After Effects 25.1 is the current version, with no big recent announcements. The December 2024 (25.1) release includes important fixes, and Adobe listed remaining Known issues in After Effects.

And yes, After Effects is 32 years old. New features include:

• Accepts Lights switch for 3D layers
• 3D model preview thumbnail
• Cinema 4D 2025 upgrade in After Effects

After Effects v 25.2.0.122 (2025-02-24) is in Beta and does include important new features:

• Animated Environmental Lights
• Better Caching for Better Playback
• HDR Preview
• CICP metadata
• FBX model import
• Customizable Transparency Grids
• Panel Background Color Options
• Quick Set Anchor Point
• Null Controls for Positional Points
• maintain workspace
• 3D quick actions
• Paste Text and Match Formatting

Film Riot considered recent Insane Updates for Adobe Premiere & After Effects and more in After Effects Guide: Advanced 3D Edition | Adobe Video x.

AEP shared February 12 details on what’s New in Adobe Firefly Video (beta). Of course, this gen AI video model integrates ok, though it isn’t class leading, and comparative costs are hard to estimate. The complimentary beta credits run out quickly.

There’s more below, but for now, flomotion says Adobe Firefly is AWESOME!! try it out now!! And Futurepedia has comparisons in Adobe Firefly Video is Finally Here – Fully Tested and Compared.

In Get After Effects to work the way YOU want, Jake In Motion walks you through his process of using ChatGPT AI to make Fractal Noise Generator, a complex, dockable script for After Effects. He also shows how to make 3 advanced primitive shapes with controls for non-destructively manipulating them in ways that After Effects can’t. Jake uses ChatGPT‘s o4 and o3-mini-high models for advanced reasoning and coding capabilities. The o3-mini-high model is especially useful for scripting and is better at writing After Effects Expressions. You can download everything created in this video for free as script UI panels, scriptlets, or presets.

Kyle Hamrick spends 3 hours to help you Learn After Effects | Beginner Motion Design Workshop, which includes project Files and a PDF guide.

In 3 MUST KNOW VFX In 2025 (After Effects Tutorial), After Effects Basics shows how to create a dancing building effect, an audio visualizer, and animated text motion graphics. Then you too can become a god🤞.

SonduckFilm posted The Best 3D Techniques All After Effects Users Should Know and Make 3D Motion Graphics TRULY Cinematic in After Effects. The Jedi hand tricks are truly cinematic!

Eran Stern shared Exploring Exciting NEW 3D Tools in After Effects, showing some After Effects beta 3D updates, including FBX support, enhanced lighting, and new workflow shortcuts.

Eran also posted Make 3D Wireframes in After Effects, as well as comparing results with other solutions. See also, his Transform Flat Images into Dynamic 3D Models , which uses AI to generate a still then another app to generate a model before bringing the 3D model into AE.

Boone Loves Video shows how to Elevate Your Map Animations with One Simple Effect, the Composition Border Animation Preset in After Effects.

Mike Murphy shows you How To Use seedRandom Expression in After Effects.

Check out Curl The Path, a script from François Lefebvre.

After Effects Tutorials w/ Mikey Borup has some new tools and tutorials, including After Effects Tutorial: 4 Ways to do Motion Blur.

Skymography shared EASY Blur Reveal Text Animation (After Effects Tutorial). It’s easy after you’ve done it!

David Sedlar shared Text Inside Text in After Effects, nice if not stunning.

Mapal adds a touch of subtlety in Retro Glass Texture + Animation (After Effects Tutorial).

CC Ball Action , the poor man’s Trapcode Form, made the animated curtains (more from Jake in Motion).

Mograph Mindset takes deep dives in Text Style Expressions in After Effects 2025 (ft. Kyle Hamrick) and After Effects Engineer Answers Questions, featuring John Colombo, a Senior Quality Engineer on the Adobe After Effects team.

On to AI… again, AEP shared recent details on what’s New in Adobe Firefly Video (beta). Here are two examples of my own Firefly results. What else could they be but mischievous jinn infestation 😅, the latter from a prompt “Adobe Firefly annoyances”:

Tony & Chelsea Northrup has fun in I Tried Adobe’s AI Video Tool and Found OUTRAGEOUS Results.

There is some other news in AI, supposedly.

Matt Wolfe has AI new weekly in Claude 3.7 & GPT 4.5: Why This Week Was INSANE (deja vu all over again).

Curious Refuge had another AI filmmaking roundup with Curious Refuge Joins Promise Studios, which includes a look at Adobe Firefly. See also 5 Best AI Video Generators (2025) by Kevin Stratvert.

Theoretically Media looked closer at specific new releases in AI video generators in This Open-Source Ai Video Generator Nailed It! (on the free for now WAN 2.1 from Alibaba) and Veo-2 Image To Video: Is It Worth The Price? (Google’s “Midjourney of AI video”).

It’s not all sunshine and lollipops of course. Check out Visual Venture’s The Most Unsettling AI Websites On The Internet and This AI deepfake tool is WAY too real by AI Search.

But wait, there’s more… PiXimperfect challenges us in 7 Photoshop Tools Replaced by AI – Are They Obsolete? He says that with features like Distraction Removal, Remove Tool, Super Resolution, Generative Expand, and AI Denoise, Photoshop is more powerful than ever. But what about classic tools like Content-Aware Fill, Clone Stamp, Spot Healing, Dodge & Burn, and Sharpening? Have they been completely replaced, or do they still have a place in professional editing? He puts them to the test against AI-driven alternatives to see where they still shine and where AI takes the lead.

5 Years of Visual Effects Editing in 1 Video from Skymography stresses reference over tutorials.

For fun, see How de-aging in movies got so good from Vox.

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