Adobe Systems Incorporated, the leader in network publishing, today announced Adobe� After Effects� 5.5, a new version of the company's award-winning motion graphics and visual effects software. With an impressive set of new features, After Effects 5.5 helps users expand their creative options, enhance productivity and work with more media types than ever before. Adobe After Effects 5.5 boasts exciting new features that enable precise control including multiple views, colored shadows, stained glass lighting and the Advanced 3D Renderer for creating high-quality intersecting layers. Versatile import and output options, including Advanced RealMedia export and integration with Alias|Wavefront's Maya� and Discreet's 3ds max�, give users more flexibility. Moreover, After Effects 5.5 supports additional 16-bit per channel file formats including Maya IFF, RPF, SGI and QuickTime. Whether creating motion graphics or visual effects for film, digital video, multimedia, or the Web, After Effects 5.5 gives designers a comprehensive set of tools for a flexible and improved workflow.

Adobe After Effects 5.5 is expected to ship worldwide in the first quarter of the 2002 calendar year. It will be available for $649 US for the Standard version and $1499 US for the Production Bundle in the United States and Canada. Upgrades from After Effects 5.0 will cost $99 US for either the Standard and Production Bundle versions.