Introducing the Properties Panel in After Effects (Beta)

[Christine Goldby]

In our ongoing aim to make your After Effects experience better, we are excited to introduce the new Properties Panel to the beta today (22.2.0x29).

As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback here in the forum. Your responses help us know when features are ready to ship or if they need more polishing. Please speak up and help us build the product you need!

Properties Panel

Create motion graphics quicker and with greater ease inside the new Properties Panel. Cut down on your twirl-time by quickly accessing the properties you need the most. New designers coming from Photoshop and Illustrator should feel right at home with controls available where you are used to finding them.

This first build brings an easier way of working with Shape layers. Select a shape either in the composition window or timeline, and you will find its properties shown in the panel for easy access. If you change a value in the panel, it will change in the timeline as well. Select multiple shapes on a layer to change their values at the same time.

Alongside the Shape properties, we’ve also added basic layer transforms for Anchor Point, Position, Scale, Rotation and Opacity. The values can be modified for multiple layers at once when selected together.

How to Use Properties Panel
Select a Shape layer in the timeline, or in the composition window double-click to select a specific shape within that layer. The Properties Panel, which will be at the upper right side of the panel stack, will display the properties for your selection. You may need to extend the bottom edge of the panel down to see all the controls, or you can scroll down instead.

• Layer Transform controls at the top of the panel control the layer as a whole.
• Layer Contents lists any selected Shape layer(s) plus all the Shapes included within them.
• Shape Properties gives you quick access to the properties you need most frequently.
• Shape Transform gives the Anchor Point, Position, Scale, Rotation and Opacity controls specific to the selected shape.

Tips

• Double-click on any shape in the composition window to show its controls in the Properties Panel.
• Double-click on any property in the Properties Panel to reveal it within the timeline.
• The panel can be moved to wherever you find it most useful. Let us know where you end up using it most often!

For a longer introduction check out the attached video below.

Have fun with it!

Known Issues and Workarounds

• If you have multiple fills/strokes within a single shape, the fill/stroke does not show up in the Properties Panel. You can still edit these items within the timeline window.
• If you have multiple paths within a single shape, only the initial path shows in the Properties Panel. You can still edit the other paths within the timeline window.
• Shape Modifiers applied to Shapes do not show in the Properties Panel.
• Layers/Shapes cannot be renamed or reordered within the Layer Contents window.
• If you have a lot of Shapes on one layer, the Layer Contents window may not auto-scroll to your selected Shape. You can use the scrollbar to get to it.
• When scrubbing the Rotation angle, revolutions are not properly counted (rotating past 360 will start over at 0). You can type in values directly.
• If you have multiple keyframes on a property, deleting one or more from the Properties Panel does not work correctly. Move to the timeline to delete instead.
• Deleting a Shape Layer from either the timeline or Properties Panel throws an AE error. Just click OK and keep working.
• Keyframing a gradient fill/stroke from the Properties Panel throws an AE error. Click OK, and go to the timeline to set your keyframes.
• Resetting values in the Properties Panel will reset the values within the timeline, but the value still appears the same in the Properties Panel.

[Scott Simmons]

Oh, I like this a lot and I like where this is headed. So can we expect to see presets and effect controls in this Properties Panel?  I think this Panel should be on the right side of the workspace as you've shown.

[Christine Goldby]

Hi @Scott Simmons !

At the moment since effect controls already have their own panel, they won't be the next feature added in here. We want to focus on the properties that require a lot of twirling in the timeline right now. However this is an open book and we are looking forward to hearing what you all think as you are using it. I know one of our QEs was showing us last week that he has been stacking the Effects Control panel underneath the Properties Panel over on the right so he can have both open and working. We are excited to see how workflows may adjust!

[prbmotion]

Yeah, I could definitely see a lot more "properties" being consolidated into this pannel. It's definitely nice for all the typical transform properties (ie; position, scale, roation) as well as things like fill color.

Personally, I feel like it would be really nice to have text properties in here as well. So "character" and "paragraph" pannels don't have to take up any extra screen real estate. It would also make the user experience feel similar between working with a shape layer (changing colors, size) and working with text layers (changing font color and size, etc)

[James Landy]

Thanks for letting us know that text is an important part of your workflow. It's high on our priority list too.   

[Scott Simmons]

As this Poperties Panel grows, I would like to see it work as an attribute editor a la a 3D program or other anim programs. The selected object would have diffrent tabs for different attributes such as physics, lighing, reflections, 3D etc.

[Szalam]

So excited to see this! Another great move to make AE better for artists. Thank you!

[LAR5]

Thanks for adding this!

Just letting you know, I had to delete my prefs folder to get it working.
Prior I had the error:

After Effects (Beta) warning: Unnown Exception.

when trying to launch the panel. Maybe an issue with the workspaces? Tried the (old?) "Default" with the same error. So I trashed the prefs and now it is working.
Cheers

[PFuerst]

Finally!!! So glad to this this happening. I think different Tabs would be nice to have to make the list not to long.

I think the panel should be next to the timeline so that the distance the mouse has to traffel will be as short as possible

[LAR5]

Selecting multiple Shape Layers and hitting delete (backspace) pops this alert:

After Effects (Beta) error: CSelectronASSERT fail: CSelectron: layer is null

The layers do get deleted as expected.

[LAR5]

Same error when delting a shape layer, which is used as track matte:

After Effects (Beta) error: CSelectronASSERT fail: CSelectron: layer is null

[LAR5]

...sorry, shame on me for not reading known issues 🤦‍:male_sign:

[prestongibson_]

I'd love to see keyframe info in this panel. Instantly check values + velocities without having to right click and open a secondary window.

[Bruno Quintin]

There is the same problem as with the Effects panel: It is not possible to select properties as we do in the timeline.

If you can do it in this new panel, consider doing it for the Effects panel. (pleeeease).

If it were possible to select properties, there might be a possibility to isolate these properties (hiding all others) or even to save the selections.

it would be great

[R Neil Haugen]

Wow!

As someone who will probably always remain a "relative noob" in Ae, this is SO useful! Makes perfect sense and is so much faster for my piddly little projects.

Thank you!

Neil

[Mo Moolla]

Hi Christine

This looks pretty interesting. I see the layout is almost goinh the EGP route.

I will have a go at this. 

Interested to see how much real estate is needed to house this property panel.

To me it seems I would need to set up a new Workspave apart from my VFX workspace which houses a lot of plugins and has almost no more room for another docked panel.

Would love to hear feedback from those who are on laptops and Macbooks with smaller screens

Mo

[maxbuzin]

How to get the AE beta? Isn't showing for me here... only aero beta...

[R Neil Haugen]

That's not the place where you get the beta apps ... go to the left side tabs of the main CC app. Where it has the tabs for say video and such. There should be an option for Beta apps.

Neil

 

[tsuriel]

This is great!! When will there be a feature like illustrator where we can add gradient along paths?

[Christine Goldby]

Hi @tsuriel. It is a great feature request and we will add your vote.

You may also want to check out User Voice, it's a great place to add feature requests and add your votes to those posted by other users. 

Thanks for your feedback!

[jackthegiantslayer]

Hi Tsuriel, if you want any kind of feedback or response apparently this is place, as the After Effects team rarely responds on Uservoice and there are Top Ten requests that have been ignored for years on end.

[brainfruit]

I'd love to use it but rendering via media encoder fails for me in the latest version, so I've had to roll back to the previous release. I'm not alone in this issue either!

[TimKurkoski]

@brainfruit, sorry to hear that you're having problems. Your best way to get help is to post a new thread. If the problem you're having is with After Effects Beta, start a new thread in this forum. If the problem you're having is in the non-beta release of After Effects, please post in the main After Effects Forum.

Regarding Properties Panel, remember that it's only currently in Beta builds. You can install these builds alongside the non-beta releases, they do not interfere with each other. We're at the stage right now where we'd love to get your feedback about the shape and the feel of the Properties Panel. How does it work for you? What would you change? So please install After Effects Beta, try it out, and let us know what you think!

[Gabi5EC5]

HALLELUJAH

[prbmotion]

I'm very excited for this update. I geek out about optimizing my workspace and workflow in Ae. This should improve it quite a bit