Adobe just announced all of the new updates for After Effects ahead of NAB. While Content-Aware Fill is stealing the show, the Expression Editor also received some significant upgrades. If you’ve never used them before, expressions are snippets of JavaScript which you can use to create dynamic animations. The beauty is that you can create these animations without having to use hundreds of keyframes. To add expressions to a property, you must use the Expression Editor.
If you’re already an expert at coding, these updates will help you code faster. If you’re a novice when it comes to expression, then these updates are going to make working with expressions a little less intimidating. Let’s take a look at the changes.
The new layout is designed to allow you to navigate your code visually with syntax highlighting, line numbers, matching brace highlighting and code folding, all of which is customizable. Now when you type in the Editor, it will automatically suggest snippets of code based on what you’re inputting. When there’s an error with the code, you’re now given an in-line message to put things into context. It will even help to reconnect assets, such as showing a list of available layer elements.
As if the new Expression Editor wasn’t fantastic enough, you also now have a Scripting and Expressions menu in the Preferences panel. allowing you to make significant customization options, including the color themes and a number of other settings.
So what do you think? Do you like the new layout?
