The News, Explained
Adobe said on November 7 that After Effects 2027, version 27.0, had begun rolling out worldwide in stages. After Effects animates text and artwork and combines visual elements into a scene. The update may take a few days to appear in the Creative Cloud desktop app. Adobe plans to share full release notes and documentation at Adobe MAX on November 10. Source
Illustrator text can now be brought into After Effects as editable text layers, allowing the wording or appearance to be changed there. A layer is an element, such as text or an image, that can be selected, animated or edited separately. Adobe says the conversion preserves fonts, size, fills, positions, styles and variable font settings. Variable fonts allow properties such as weight or width to be adjusted within one font. Source
A 3D object’s surface can also be linked to content inside the project. A material controls aspects of that surface’s appearance, such as its color and pattern. Using the Advanced 3D rendering option, creators can use images, videos, solid-color layers or compositions containing multiple layers as material sources. Adobe’s help page explains that animation changes in a source 2D composition appear on the 3D surface. This connects flat design work and a three-dimensional object’s appearance within one project. The help page describes the beta feature; the 27.0 announcement identifies its inclusion in this production release. Source Source
The announcement also lists an AI Assistant panel for requested tasks, an in-app Adobe Stock panel, the contour-based Contour Paint effect and improved auto-save. Adobe says the featured capabilities are available in the latest beta as well. On Mac, version 27.0 requires Apple silicon M1 or later. Intel Mac users can continue installing and using 26.x, with security updates under Adobe’s standard support lifecycle. Source Source
OYOPICK’s Take
Consider a hypothetical product video whose name and animated label need several revisions. Keeping the name as editable text and linking the flat label animation to a 3D object’s surface makes the source of each revision clearer: wording changes happen in the text layer, while surface motion changes happen in the linked composition. For that kind of work, maintaining editable connections could matter more than the number of new effects. Each project still needs a check that its intended fonts and materials survive the workflow. The staged rollout also means users may gain access at different times. Source Source