Advanced Vocabulary

nced # Vocabulary — Advanced Course Key Terms

Definitions for the terminology across the ten advanced skills, for After Effects 2026. Grouped by skill area.

Project Architecture (Skill 1)

Pre-comp (nested composition) — A composition placed inside another so a group of layers behaves as one editable unit; the backbone of a modular project.
Nesting — Building comps inside comps so complexity is organized in layers rather than one flat timeline.
Render order — Masks → effects → transforms on a layer, and innermost comp → outermost across nests; it explains why pre-composing changes a result.
Essential Properties — Promoting chosen properties from inside a pre-comp to its parent so a nested comp's key controls drive from the outside.
Template comp — A pre-built, reusable project/comp (organized folders, naming, placeholders) you duplicate to start work consistently.

Layered .ai import — Bringing an Illustrator file in as a composition that preserves its separate layers for animation.
SVG import — AE 2026's direct import of scalable vector graphics, keeping paths editable.
Create Shapes from Vector Layer — The command that converts an imported AI/SVG layer into native, editable shape layers.
Continuous rasterization — A layer switch that re-renders vector art at each scale so it stays crisp at any size.

Trim Paths — Animates a stroked path drawing on/off via Start, End and Offset.
Repeater — Duplicates a shape in a grid/radial array with incremental transforms.
Offset Paths — Grows or shrinks a path outward/inward from its outline.
Merge Paths — Combines paths with boolean operations (add/subtract/intersect/exclude).
Gradient stroke / fill — A linear or radial gradient applied to a shape's stroke or fill.
Shape morph — Interpolating one path into another via the Path property (cleanest with matching point counts).

Stacked text animators — Layering multiple Text Animators on one layer so several properties animate per character.
Variable font — One font file with a continuous range of styles along one or more axes.
Variable-font axis — A dimension (Weight, Width, Slant, Optical Size) that can be keyframed to morph type live — no outlining.

Parametric mesh — A true 3D primitive generated inside AE 2026 with adjustable parameters.
Extrusion / bevel — Giving depth (and edge shaping) to text or a shape so it becomes a solid 3D object.
Advanced 3D renderer — AE 2026's renderer supporting real meshes, materials, environment lighting and PBR shadows.
Substance 3D material — A physically based material (color, roughness, metalness, normal, etc.) applied to 3D surfaces.
Environment / HDRI lighting — Lighting a 3D scene with a 360° image so reflections and illumination match a real environment.
Accepts Lights — A material/layer control for whether a 3D surface responds to scene lights and shadows.

Two-node camera — A camera with a position and a separate point of interest it aims at.
Depth of field (DOF) — The in-focus range; enabling it lets foreground/background fall soft for a cinematic look.
Focus distance / aperture — The sharp distance and the control for how shallow the DOF is.
Rack focus (focus pull) — Animating focus distance to shift sharpness between subjects.
Null-driven camera rig — Parenting a camera to a null so its move is controlled from one animatable handle.

AI Object Matte — AE 2026's AI-powered tool that isolates a subject into a matte with far less manual roto.
Next-Gen Roto Brush — The updated, faster Roto Brush that propagates a subject selection across frames.
Unmult — A keying workflow that drops black backgrounds (fire/smoke/light) so only the bright element remains.
Light wrap — Wrapping the plate's light around a subject's edges so a cut-out sits in the scene.

3D camera track — Solving a virtual 3D camera from 2D footage so inserted elements move with the shot.
Match-moving — Attaching graphics/3D so they lock to a moving live-action scene.
Set extension — Adding CG environment to expand what was filmed, blended into the plate.
Shadow catcher — An accept-shadows-only surface so CG shadows fall onto the footage.

Control rig — Nulls + slider/checkbox/color controls that drive many properties from one panel.
Production expression — A robust, reusable expression (inertial bounce, auto-fade, counter, responsive layout).
MOGRT — A packaged, editor-friendly template exported from the Essential Graphics panel for reuse in Premiere.
Essential Graphics panel — Where you expose controls and export a comp as a MOGRT.

For the foundational terms (keyframes, masks, track mattes, expressions, etc.), see the beginner course Key Terms glossary.