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After Effects (AE) joins Adobe Creative Suite 3 with this new revision - essentially version 8.0. As usual, new features and improvements abound, and we'll decide if the upgrade is worth it, or if it's safe to stick with your current version. For those of you considering the Adobe CS3 Production Premium suite or the Master Collection, AE 8.0 might just be a bonus. But as Adobe enhances the integration among the products in its suites, you'll want to at least make yourself familiar with what's arguably the most popular motion-graphics program out there.
One major new feature is the Puppet tool, which lets you easily animate a shape or layer just by adding "pins" to your figure and then moving them around. It sounds like a fast way to animate characters, but it's important to understand how this tool works so you can decide if it will benefit you. Basically, it's a mesh tool. The mesh is created the first time you click on an object, which lays down the first pin. With each successive pin, the mesh gets a little more complex, so that you can move the pins, and the shape or object moves along with it. The tool isn't based on hierarchical joints as you may assume, so I'm not sure the term "puppet" is the best description. I liken it to digital clay. The mesh is created on the fly, and moving points can provide you with unexpected results unless you add several, and they are pretty specific about where you put things.
You'll also realize that the Puppet tool only works on your current frame - using it with the existing Motion Sketch tool allows you to create full animations over time. Also, here's a trick you might otherwise miss: If you hold down the control key and move the pins on the mesh, After Effects will snap into record mode and track the motion while it lays down keyframes, which you can then go back and alter. I found this method more intuitive, because I could always hit undo if I did not like the motion I just created. If I was happy with it, I could always twirl down the object's timeline and zoom in...