Warp Stabilizer
Shaky handheld footage has long been the bane of filmmakers everywhere, which is why image stabilization is all the rage in software these days. CS5.5 addresses this problem head-on in After Effects with the new Warp Stabilizer feature, offering novices the simplicity to process shots quickly, with plenty of fine adjustment options for the pros -- including how to handle borders, smoothness and much more.

Camera Lens Blur
CS5.5 now includes the ability to create more realistic imagery with the Camera Lens Blur effect, which is also available automatically with After Effects’ Depth of Field controls. Camera Lens Blur creates edge halos in the shape of iris blades in the same way that a real, defocused camera lens does.

Source Timecode Support
It’s hard to believe that it’s taken Adobe so long to add this feature, but CS5.5 finally brings source timecode support to After Effects. Rather than having to guess with visual cues or frame counts while working with footage, you’ll now be able to get precise timecode numbers from an editor and use them with the embedded source timecode on the Quicktime, AVI, Broadcast WAV, DPX and some MXF file formats.

Stereoscopic 3D Workflow
Like it or not, stereoscopic 3D is all the rage in today’s movie theatres and with CS5.5, After Effects is ready to please. Import your 3D elements into a composition, select the main camera and choose Layer > Create Stereo 3D Rig to make the magic happen in your workflow. You’ll have full control over convergence and vertical alignment, with far easier setup than ever before.

Control Light Intensity Falloff
Known as the Inverse Square Clamped falloff setting in After Effects (say that three times fast!), CS5.5 brings natural light intensity to your 3D imagery, working in tandem with previous choices such as Parallel, Spot, Point and Ambient. The Smooth falloff setting helps define the exact distance over which light levels decay. Reality was never this much fun!

More HD Source Format Support
Make no mistake, high-definition (HD) is here to stay, and Adobe is keeping up with the times for CS5.5 by extending its format support in this year’s After Effects upgrade. Native R3D support allows users of the RED ROCKET card for Mac and Windows to do real-time 4K RGB playback and transcoding right from a RED camera, along with full support of RED RMD sidecar files.

Additional LUTs and XDCAM EX Export
Known as color look-up tables, LUTs allow both creative types and technicians alike to properly interpret and output consistent color across multiple devices. After Effects CS5.5 isn’t a slouch when it comes to LUTs, extending support to the popular 3DL and CUBE file formats. CS5.5 also now renders the XDCAM EX format with multiple bit-rates, pixel aspects and frame rates.

Backwards Compatibility with CS5
Last but not least, Adobe has alleviated some of the apprehension of upgrading to After Effects CS5.5 by allowing you to easily collaborate with colleagues still on CS5 -- they can open your CS5.5 files even without the upgrade, keeping CS5.5-only features intact as placeholder settings, which will be restored when loaded back into the latest version.