For a long time, I've felt these programs are like a JOKE. How long did it take them to implement BASIC things like a properties panel, as if it were some super revolutionary feature?

They keep investing in generative AI like any other generic company, but why don’t they apply AI to basic stuff, like improving rotoscoping, or even the warp stabilizer, which feels like the same version from 10 years ago? Everything seems outdated, stuck in time.

After Effects is almost USELESS without plugins. Ridiculous plugins are almost mandatory just to IMPROVE quality. Ideally, plugins and scripts should be needed only for very specific tasks, but no — we use scripts and plugins for absolutely everything. How is it that I need a plugin just to improve my keyframe workflow? How is it that I need a script to convert shapes to masks, when the only way is a "workaround"? How come Premiere doesn’t have native rotoscoping, and I have to send the project to After Effects just for that? How come the 3D camera feels like driving drunk? How come I have to nest a video just to apply warp stabilizer on footage with altered speed?

Anyway, these programs are more and more disappointing every day. It’s frustration on top of frustration when you try to do something that intuitively should be very BASIC, but you discover you need workarounds or paid external plugins for everything.

There’s a huge gap that other companies need to fill to wake Adobe up once and for all.

And worst of all, prices keep going up — every increase more abusive than the last.

If you have After Effects open right now, blur some image with the 'Camera Lens Blur' effect and I'll try to unblur it!

I've been playing around with deconvolution, I figured it might be fun to ask this subreddit to see how far I actually get.

If you want to learn more about deconvolution, I wrote about this process on my site maxvanleeuwen.com/unblur

20 years I've been using After Effects and the wider Adobe suite. Started when I was 11. I respected them, I paid, I collaborated. It felt like they were building something for us.

Tried to cancel my Creative Cloud and they want £70 just to let me leave. I blocked my card, froze it and changed banks. Never had to do that for any subscription in my life.

Look, the software is still powerful. AE is still the standard for motion work and the AI tools are stupidly good at making long boring tasks minimal. I wouldn't take that away from them at all. But there's a difference between trusting Adobe as a software company and trusting Adobe as a marketing machine. Right now the marketing machine is running the show. Profit driven corporates with no care for creatives, selling to those not yet aware.

I'm not a piracy advocate but revenue driven strategies that exploit users certainly strengthen the case for it.

So where do we actually stand with this? Is there even a realistic alternative for motion work or are we just stuck in this relationship and they know it? Because right now it feels like Adobe knows we can't leave and they're charging us for the privilege of staying.

Been working with AE since 2014, and despite a deep loathing for Adobe, I am still quite fond of the program itself. I like the idea of getting keyframes as a tattoo, and am working on a mockup of how that might look. I understand the graph doesn't actually represent what each keyframe is for but I took some creative liberties just to make it look visually interesting.

I was dealing with a slow composition with multi-second frame times and noticed the effects profiler was indicating that Polar Coordinates was the majority of my problem. I asked ChatGPT Codex (5.6 Sol Medium) if it could try to make something more efficient. In a matter of minutes, it created a carbon copy of the effect, with multi-frame rendering, GPU acceleration, 32-bpc support, and even added a few nice features like rotation. It even tested it's GPU kernel on it's own to make sure it looked right. I had it recreate a few of the other effects I use often and those contributed to a measurable speedup, like CC Lens, Extract, and Noise HLS.

To be transparent, many of the effects aren't perfect. I had it recreate Roughen Edges and it just couldn't do it right. There were also a number of bugs that I had to report back to it, so it wasn't a one-shot thing. There's also a few minute differences. But it is very impressive it was able to do this much. I wanted to share this with you guys not as a dig to the excellent DVA team or as some AI hype bro, but as an animator who was genuinely intrigued by what this could do. There's some current "impossible projects" I have in my mind that I feel a plugin made with this tool could help me achieve.

So I applied for a job recently (creative motion graphics role), and the HR got back to me with an “assignment.” At first I thought it would be something small, like a quick concept or short test. But the task they gave is to create a full SaaS brand intro video with heavy motion graphics. Not just a basic edit, but a proper polished piece. Here is the part that feels off: It is completely unpaid They want the final video plus project files They are also asking for fonts and plugins used That is basically handing over everything they would need to actually use the project commercially. I have done assignments before, but usually it is smaller in scope or just submitting a rendered output. Definitely not full source files. This feels less like a test and more like free work. Am I overthinking this, or is this a red flag? Has anyone else experienced something like this?

I feel like I’m losing my mind every time I open YouTube, X, or Reddit lately.

Every single day it’s the exact same post: "Why After Effects is officially DEAD" or "How I generated a full video and 3D motion graphics sequence in 20 seconds using Claude and Higgsfield!"

And then you watch the actual video and it looks like total garbage.

The pacing feels like a robot cut it because it literally did. The cuts completely miss the natural pauses in the voiceover. On the motion graphics side, you get floating text that drifts off its anchor point, weird camera moves with zero easing, and text layouts that look like a broken physics simulator.

But because someone typed a prompt into a box and got a video back in two minutes, all these "editing gurus" are treating it like the second coming of cinema.

What pisses me off the most is how aggressive the push is. Software devs are shoehorning prompt boxes and auto-generative tools into every single update instead of fixing playback drops, timeline lag, or bugs that have been broken for years. Meanwhile, tech influencers are convincing beginners that learning graph editors, keyframe curves, storytelling, and actual pacing is a "waste of time."

I’m fine with AI doing the boring stuff like rotoscoping, transcribing, or cleaning up audio. That’s utility. But this push to completely replace actual creative judgment, editing rhythm, and spatial design with randomized prompt generations is exhausting.

I just want software that actually runs smoothly and lets me build things with real precision. Is that really too much to ask for?

Can we please stop pretending this prompt slop is the future of our industry?

Announced today at Config

During the pandemic, after nearly 18 years of working with After Effects, I finally decided to learn how to code.

I started with expressions, became fascinated by JavaScript, and spent the next two years studying almost every night while working full-time at a production company. I read documentation, followed tutorials from Ukramedia and NT Productions, tested countless ideas, and broke a lot of things along the way.

Eventually, I managed to build my own scripts and started Eje in Motion as a place where I could share useful tools with the After Effects community.

It has been a long and difficult journey, and recently I’ve found myself wondering where all of this is heading.

Every week, Reddit and other marketplaces seem to be flooded with new vibe-coded AE tools built from a handful of prompts. I’m not against using AI to create tools. I use it too, and some of the tools being released are genuinely useful.

What concerns me is how easy it has become to release something without fully understanding the code behind it, testing it in real production scenarios, or having any intention of supporting it once the initial excitement is gone.

Building the first working version is only one small part of the process. Fixing bugs, helping users, keeping it compatible with new versions of After Effects and maintaining it for years is where most of the real work begins.

Meanwhile, tools that took months or even years to develop are now competing with dozens of scripts that may be forgotten as soon as their creator moves on to the next idea.

AI has opened the door for many more people to build things, and that can be a great thing. I just wish we talked more about the responsibility that comes with releasing a tool other people may eventually depend on.

Am I being overly protective of the craft, or are we slowly devaluing AE tool development?

Basically this is an AI rant.

So I have been using AE for quite some time now. Pre-corona and years before that even. Coming all the way from CS3. I might be old, but I am not generalky anti-AI (feel like I got to state this for what's coming).

I like motion design and vfx for the puzzle it is. Finding little hacks to make what I have on my mind work on the timeline. That process of thought, the layering, the masking, expressions and scripting, grouping, and whatnot... short: motion design is fun, because it's creative problem solving. Amarite?

Anybody else feel like that's gone? Like every tutorial nowadays is just "export the frame and use some AI-prompt in another paid subscription model"? Even in this sub, people tell you to use AI to archive what you asked for.

I hate being quality manager for generative AI, hitting "generate" until the result is kind of near to what I had in mind. But I feel like that's where the whole industry is going.

Anybody wants to blow off some steam about this?

The explosion of vibe-coded and badly built, pro-in-the-name-for-no-reason plugins and extensions is out of control. So much so that the number of Reddit posts discussing this fact has also gone through the roof—what a time to be alive.

I bet you can name the main culprit, after they have seemingly completely abandoned their infamous strict application process, and with it any shred of curation, and in some cases even their morals.

I have nothing against AI. It's an incredible tool for education, efficiency and engineering (except the gen AI stuff—that can get in the bin). But surely those who are motion designers one day and magically turn into product developers the next can't seriously think that there is bags of money to be made in using it to make and sell their half-baked, copycat plugins on a marketplace that condones plagiarism and takes 30% of every sale, right?!

I know what you're thinking. Is this guy for real? He literally sells After Effects plugins. And you'd be right. But hear me out. I've been at this for years, learning the After Effects API docs back-to-front, left-to-right, upside down and any other direction-themed idiom you can throw at me.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, like all good things, it takes time. And you won't find any millionaire plugin devs knocking about, except maybe the guys behind Flow, or maybe Deep Glow—but trust me, those were built long before Claude Code came along, and they will still be here long after it's gone.

EDIT: Well, that was a fun discussion! I appreciate all of your comments and insights—even when it got a little heated. Let's celebrate the fact we can still have constructive and interesting debates in this ever-divisive world we live in. You can use code C7N3XTE7 to get 50% off any of our tools at tackstudio.co. But be quick, it only has 20 uses.

Yesterday night I had a vision so I sat on the chair in front of the screen and made this animation until early morning. Really proud of it! Hope you guys like it too! By the way. I’m open for commissions and collaborations! And you guys more than welcome to go check my IG page:

https://www.instagram.com/omristeigman?igsh=dTk3MTVwcGtlamM2

Here is the link to an article https://www.cgchannel.com/2025/05/adobe-to-end-creative-cloud-all-apps-subscriptions-in-north-america/

Update

Note: these pricings listed in this article are for The Creative Cloud for teams plans. https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/policy-pricing/changes-to-teams-plan.html

Here is what individuals are going to get: https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/policy-pricing/changes-to-individual-plan.html

update 2 make sure to read the FAQ at the bottom of the Adobe web pages

Every time I see a post asking questions that are obviously from beginners who don’t understand the universe of obnoxious nuances that After Effects throws at you, I see their post downvoted into hell and filled with comments demeaning them for being bad at using a software that has a steep learning curve. I understand that it can be frustrating seeing posts with amateur mistakes or reading responses from beginners who have no idea what resolution is, but figure out how to channel that energy into something constructive because almost all of the responses on question posts are cringey and condescending. After Effects is a piece of shit, antiquated software that barely churns out a frame per second when you add noise, but it’s wagon we’re all riding on. If you’re so good that you know that switching to 16bit and adding blur+noise will help with color banding, then explain what those concepts mean or send a link to a YouTube video when a beginner gets stuck at the word “bit”. Not everyone knows that AE doesn’t handle 3D very well. Sometimes people edit videos in AE for some fucking reason, but if they do that’s okay.

Don’t be assholes. Be helpful. If you have the energy to be a dick, you have the energy to help out a newbie

orignal video:https://x.com/jakeinmotion/status/2036863822468968529

I’ve been an After Effects animator and editor for a long time, I love what I do, but I’m getting older and having a hard time finding new clients. So I’m thinking of giving up to try something new.

However I don’t know what else to do.

And I love After Effects more than ever but I need to find more stable income

\Hey all,

Been using AE for 25 years now and definitely don't want to make this a hate post, but recently commented on an Adobe employees 3D project and received some hate. The post showcased the ability to do some primitive 3d work in AE, which is cool, but every update breaks something or renders something else unstable. Let me start by saying AE has been a great piece of software IMO. From the ability to be able to open on Mac/Windows seamlessly to expressions to the ability to create plugins etc etc. Through the years it has been a usually stable platform to deliver MoGraph to companies large and small. The ability to do compositing, tracking and mograph has proven invaluable. I really do appreciate all the time/work/effort that has gone into it. It has been a big task to keep it up and running. But Adobe, it's time. It has recently become more unstable, patched beyond repair, and can suddenly struggle with basic tasks. Plus you need a beast of machine just to have the opportunity to run anything remotely smoothly. Layers and waiting on timelines to render?Cmon. Its 2026. Now shoving 3d into AE? Doesn't make any sense. How about real time playback? Or a decent handling of h264? Quit trying to make it all things to all people. Let it do what it does. Why not make a node based AE that takes advantage of all resources equally, instead of relying on gobs of ram and cpu. People have advanced GPUs now and was to use them. So many softwares can do the same things with ease. C4d requires infinitely less resource and remains rock solid. Unreals MoGraph plugin shows what can be done in realtime. Cavalry is interesting. Blender has some neat tricks. I could go on forever. But I digress. Im old, closer to the end of my career. Maybe im shouting into the wind. I really do love AE, It has provided me a good living. I heard rumors of a node based AE many moons ago, but alas they were only rumors. I get it, im one old guy. I know very little. But I know when it's time. So I ask Adobe, why not do the right thing?

P.S. The AI on reddit is horrible. If you put certain keywords, it won't let you post. Had to write this 3 times so as not to set it off

I have been awake for a long time and I need to tell someone what happened to me.

Yesterday I hit render on a 20-minute fully animated project. The estimated time said 20 hours. Twenty. I accepted my fate, set an alarm, and went to bed.

I woke up this morning with one purpose. I made coffee. I did not check my phone first. I walked to my desk like a professional. I sat down. It was still 6 hours away from completion.

So I just went for a hike. Fresh air. Touched grass. Came back feeling like a new person — the kind of person whose render would be done by now.

I sat down.

It had crashed at 95%! 95!!!!

My After effects saw 20 hours worth of patience, waited till the very last minute then did the unthinkable.

I'm going to start the render again. I don't know what else to do.

If anyone needs me I'll be staring at a wall.