AE desperately needs to take a leaf out of most other composting and animation apps and bring in some kind of nodal workflow. I like using layers, but it would be great if we could treat each layer and comp like a node - it wouldn't have to be too disimilar from the parent & link box on the side. Then we could connect various layers to one object to combine it and then use that as a matte, or adjustment layer. Too often the answer is to precomp it, but in most cases precomps absolutely SUCK! They break too many effects, they slow down your workflow because you have to keep coming in and out of the precomp and they're just too limited. Tbh, what I think a lot of us would like to see is Adobe stop releasing new versions every year, because it's just frustratinng looking to see what has stopped working this time, and put resources into releasing a reworked app with cool new features that work.
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