Automation tool released for After Effects

Profound Effects Inc. has released Useful Assistants (UA), an automation tool for Adobe After Effects 5.5 and 6.0.

UA is designed to streamline workflow within After Effects by automating tedious tasks and adding convenience features that are absent in After Effects itself. The US$300 plug-in ships with 37 assistants that are designed to tackle tasks such as:

Saving your work to an incrementing file name automatically;

Automatically extending layers and nested compositions when needed;

Copying and pasting entire groups of expressions simultaneously;

Automatically placing markers where cuts are detected;

Making a contact sheet of frames from throughout a composition, automatically.

Adobe began shipping After Effects 6.0 Monday. The latest version of the motion graphics and visual effects software is available in two editions: a $699 Standard Edition and a $999 Pro Edition.