the only thing I really want is the 3D powers improving but thats only because AE is so much faster and easier than a real 3D program so would save me bothering with those when I just want to throw some textured cubes around.
[...] has been very positive about their site and has gone so far as to respond directly to the After Effects Top 25 gripes. It’s a VERY entertaining read. Enjoy! Posted by Michele Yamazaki on Tuesday, September 30, [...]
[...] Dear Adobe // Blog » Blog Archive » Adobe responds to After Effects gripes (tags: adobe) [...]
[...] כאן. תגובות ובקשות לגבי הגרסה החדשה CS4 אפשר לקרוא בבלוג של אדובי. רוצים להציע הצעה או לדווח על באג בתוכנה, אפשר להעזר [...]
ya man I totally agree with being able to vary mask feathering. Nuke has it. Smoke has it. Why doesn’t adobe have it? Also you guys should combine premiere pro and adobe after effects and make an Adobe version of Autodesk Smoke. I just want NLE editing in After Effects. Adobe dynamic link is in no way solution to this.
[...] Over the weekend, Lee Brimelow created a brave post hoping to address some common critical questions he’s asked concerning some of Adobe’s inconsistencies. From this post I wandered over to Dear Adobe to catch up on user criticisms and was happy to see Adobe respond to two of the (twenty-five listed) applications: InDesign and After Effects. [...]
Читаю твой блог и решил завести свой.
Well, I’m extremely impressed that Adobe was willing to answer so many Dear Adobe questions, I think it’s critically important that we have a way to interact with Adobe despite their size and to have a person from a specific product team is superb! Of course, there were plenty of dogged questions and lots of “good request” answers, it would be nice to hear a little more detail on whether this was actually on their list for improvements or just another item on the someday/maybe list.
Either way, I’m very excited that they were willing to talk to Dear Adobe and it sounds like there’s some cool stuff coming. I’m particularly excited with the new preferences for matching RAM with CPU, I can’t wait to see more pro-apps give us options oh how things can run in our x64 multi-CPU with lots of RAM onboard world that we find ourselves in.
When do we hear back from the Photoshop team?
VERY cool of them to respond like this, but he does dodge (or misses the point) here and there:
“Multiprocessing that doesn’t slow down After Effects renders as often as it speeds them up”
Multiprocessing RAM previews take a long time to fire up all those new instances of AE, sometimes longer than the preview itself takes to generate. Michael’s response talks about matching RAM to cores, totally missing the point.
“Layer groups or folders I could collapse or turn off would be more 21st century”
Obviously the user is talking about having folders to group layers, which comes up a lot on message boards everywhere. Thanks Michael, but searching is not the same as (nor a replacement for) logical grouping/foldering of layers.
,..] blog.dearadobe.com is one another must read source of tips on this issue,..]
Nice post, but I think that if you are looking for quality results, you need experts who know the ins and outs of it all.