After Effects 25.6.0 is live. The current release of Adobe After Effects is November 2025 (25.6), which includes new features and workflow improvements.

Previous release details can be found in recent roundups. The November 2025 (25.6) release includes important fixes, known issues, and some added features like:

• Modify Default Camera Settings
• Extensive fixes and improvements
• Single 3D Gizmo for multiple 3D layers
• Tip of the Day
• …and the rest from the previous release…
• Quickly offset your layers and keyframes
• Copy and paste only the text formatting
• Support for CICP metadata
• Learn about Effects before applying them (info icon)
• Automatically relaunch when required by preferences or features
• New Product Community and Creator resources with feedback, stock items, and tutorials.

The top features in beta, (version 26.0.0) last updated on November 25 2025, includes:

• Support for Variable Font Axes
• Create parametric meshes
• Substance 3D Materials (SBSAR)
• Lossless Compressed Playback
• Unmult effect for Keying transparency
• New built-in audio effects
• Crop Composition to Selected Layer(s) Bounds
• Import SVG files as vectors
• Improved Illustrator layer conversion
• Improved UI language support
• Change anchor point in a more efficient way 
• Duplicate layers using Alt/Option-drag
• Enable lights to cast shadows
• After Effects Preferences Refresh

Oh yeah, AE development is a moving target, and the last snapshot was dubbed the BIGGEST After Effects Update EVER! by Jake In Motion.

SternFX posted The Easiest Way to Animate Better Text in After Effects.

This video is about finding and enabling Variable Fonts, including a quick look at Adobe Fonts. Eran explored how to work with variable properties like Weight, Width and Slant, and finish by animating them with text animators for type in motion.

See also Michael Ponch with After Effects UPDATE: Futuristic TEXT FX Using NATIVE Variable Fonts, and Variable Font Kinetic Type Animation | After Effects Tutorial from The Video Shop.

For the details with lots of demo videos, see Sean Jenkin (Adobe After Effects Group Engineering Manager) in Introducing Variable Font Animation in After Effects Beta 26.0×40.

But wait, there’s more detail!

In Expression & Scripting Access for Dropdown Text and Keyframes in After Effects Beta 26.0×40, John Colombo introduced two improvements for expressions & scripting. First, you can quickly find the keyframe or marker before or after a given time, without writing lengthy, repetitive logic. Also you can read the current text and the full list of dropdown menu items, so you no longer need to keep duplicate strings in your expressions just to show the text from a dropdown menu.

Introducing Crop Comp to Selected Layer(s) Bounds in After Effects Beta 26.0×40 by Amir Stone introduces a small but long-requested and mighty workflow boost: Crop Comp to Selected Layer(s) Bounds. In Beta version 26.0 build x40, AE will resize your composition to the visible bounds of the selected layers: either shrinking the comp to tightly frame smaller content, or expanding it to include layers that extend beyond current comp edges.

Here on PVC, Chris Zwar has Track Mattes or the Set Matte effect?, a video on why they’re not the same, which actually goes beyond just mattes. Set Matte was one of the original effects in AE.

Also on PVC, the latest from Jeff Foster posted AI Tools: Adobe Firefly AI has gone Bananas!

Jake In Motion posted Claude AI changed how I work in After Effects FOREVER, apparently by developing and releasing Code Runner, a barebones launcher bundled with some of Jake’s scripts, expressions, and presets.

Bring Your Own Laptop says This Is Why Blender Is Replacing After Effects for Motion Graphics. Will you be drawn in?

Check out the latest from Blender in What’s New in Blender 5.0! Official Overview.

Unreal Sensei explains Why Unreal Engine 5.7 is a BIG Deal. You get to find out about voxels and the new vegetation system.

SonduckFilm shows you how to Make Apple-Style Carousel Motion Graphics in After Effects.

And with just one way of the hand, you realize this is the tutorial you were looking for: The NEW 3D Techniques All After Effects Users Should Know!

Saff VFx posted Gaussian Splatting (After Effects Tutorial). I liked his 3D Space more, even if I’m left wondering again why Shorts get cut short.

This looks fun: Reach² Beta Overwiew from PENCIL PARK.

Boone Loves Video shares his ideas on The Best PLUGINS for Map Animators. 🗺️🔌❤️

SternFX posted Stop Using Default Fonts! Unlock the Power of Glyphs. Eran shows how to turn boring titles into stylistic typography using alternative glyphs in Illustrator, then bring them to life in After Effects.

Michael Ponch shared the practical Now Easier Than Ever: REMOVE GLARE FROM GLASSES in Video | After Effects + AI.

Atom, “Your AI assistant for After Effects,” lets you write expressions, automate scripts, and build complex rigs using only natural language. There’s a bunch of AI implementations out there, but no roundup in my feeds. School of Motion called it a proof of concept in development.

A few hours later… Eran Stern was very positive about hands-on testing. See The After Effects Tool You Did Not Know You Needed.

Did you know, Premiere Just Got an AI Assistant Editor?! Premiere Gal has a tour.

School of Motion reports on the new AI Scripting Agent for Rive, which is looking pretty good. See NEW Vimeo for Artists, Meta Backlash & Rive Blows Our Minds AGAIN | Motion Mondays, for news on Rive, Blender and more.

Rive is free to learn but not to export, though it isn’t expensive. Jake In Motion can help get you started; see Rive Tutorial for Beginners – Interactive Animation in 25 Minutes!

PiXimperfect welcomes us to ‘the age of credits’ in Photoshop 2026: 12 New Features, One Big Catch!

Some of us have become too accustomed to Photoshop, but re-thinking can be a struggle with a comfortable self.. Brad Colbow takes a look from his perspective in 10 Things Every Adobe User Should Know Before Switching to Affinity.

In case you missed the Premiere 25.6 November update there is a “new era” of video editing loading. ⌛

➡️ Upgraded Media Intelligence, making it even easier to search for your assets
➡️ Censor transcript, enabling bulk-bleeping of words or names
➡️ Bolstered connections across the Adobe ecosystem, including integrated access to #AdobeStock’s 50+ million video assets
➡️ Seamless phone to desktop workflow transfers
➡️ Etc!

Our baby is growing up… someone can actually round up Premiere plug-ins!  See Every Premiere Pro Plugin You Need to Edit Faster by Gavin Herman.

Popular at the time of Adobe Max 2025, here’s the Project Graph Full Length Demo from Adobe MAX | Adobe Firefly. Wes McDermott shows how you can blend the industry’s top AI models with the capabilities of Adobe’s creative tools to build anything you can imagine using the visual, node-based editor in development. There was a little more from Adobe Blog about a week ago, which included a signup link for early access.

Olufemii recommends his boys in 5 AI Creators You NEED to be Learning From in 2026.

Fxphd is offering a class, AI Machine Learning Foundations for VFX Artists taught by Doug Hogan.

Black Mixture shared This AI Storyboard Generator Just Changed Filmmaking Forever! (Higgsfield Popcorn). Everything is under development in the AI shakedown cruise cup.

Curious Refuge looked at This Mainstream Ad Used AI… The Creator Shares His Secrets.

Jack Vs. AI stepped through the creation of a TV ad recently and now has posted How to create JAW-DROPPING VFX With AI.

George Jetson’s treadmill is still accelerating.