Other new goodies that don't quite fit into any other category include:

• After Effects 5 breaks the 2 GB file size limit.
• It can output directly to the Flash format (SWF). However, you better not be thinking of AE 5 as a replacement for a Flash authoring program. The output capabilities are limited to animation and just the most basic interactive elements. Plus, the output isn't always very good. Images can look bad, and playback can be buggy.
• Specify a different starting timecode for each composition. Frequently
  used composition settings can be saved as custom presets.
• Ability to specify Motion Blur shutter angles up to 720 degrees for each composition and phase controls that determine when the shutter opens relative to the start of each frame.
• Preview a single layer.
• Create and save custom Workspaces.
• Change the sequence in which effects are applied to a layer by dragging to reorder them directly in the Timeline window.
• For keyframes, you can drag up or down over more than one stopwatch to animate multiple properties.
• The Effect Controls window now includes stopwatches for setting keyframes.
• Markers can now be locked, and Transfer Modes now appear in a panel that can be hidden or displayed independently.
• You can preview footage and comps that use a non-square pixel aspect ratio without distortion by choosing Pixel Aspect Correction.
• QuickTime footage playback is also improved.

The compositing core
So we've looked at a lot of the new features in AE 5 that are sort of at the periphery of the core suite. This is because, at the core, the standard edition and the Production Bundle are essentially the same, so it's hard to compare the two. When I speak of "the core," I mean all of the new basic compositing features that come with version 5.0—3D capabilities, parenting and scripting (Expressions), as well as some new output features.

3D compositing
Chief among the new core features in AE 5 is 3D compositing—the ability to manipulate layers and layer data in 3D, including layer intersections, for adding shadows and other Effects. The 3D compositing features are activated on a layer by layer basis by clicking a box in the timeline. Leaving the 3D features deactivated on 2D layers will speed up rendering, while also leaving these layers unaffected by camera or lighting animation.

The original 2D layer

After Effects 5 introduces several animation features, including multiple cameras and lights for position, rotation and orientation. You can also automatically orient 3D layers toward a camera or animate lights and cameras along a path or toward a point of interest you define. You have the ability to create an unlimited number of lights and define each one's properties individually. You can also edit each light's shadow-casting properties.

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