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Andrew Yoole
Andrew Yoole
Inspiring
August 31, 2009
Question

AFTER EFFECTS WISHLIST

  • August 31, 2009
  • 203 replies
  • 212715 views

What features would you like to see implemented in After Effects? New ideas for plugins? Interface changes? Post 'em here!

Let's keep bug identification to individual posts, as these will probably be addressed more readily. Let's use this thread for specific ideas about ways that AE can be improved and expanded.

These Forums are for users, not Adobe employees, so don't forget to also fill in an Adobe feature request form.

To view the Wish List posts prior to September 2009, look here.

      203 replies

      N
      nicholasfer
      Participant
      March 13, 2026

      Hi

      Is it possible to be able to highlight the text of the after effects warning window when the expression is disable because of an error. That way it is easier to copy and paste the error in google/ai engine to find the solution. 

      Thank you!

       

      Sterphy
      Sterphy
      Known Participant
      October 11, 2025

      I hate the way AE handles 3D.  Like how when you click to make a layer 3D and it will jump somewhere else in the comp because it isn't aligned to the current view.  Everything 3D is just so BAD - I'd like to see them overhaul the 3d workspace completely and make it more logical.  Timeline folders.  It's insane that we still don't have them, and disk preview instead of RAM preview - NVME are plenty fast enough that previews can just be rendered to the disk temporarily 

      Awesome_determination0D4D
      Awesome_determination0D4D
      Known Participant
      September 18, 2023

      I wish multiple clips could be place on the same layer. As of now you can only place 1 clip on a single layer. I wish it was like PPro.

      Thank God, if we wish to loop a clip we can loop it in its property. However if I wanted a set of 2 clips of one kind and 1 other another kind loop several times. My comp woyuld grow vertically as well as horizontally. Severe real estate wastage and bad ergonomics.

       

      https://www.santanu.biz

      Awesome_determination0D4D
      Awesome_determination0D4D
      Known Participant
      March 31, 2020

      A simple wish, difficult to implement for commercial reasons - Allow multiple clips in the same layer. Period. AE will replace PP. Allow PP style transitions in AE. You won't need PP any more. Sound's like an atomic bomb?

       

      www.santanu.biz

      nubnubbud
      nubnubbud
      Inspiring
      September 30, 2022

      a new after effects. made from the ground up to support modern hardware, not 1999 single core no gpu computers, but actual workstations with dedicated graphics hardware, either on or off-die. also maybe real multithreading and not just using different threads to render different frames separately. also making the built in effects 16 or 32 bit. also having a proper 3D view and not 2.5D.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVNCgmAsI8c&t=1166s

        H
        hyper-mouse
        Participant
        November 26, 2019

        1/ Allow camera Point Of Interest to have Seperate Dimensions (PLEASE!!!)

        2/ Be able to lock Focus Distance to Point Of Interest
        3/ To be able to lock Focal Distance and/or Point of Interest to an object or null

        michaeld15147761
        michaeld15147761
        Inspiring
        April 10, 2017

        This may have been listed here already, but what about a way to extend all nested comps to match the length of the parent comp? There's already a 3rd party script for this (rd: Comp Setter - aescripts + aeplugins - aescripts.com ) but having it built in would be nice. There could be a checkbox to have all nested comps extended/trimmed in the Composition Settings dialogue box. Maybe any layer in the nested comps that goes until the end of that comp's timeline would automatically be extended as well (perhaps via a secondary checkbox)?

        mave1969
        mave1969
        Known Participant
        April 10, 2017

        For the love of all that's holy I wish AE was even partway intelligent about locating missing footage. In other Adobe apps like InDesign, finding one missing asset automatically leads to the app locating any other missing files in the same folder, or even in the same relative folder structure. AE is dreadful at this. The number of times I end up having to manually re-link a whole bunch of images in the same folder is just maddening.

        Szalam
        Community Expert
        SzalamCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        April 12, 2017

        My AE behaves the way you are wishing for. I relinked one thing and had it find 49 others by itself just the other day.

        I would be frustrated as heck if it hadn't done that.

        I wonder why yours isn't behaving. The assets involved wouldn't happen to be JPEG sequences or JPEGs, would they?

        mave1969
        mave1969
        Known Participant
        May 6, 2017

        They were JPGs and now I see why. Hopefully the fix in 14.2 will solve things.

        genvfx
        genvfx
        Known Participant
        January 30, 2017

        I would really like to if there was a way to have a layer override so that you could preview at, say, a quarter res, but have an override that makes one layer, for example a safe overlay image from a client, at full res so you can completely make out the edges.

        It sounds simple in my head, but I'm sure it'll be a nightmare

        G

        N
        Navarro Parker
        Inspiring
        February 8, 2017

        You could work in 1/4 res and in comp settings, make sure "Preserve Resolution When Nested". Then put that precomp into your logo comp that's full res. You'd see the logo at full res and the pre comp at 1/4 res at the same time. You'd still need to step into your pre comp to make changes, so it's not entirely what you are asking.

        Maybe this would be easier to implement: a variable opacity full-res guide layer similar to Show Snapshot? But have Show Snapshot persistent or toggle on/off (Instead of a momentary button like it is now)?

        genvfx
        genvfx
        Known Participant
        February 17, 2017

        Hi Navarro

        Yes, that does work, but , as you say, it's a kind of reviewing comp and that's inefficient when it comes to making edits.

        What I would really like is a small toggle button next to the Cont. Rasterize.  Maybe instead of the shy button, that allows for Full/half/quarter res for reviewing work - Showing F/H/Q with a colour change making it obvious which override is on.  A global button for toggling it on and off like they have for Blur.

        I know, it'll never happen, but this is a Wishlist

        G

        D
        davidw47313387
        Participating Frequently
        December 18, 2016

        Ability to add 3d layers to be a true 3d space precomp

        Like when 2 or more 3d layers are precompd together you have an option for true 3d space

        prowl
        prowl
        Known Participant
        December 18, 2016

        So... just goign tofire these off here again... I know that we need to use the request link.

        Feature Request/Bug Report Form

        But need to actually get people to put in more requests

        3D Space

        Make it more like a 3d Application. It's all very forced 2D now

        3D Connection Support

        Interface

        Goddamn easy Keyboard shortcut customisation on windows!  it's 2016! 

        Kill all the Modal pop ups - like the comp settings.  Make it a panel so you can change it on the fly or be able to select multiple comps and change them.

        Same for any other modal pops - lights / cameras / Solids / placeholder - All of them! Make them panels!

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