Creative tools like After Effects are always growing and the Adobe team really has done a great job with a lot of things that are easy to take for granted over the past few versions. We are excited to take advantage of some of these and our first priority in Overlord 2 is to fix many of the small things that have grown into annoyances. Behaviors like:
- Creating new layers above the selected layer
- Anchor points are always centered
- Separate dimensions on Position properties of a new layer reflects your Ae preference
- A single matte for multiple layers
Remember that when Overlord first launched in 2017, the shape of After Effects was very different.
- Anchor point centering was done with a script
- Mattes needed to be above every layer you wanted to use
- Separating X/Y dimensions was a secret move you had to know where to find
Greater simplicity
We pride ourselves on simplicity around here by removing as many points of hmmm should I do this or that from the countless design decisions you make hourly. That stuff adds up.
Remove UI clutter
Within the interface, we removed the toggle switches that changed options for how layers were built. We found that most users either didn't change them or didn't know they were switches.
- Layers are now split based on grouping or the Split selection button (more below that)
- Parametric rectangles and ellipses are detected automatically
- Anchor points are always centered
- Center in comp has been removed
- Switch app is gone because it was glitchy and would open the wrong app or resize things more often than not.
- Create a comp from artboard or create an artboard from comp is now two separate buttons.
- The swatches and guides buttons are still there, but hidden by default. Right click the panel to show them.
- Symbol breaking is no longer needed and is handled with the non-destructive shape expanding. More below 👇
Behavior changes
Non-destructive shape expand
Illustrator has a lot of ways to create art that stay live and allow you continue to edit. Things like:
- pathfinders
- blends
- repeaters
- warps
- symbols
In v1, all of these came in as empty shapes. Before transferring you would have to first run Object > Expand from the app menu.
Overlord 2 will now Expand, transfer, then return your Ai element to it's live state.
Clipping masks done right
One of the least sexy new features to come out of Adobe in years is the universal track matte system that lets you use a single matte layer for multiple layers. If you've ever done any kind of compositing, you get why this was a big deal. Overlord will now build clipping masks as:
- a parent group (to move everything as a unit)
- art layers
- a single matte
What's new?
If you missed Jake's amazing walkthrough of everything new, it's worth your time. And stay till the end. You're welcome.
Pricing and upgrading
Licenses come with one year of feature updates, so purchases after July 29, 2023 unlock the v2 upgrade for free. If you purchased Overlord more than a year ago, renew your license to get access to v2 and another year of feature updates.
Or pick up a brand new copy of Overlord. To keep things simple, new purchases and renewals are the same price.
Twig the wolf + Buffy
