There are few surprises in After Effects CS3 Professional. On the surface, it looks pretty much like version 7. It’s more about refinement and workflow than trying to bedazzle and beguile you with ‘cool-factor’ features.
That said, there are some new additions that Adobe is trumpeting unabashed. Perhaps the must dramatic, in both name and capability is the Puppet tool. A three-in-one feature, the Puppet tool essentially enables you to animate a still image by articulating it with virtual pins that you can pull, push and stretch at will.

We hate to say that there is a feature within a near-£1,000 box of software to be described as fun, but that’s just what the Puppet tool is. We suspect it will be of particular concern to the more experimental and ‘out-there’ creatives, but no doubt clever designers will find subtle ways to use it.
Slightly more practical is the new Shape Layer feature. This is far more in keeping with the previously mentioned focus on workflow and refinement; it enables you to create simple vector shapes within After Effects and animate them quickly. Previously such a task would have required a spell in Illustrator to make the shapes, which would then have been brought into After Effects for animation. Not any more. Using the Polygon tool, you can create vector shapes, replicate them as needed with the Repeater tool, animate them over time, add effects and so on. You can create shapes within shapes and merge paths to create compound shapes. And of course, once you’ve created your shapes, you can animate them, changing a range of parameters, including number of polygon points, position, rotation, drop shadow and more, not forgetting you can also add effects to spice up your concoction. In terms of wow factor meeting usefulness, this is probably the pick of the new features.
That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best new feature. That one is more tough and complex to call. Overall, like the rest of the CS3 Video tools, that honour would go to the simple logical things ways in which Adobe is gradually blending its products’ ‘engines’ together; in short, the power of its software portfolio does not lie within one product, but rather, in using them all together. In After Effects, this is noticeable in a number of ways. For instance, Shape Layers, previously discussed, uses the same keyboard shortcuts as Illustrator. In addition, After Effects will also preserve layer styles and video layers brought in from Photoshop.
Not only that, but you can also bring in scenes from Photoshop Extended’s Vanishing Point Exchange, preserving all 3D information, to be viewed from the perspective of an After Effects camera. If you’re working with Flash, you can preserve your alpha channel when importing SWFs into After Effects, and keep cue points within any Flash Video you export.
Not so much a new feature as a continuation of a previous phenomenon is the use of Bridge to, well, bridge the suite. This is still part of the package, and more robust than ever, enabling you to work quickly between After Effects and, say Premiere, or any other packages in the CS3 family that you use. For smaller projects it is perhaps a slightly clunky way of working; you’re actually constantly clicking into a separate application where before you’d simply double click on work or import from the finder. However, for larger projects, the wisdom of such workflow and asset management is more than apparent. And, of course, if all the packages fit seamlessly together, theoretically you’re more likely to spend your money on the suite in total rather than select your software a la carte from a range of vendors, particularly Apple’s Motion and Final Cut.
But back to the matter at hand. Another excellent new feature is the ability to manipulate individual letters in 3D space. This pretty much does what it says on the tin. You can create text and have each letter animate separately in 3D space. You can modify this yourself or choose from a range of presets available via Bridge. You can also make your lettering follow a path or paths. In reality, this is more refinement – good as it may be – than must-have: handy but not essential.
Then there is Brainstorm. Adobe has tried to provide After Effects to ‘free associate’ your ideas, to assist your creativity. It works like this: you pop a simple idea down in the composition window, and select effects parameters to be used in the brainstorming session. Then you click the Brainstorm button and in the flash of an eye and with the chug of however long it takes your machine to render a slice of the animation, you’re presented with a series of nine alternative takes. Mouseover and choose ideas that you would like to see further developed. Select the brainstorm icon and see another nine will be presented. Keep going, adjusting the ‘Randomness’ slider as necessary, until you get something you like, which you can then choose to include in your composition.

Buy Adobe After Effects CS3 – 119$