The big news of new 26.0 versions in January still dominates, but recent beta announcements shows that the AE team is still on the move. The new features were detailed in Adobe announces 2026 video updates at Sundance here on PVC.

The AI-powered Object Mask is the big What’s New in Premiere 26.0,  but of course there is more. Cut to the Point has 15 Creative Object Mask Applications in Premiere Pro.

After Effects 26.0 was an even bigger release than Premiere. Adobe shared new documentation as well as listings of fixed and known issues. Video summaries below…

The new features have been covered for months in beta versions, so there’s a wealth of backround information in previous monthly AE roundups. Official new features include:

• Native Parametric 3D meshes
• over 1300 free Substance 3D materials with controls (fun and effective)
• Spot and Parallel light shadows in Advanced 3D
• Variable font animation
• Enhanced Vector Workflows with SVG import
• Retain gradients and transparency when converting Illustrator layers to shape layers
• Unmult effect
• Three new audio effects (Distortion, Compressor, Noise Gate)
• Lossless compressed disk caching
• WinARM native support
• Refreshed Preferences panel
• Crop Comp to Layer Bounds command
• Rotation snapping behavior improvements
• New property methods and accessible dropdown strings in expressions & scripting
• Unicode backend (run AE in a language other than your OS’s)
• Numerous bug fixes

Eran Stern provided an updated summary in After Effects 2026 Just Leveled Up.

Jake In Motion added After Effects 26 Changes EVERYTHING, and flomotion added NEW FEATURES in AFTER EFFECTS 26.

The After Effects team continues to impress with new features in the Beta app. Perhaps they have a secret team of AI assistant programmers!  New beta features include:

• Duplicate layers using Alt/Option-drag
• Quick Set Anchor using the Properties panel or a keyboard shortcut.
• Import SVG file as footage or as a composition
• Proportional Scrubbing in timeline
• Quick Apply search box for every effect, animation preset, and menu command
• Object Matte combines single-click AI subject selection with precision refinement and intelligent propagation over time (similar to Premiere Pro’s Object Mask workflow)
• Proportional Scrubbing, adjust multiple properties across multiple layers and affect them differently at the same time.
• Displacement of Substance 3D Materials on Parametric Meshes
• Depth of Field in Advanced 3D

In NEW FEATURES in AFTER EFFECTS: Object Mask, 3D Displacement, Depth of Field flomotion demoes some features and shares tips for Managing RAM with subdivision levels and using Null objects for professional focus pulling.

Eran Stern shared Designing a Substance Material for After Effects 3D Meshes. You can easily play with an even newer powerful feature and adjust displacement on the Substance Material.

Jonathon Winbush takes a break from Unreal things in 2 items: No More Roto! How to Use the New Object Matte Tool in After Effects 💪🏿 and After Effects Advanced 3D Depth of Field Tutorial — How to Use the New DOF Controls.

Also, among new features in Adobe Firefly Quick Cut, to jump start quick edits in the video editor.

School of Motion posted After Effects Learns a New Trick + a NEW SOM Course! | Motion Mondays noting among other stuff, Frame Rate, a new service that sort of combines the old Motionographer with Vimeo.

Jake In Motion talks with Jayse Hansen and Darby Faccinto about UI graphics, AE and AI in TRON Ares’ Secret Workflow: Figma to After Effects with Jayse Hansen & Darby Faccinto.

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Look out for more on tutorials and tidbits

in Part 2 of February AE news.

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