After Effects CC — Part of Adobe Creative Cloud
Make the impossible real with the new, more connected After Effects CC. Get powerful timesaving features like a Live 3D Pipeline that brings in CINEMA 4D scenes without intermediate rendering, plus a 3D Camera Tracker, which reproduces a scene’s original camera movement so you can add new layers — including video and text layers.
Because After Effects CC is part of Adobe Creative Cloud, you get immediate and exclusive access to all the latest updates and new features as soon as they’re released, and you always control when to download and install them. You can also conveniently sync settings between your computers, tap into a growing library of exclusive video tutorials from Adobe and others, and showcase your work on Behance.
Download, install, and run the full version of After Effects CC on your own computer, and conveniently manage your subscription in your games and software library.
Use 3D objects and scenes from CINEMA 4D directly in After Effects CC without rendering first.
The Refine Edge tool lets you quickly separate complicated foreground elements from complex backgrounds.
With Warp Stabilizer VFX, you can choose which objects within a scene get stabilized, reverse a stabilization, and more.
Reproduce the original camera movement in a scene using the 3D Camera Tracker so you can add new layers — including video and text layers.
After Effects CC has improved support for NVIDIA GPUs and is a full 64-bit application that uses all the RAM your OS allows.
Add or enhance motion blur for moving objects in live footage and rendered scenes.
Product Features
- Industry-leading animation and compositing software used by motion graphics and visual effects artists worldwide
- The full version of After Effects CC to download, install, and run on your computer
- Immediate access to all the latest updates and new features as soon as they’re released
- Easy syncing of your After Effects settings to any computer in any edit bay in the world
- A growing library of expert video tutorials to help you get up to speed quickly and master new skills
- A professional online portfolio with Behance ProSite, where you can showcase posters, artboards, photos, and other collateral from your video projects
- Installation on up two computers — Mac or PC
New Features — Available Only in After Effects CC
- Live 3D Pipeline: Objects and scenes from popular 3D modeling and animation software CINEMA 4D can be used directly as footage inside After Effects CC without rendering first. This eases roundtripping between the programs and opens up numerous creative possibilities.
- Refine Edge tool: It’s the end of hard matte lines. Keep the details when separating complicated foreground elements like frizzy hair or motion-blurred edges from complex backgrounds. This means you can create natural-looking composites without keying specially shot footage.
- Warp Stabilizer VFX: A major upgrade to the much-loved Warp Stabilizer, VFX adds the ability to choose which objects within a scene get stabilized, reverse a stabilization, and preserve a scene’s original scale to fix tricky shots such as aerial fly-throughs.
- 3D Camera Tracker: The 3D Camera Tracker makes it possible to reproduce the original camera movement in a scene so you can add new layers — including video and text layers. It also now features much-requested Track Optimization, so you can refine tracking points over time.
- Optimized and accelerated:Inspiration doesn’t like to wait. That’s why After Effects crunches pixels using multiple processors and has improved support for NVIDIA GPUs. It’s a full 64-bit application that uses all the RAM your OS allows, for caches and to render multiple frames simultaneously.
- Pixel Motion Blur: Add or enhance motion blur for moving objects in live footage and rendered scenes. You can use this effect to add realism, exaggerate movement, match shots, and make stuttery footage easier to watch.
- Bicubic resampling: Whether you’re scaling a layer up or down, you can make sure every pixel looks its best with your choice of bilinear and bicubic resampling algorithms.
Exclusive Creative Cloud Benefits
- Ongoing feature updates: You always have access to new features as soon as they’re released. Just download the latest whenever you want.
- Sync Settings: Work the way you like on any of your computers — Mac or PC. Synchronize your workspace settings to Creative Cloud so they go where you go.
- Expert training: Sharpen your skills and master new tools with a growing library of exclusive video tutorials and inspirational content from experts at Adobe and leading partners.
- Access to Mac OS and Windows versions: You can install After Effects CC on your main computer as well as on one backup.
- Behance:Your Creative Cloud paid membership comes with the Pro features of Behance, including ProSite — a fully customizable professional portfolio.
Other Top Features
- Global Performance Cache: Create more in less time, even in high-resolution projects. With Global Performance Cache, your previews are saved and ready when you are, even if you close a project and open it later. Duplicate compositions and undo edits without waiting for After Effects to catch up.
- Text and shape layers: A powerful typesetting and text animation engine lets you craft titles from classic to manic, in either 2D or ray-traced extruded 3D. Define, draw, and animate vector shapes to create almost anything, from a lower-third bar to animated characters.
- Essential bundled software: After Effects CC includes CINEMA 4D Lite for 3D animation, the award-winning Keylight for color keying work, the popular motion tracker mocha for After Effects, and the powerful color-correction tool Color Finesse. Plus, Cycore FX HD adds dozens of creative effects.
- Deep accurate color: See all of your sources as originally intended. Manage your source, monitor, and destination color spaces with color management and LUT support. Work at multiple bit depths, including 32-bit floating point, and well as linear gamma.
- Motion control tools: Choose from a variety of options for controlling and smoothing motion within your shots, including a graph editor, subpixel positioning, motion blur, and frame blending. Multiple motion trackers and stabilizers are also available.
- Support for multiple dimensions: Work smoothly in 2D, 2.5D, and extruded 3D spaces. You can even combine 2D and 3D in the same composition. Use native 3D tools, and import data such as camera position from a variety of dedicated 3D applications.
- Hundreds of effects: If you can imagine an effect, After Effects can help you create it. Hundreds of plug-ins let you add blurs, shadows, distortions, particles, colorizations, transitions, and much more. Effect presets help you get the results you’re looking for, fast.
- Tools to mask, key, and rotoscope: There’s more than one way to cut an alpha channel. That’s why After Effects includes a variety of color keyers as well as the revolutionary Roto Brush, which automatically finds the edges of objects. You also get masks with variable-width feathering, and more.
- Animation presets: Save time by using hundreds of presets to generate text animations, backgrounds, shapes, lower thirds, transitions, and more. Plus you can create and save your own. There are even behavior-style presets for automatic movements.
- Expression and scripting languages: Write expressions that can control virtually every parameter stream in the After Effects timeline to coordinate animations across layers or even compositions. Create scripts to automate broader functions and streamline repetitive actions.
- Paint and clone tools: Use vector-based brushes to clone, erase, and paint over any portion of your image. Animate brush strokes to create hand-drawn effects. You can use your Wacom tablet as well, including pressure support.
- Avid AAF and Final Cut Pro XML import: Pro Import AE makes it possible to work with files created in Apple Final Cut Pro 7 or earlier versions, as well as Avid Media Composer and Symphony. This lets you integrate After Effects with a wider range of professional production workflows.
- Support for multiple media types: Mix media from multiple sources, including industry standards like QuickTime and CinemaDNG, as well as vendor-specific formats such as AVC-Intra, XDCAM, and RED raw files. Pair After Effects with Adobe Media Encoder CC to deliver your masterpiece to multiple devices.
- Frame-accurate audio support: After Effects offers multitrack audio support, including the ability to mix, process, and even generate animations from your soundtracks. Extend these powers with Adobe Audition (available with a complete Creative Cloud membership) for more sophisticated audio editing chores.
System Requirements
Windows
- Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Phenom II processor; 64-bit support required
- Microsoft Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (64 bit), Windows 8, or Windows 8 Pro
- 4GB of RAM (8GB recommended)
- 5GB of available hard-disk space; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on removable flash storage devices)
- Additional disk space for disk cache (10GB recommended)
- 1280x800 display
- OpenGL 2.0–capable system
- QuickTime 7.6.6 software required for QuickTime features
- Optional: Supported NVIDIA graphics card with at least 1GB of VRAM for GPU acceleration of ray-traced 3D renderer
- Optional: Optical drive for CD burning
- Internet connection and registration are necessary for required software activation, membership validation, and access to online services.
Mac OS
- Multicore Intel processor with 64-bit support
- Mac OS X v10.7.4 or v10.8
- 4GB of RAM (8GB recommended)
- 5GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on removable flash storage devices)
- Additional disk space for disk cache (10GB recommended)
- 1440x900 display
- OpenGL 2.0–capable system
- QuickTime 7.6.6 software required for QuickTime features
- Optional: Supported NVIDIA graphics card with at least 1GB of VRAM for GPU acceleration of ray-traced 3D renderer
- Internet connection and registration are necessary for required software activation, membership validation, and access to online services.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do I need an Internet connection to use After Effects CC?
A: All Creative Cloud desktop applications are downloaded directly to your computer. Once After Effects CC is installed, you won’t need to be connected to the Internet in order to use it. (Downloading the latest updates and using features like Sync Settings requires an Internet connection.)
Q: If I decide to leave Creative Cloud, will I lose access to my files?
A: When you create files with any of the creative apps from Adobe, the files are yours. Adobe doesn’t take any ownership of those files. When you save your files to Creative Cloud, you’ll always have a local copy of them. Even if you cancel your Creative Cloud membership, your files remain on your local hard drive. And you’ll always have access to a free level of membership that provides 2GB of storage for files.
Q: With After Effects CC, am I forced to always run the newest version?
A: You will always have access to the latest version, but you won’t be forced to upgrade. You can continue to run whichever version you want until you’re ready to download and install the latest version. You will also have access to older versions of the software to download, starting with CS6.
Q: What are the differences between the After Effects CC single-app membership and a Creative Cloud complete membership?
A: In addition to all the features of the After Effects single-app membership, a complete membership also gives you the latest versions of all the other Creative Cloud desktop apps, including Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Adobe Audition, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, and Adobe Muse, as well as Adobe Acrobat Pro, Photoshop Lightroom, and many more. You can take advantage of deep integration between Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, After Effects, Adobe Audition, and SpeedGrade to streamline your video production workflow and boost productivity. Creative Cloud complete membership delivers everything you need to create, collaborate, and publish — all in one place.