NAB is coming soon, so everyone is expecting spring milestones for Creative Cloud apps…

NAB Mograph Meetup 2022 is returning on Sunday, April 24, 2022. This event is free to attend, but you must RSVP in advance. SuperMeetup! 2022 is also returning, set for Monday, April 25th, 7pm-11pm. It costs $15 but the raffle is great. See also Michele’s NAB Survival Guide Edition #NABShow if you don’t have much experience of NAB.

A few more new features have appeared since the last news roundup, though of course there are no promises on which beta features will make their way to official releases! First, Adobe Animate import was added to the Apple silicon version of After Effects (Beta).

Then, Catie Bass posted Feature Focus: Separated Dimensions Preference in After Effects Beta. You can now set AE to default to separated X, Y dimensions (for 2D layers) or separated X, Y, Z dimensions (for 3D layers) on position properties, by enabling the new Separated Dimensions options in Preferences > General. Apparently, some dreams do come true.

We’ve lost plug-in compatibility several times over the years, so let’s hope that plug-in developers are able to port as many as filter effects as possible. If you’re interested where plug-ins are stored, see Where Installers Should Put Plug-ins.

Jake In Motion finished his 190-video series on the built-in effects of After Effects. His coverage of native particle systems fills one big neglected gap. He used Help (the AE User Guide)!

Jake In Motion also posted 3D Camera Tracker | Effects of After Effects, which explains how to use the 3D Camera Tracker (see his class), how to normalize a 3D scene for an easier 3D workflow, and how to insert 3D layers into footage. Jake adds a “Big shout-out to @ActionMovieKid for his explanation of the 3D normalization process and @workbench_tv for the killer script that automates it all.”

The Adobe Video & Motion Youtube channel featured several tutorials in March, including a 5-part Essential Workflows series by Ben Marriot (more at his YouTube channel). Here’s Faster Animation with the Properties Panel in After Effects, Composition Profiler for Faster Renders in After Effects, and Faster Previews & Multi-Frame Rendering in After Effects.

Chris Zwar continued his series on color management here on PVC with a quick demonstration of how color and sound are different, continuing with something on RGB origins; see both Color Management Part 3: It’s all in the brain and Color Management Part 4: Maxwell’s Spinning Discs. Remember, these are videos with text intro and source links.

Back in February, Roei Tzoref / AE Blues posted 2 parts of a video tutorial: Color Managed Workflows in After Effects – Part 1: Display, Log, Linearized, ACES and Color Managed Workflows in After Effects – Part 2: Real Project Scenarios.

Boone Loves Video posted a few map tutorials as usual, like How to Make Dynamic Map Icons & Labels in After Effects, but also The Best Way to Create BAR GRAPHS in Adobe After Effects. If you really want to get into maps, see Johnny Harris and his Patreon resources too, which were mentioned in a previous roundup. And yeah, graph tutorials seemed numerous and played out, but maybe we can start fresh.

It’s good to think about charts and graphs ahead of time, unless you want to be a flack. Making beautiful evidence is an art. There’s no tutorial needed for the classic “fair & balanced” pie chart below, but do check out eager eyes‘s advice, like The Science of Pie Charts – Why We Don’t Read them By Angle and Chart Appreciation: Iraq’s Bloody Toll by Simon Scarr.

Flat Pack FX shared VOX 3D Map Borders Effect // Google Earth Studio & After Effects 2022.

Long-time San Francisco AE artist Matt Silverman joined a recent Mograph.com discussion of NFT in The DROP // Read The Fine Print // Ep 053. He has funny and sensible advice, while the hosts, though inviting him, seem to have faith in beanie babies, baseball cards, and crypto.

Adobe’s Rameez_Khan posted his February 2022 After Effects Community Recap.

If you looking to start using After Effects, there’s a nice video from No Film School and Adobe: NFS + Adobe Premiere Pro Masterclass | Introduction to After Effects.

After Effects Beginner posted their Top 5 AFTER EFFECTS Tutorials March 2022.

Creative Dojo posts in March 2022 include 4 After Effects Organization & Workflow Tips and the newsie Blender Car Animation Tutorial, Cyberpunk with Redshift, and Map Explainers in After Effects.

Motion Science posted Fun with Loops in Cinema 4D Lite & After Effects. In this tutorial video Cameron shows you how to create a simple loop in Cinema4D Lite with basic shapes and textures, and then some basic finishing in After Effects.

In How To Create MORBIUS Smoke Trail Effect | After Effects Tutorial, ActionVFX shows us how to make a smoke trail effect inspired by the Marvel movie Morbius.

Charles Yeager showed How to Create Glass and Ice Text in After Effects | Free Project File | PremiumBeat.com. You get free project files and textures to follow along.

SonduckFilm shared 4 Fractal Cut Background Motion Design Tricks in After Effects | Tutorial; they provided a free project file to follow along.

Premiere Gal discusses “Why we used the Transform effect?” in Photo Slideshow Effect like Johnny Harris in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Here on PVC is Apple Motion — every editor’s secret weapon by Iain Anderson. Apple’s answer to After Effects seems a well-guarded secret because I haven’t even opened this app since version 1. But Mr. Anderson says, “While the uses of Motion are more obvious to Final Cut Pro editors, if you cut with a different NLE, there are still many reasons why you might want to keep this app in your back pocket.” Maybe… worth another look?

Jonny Elwyn collected DaVinci Resolve 17 Free Training resources that may be handy.

Ryan Summers posted 5 Amazing After Effects Tools – Speed Up Your Workflow! in 2020, and another news item below on Cavalry third-party scripts.

{ mograph } @cavalry__app now supports third-party scripting so OF COURSE @aescripts is the first to market!

Check out MVRK for Cavalry: https://t.co/GyoKgOSkQV

— Ryan Summers (@Oddernod) March 31, 2022